<p>I do home haircuts and I just realized I’m saving a lot more $ than I thought.</p>
<p>The only “tip” I ever get is, “Hey, Mom, not so short next time!”</p>
<p>If I ever get a professional cut (every year or two) I always tip $5. It doesn’t matter if it’s a $10 walk-in place, or the fancy $40 place my sister goes to–$5 is what I give.</p>
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<p>My d. has been working as a server in a fairly upscale restaurant/bar. Until she started working in the restaurant business, I had no idea how poorly they were paid by the hour. She makes $2.15/hr and has to rely on tips to make any money at all. There are times when they have no tables assigned and other times when customers don’t tip or tip very poorly. I had always just assumed they had to be paid minimum wage and the tips were “gravy”. Some nights she makes fairly good money and other nights end up coming out well below minimum wage. I have become a much better tipper now, lol!</p>
<p>Yeah, when my Dh and I first were married he was in grad school in a really depressed area and I waitressed for sub-minimum wage and especially despised the morning cops with all their coffee needs (lots of extra service & mess on the table) and nickle & dime tips! Big difference from the waitressing in my home town in college!</p>
<p>I waitressed right through h.s. and a bit after college (sigh, don’t ask…) so I knew about their tipping set-up. Management pays an amount which they believe will be supplemented by public tipping to add up to minimum wage. </p>
<p>Remembering those years, I consistently tip 20% to waitresses, unless they give me reason to go lower, so then I do 18 or 15% but no lower. Sometimes the cook jams them up and it looks like their fault when it isn’t. </p>
<p>For haircut trims, I’m at 15%. If I try someone new or ask for a new style, I do 20% if they seemed to put some thought or care into it.</p>
<p>I’m with #19 and #21. For the high-end places in the major metro areas, it costs already an arm & a leg to even walk into the place, for heaven’s sake. Each element is a cost, from a wash to a blow-dry. And now they’re doing a thing where they charge you half or full price for a “cancellation,” which they call a late show. (Never mind that it takes 45 minutes to find parking in impacted shopping areas.) When this happened to me recently, the stylist complained that “she lost $120” (although she gained much of it back in what they charged me for the late show) for that hour. $120 an hour? Fairly good wages, if you ask me. Waiters don’t make that much. And I’ve been a waittress; I was tipped well; I tip most waiters & waitresses well. (20%). But like others, I tend to have a “flat rate” for stylist tips: $5 for a cut, $10 for color. Do much more than that & you’re likely to go bankrupt soon.</p>
<p>^^epiphany, you just made me glad I live in Buffalo, where hair is just…hair.</p>
<p>Sorry, I can’t agree with you there… I would expect to be charged for services if I canceled at the last minute (if it wasn’t a true emergency), or showed up so late they couldn’t work me in before their next client; and it has happened. My mistake, I wrote down an appointment for the wrong time for my massage (had it right in one book, and wrong in another), and was charged for the hour. It’s only fair. If I’m going to be more than five or ten minutes late for any appointment, I call ahead and let them know. It’s their choice whether to leave me in the schedule, or reschedule and charge me for the missed appointment. One thing I absolutely cannot stand is when I show up for an appointment on time, but the person offering the service is running behind because one of their clients before me ran late and insisted on being seen anyway. Their whole day gets backed up, sometimes making later clients irate that they’re running late, and maybe it impacts how they tip that person. I have shown up to places for appointments where the servicer was running really late, and I myself have canceled because I couldn’t wait. In that case, they did lose the money I would have paid them for my services due to someone else’s inconsideration.</p>
<p>Feeling REAL lucky in my little town. I pay $35 for a cut and color and tip $7 for a grand total of $42! Nevermind that my hairstylist should be working in Hollywood…she’s that good! She is an artist and her medium is hair, I guess. All of these women leave her shop looking like movie stars for just one wonderful day!</p>
<p>Another hardship for waitstaff…oftentimes, if you pay and tip with a credit card, the restaurant will deduct the credit card fee from the tip. If you really want to give that good waiter or waitress a certain amount for a tip, the best way to ensure they get it is to tip with cash. We do this…even if we pay for our meal with a credit card. We just don’t add the tip to the card total and leave cash instead.</p>
<p>There are so many costs beyond someone’s earnings. Someone has to pay for the rent, the heat, the water, elect, decor, etc for the salon. There are also costs for marketing, insurance, accountants, licenses, lawyers. If the area is high rent, that is going to be included in the prices. </p>
<p>As I see patients and have to worry about no shows and cancellations I am sensitive to that issue. We are not allowed to charge a patient if they no show or cancel - that is actually illegal here. But, I wouldn’t anyway, it just makes for a bad relationship. But, people should realize that any service industry loses a lot from no shows and cancels. If someone cancels 3 days in advance we can schedule someone else but if someone no shows or cancels on the same day it’s a lot trickier to do that. </p>
<p>Interesting discussion!</p>
<p>baseballmom - you are SO lucky! I have tried going to less expensive stylists and have found one I have liked. I have also paid the same or more and not liked the results. I am sticking with this woman - it’s my indulgence at least until son #2 goes to school (smile).</p>
<p>My sister was a stylist, now a cosmetology teacher, so I know a little about this. The stylist has a minimum drawer (a few hundred $) that they must meet each week before they even begin to earn their commission. Depending on their training and level of experience, commissions usually run from 35-55%. Tips are a big part of their “salary”, treat your stylists well.:)</p>
<p>Comparing what a waiter earns and what a salon charges is apples and oranges. Waiters aren’t paying rent or other overhead charges for the restaurant, nor are they paying for the product (food!) they serve. I don’t know any stylist who is making $120/hr. You’re neglecting to take into account every expense that a salon has. And, sorry, but I don’t feel any sympathy for anyone who is charged for a no show, or for being late. If it takes 45 minutes to find parking, and you know that and choose to still frequent that salon, then that should be taken into account when you’re headed to an appointment. In our city, salons don’t charge for no shows, or lateness, but if they did, I could understand it.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Am I the only one on CC who goes to the “cheap” places (Hair Cuttery) to get my hair cut? I have really short hair and yes, I’ve had some crummy cuts, but it grows out in a month anyway! (but yes, I tip 20% of that paltry amount there!) I’ve moved frequently throughout my adulthood, so I don’t have someone who’s done my hair for years. I found a local place with 2 or 3 stylists that are really good. I request one of them when I walk in, and just sit and wait my turn. p.s. don’t tell anyone, but I shop at those big box cheapo stores, too.</p>
<p>This is another question, but how about housekeepers in hotels/motels? I never know if I’m leaving enough.</p>
<p>I guess I am a lousy tipper but I am in the group that thinks this stuff already costs too much. My hairdresser just retired and was charging me $60. for overall color (not highlights, foil, etc) cut and eyebrow wax for the past ten years. When she retired I found out that the salons in our area were going to want over $100. I now drive 20 minutes away and pay $68 for color/cut plus $12. for eyebrow wax. I feel it is a fair trade, I show up on time, make each appointment six weeks ahead of time, and get my hair done. They make around $50. for the color/cut time after the expense of the color itself, and the hot water to wash my hair.
Since the owner does my hair, I don’t tip. The reason it was always, don’t tip the owner, is because the owner doesn’t pay rent on her chair. The other hairdressers have to pay a monthly rent to the owner.</p>
<p>I tip 20% of the $130 it costs for cut/foil/color every three months at my hairdresser. Same guy for 11 years (five shops, now he’ll own half of the current shop next year). Started with him when he was fresh out of hair school–he’d given up construction… remodels and flips houses, too. Sued in court for joint custody of his daughter, now 11, which is when he left construction because hair paid better.</p>
<p>I tip 20-25% of the cost when I have my poodles groomed too. That’s about $50/dog every 6-8 weeks.</p>
<p>As for housekeepers in hotels, I have found the best plan to be $3 to $5 (more in cheaper places) EVERY DAY. The housekeeper may change from day to day so waiting until you leave doesn’t work. Plus, if you tip on a daily basis, you get a much cleaner room–extra towels, a little better vacuuming job, that kind of thing. That’s why it really pays to leave $5 in the cheaper places. I swear it brings a two-star place up to a three-star.</p>
<p>I tip housekeeping $5 per day and tip each day for the reasons dmd77 mentioned. </p>
<p>Many do not leave a tip. I figure that a room takes 20+ minutes to clean and a little more for the good tipper, so these women are NOT getting rich! Housekeeping staff, like waitstaff, are not often paid minimum wage as tips are an expected part of the job.</p>
<p>Wow, all these rants from people who don’t even know me. You wouldn’t know that all the other times I’ve shown up, I’m on time, that I’ve accommodated more to the salon over time than they have to me, that it wasn’t that I “didn’t take into account” the parking, but that an appointment with another professional, who assured me he would limit it to “one hour,” ran over by 20 minutes. It was one time, folks, not a pattern. Further, I was buying their salon products, & only from them, as a sign of loyalty. The way some salons handle no-shows is that they additionally take drop-ins (in addition to last-minute appointments). A really good, welcoming, & customer-oriented salon will have no shortage of customers to compensate for the occasional (if it’s occasional) late show. Or they could have a policy reflecting that mutual loyalty: for established customers, only the first unusual circumstance is not charged; others will be. </p>
<p>So good riddance to them for their inhumanity. They proved to me that they care only about the dollar, and these are NOT struggling workers. Very high end. Went back to my previous stylist. The way she works is that she accommodates. In turn, I expect to wait patiently if she does run over, and I do so. Fortunately, her salon is now carrying the products of the other salon, & she is making special accommodations for my color needs,etc., & now coming in & extending appointments on days to fit my work schedule. THAT is a businesswoman. (And because of that, she gets tipped better – I now so much more appreciate her even more than I formerly did, as a contrast to the others.)</p>
<p>dmd77 - my standard poodle costs $65 to groom and we tip $10. I said he has to go when son#2 goes to college, too.</p>