Parents, tip those camp counselors!

[Northstarmom]

<p>I have never heard of tipping in summer camp. I’m guessing that’s because the camps where this is expected are for people with much more money than I have.</p>

<p>The students I know who are summer camp counselors like kids and feel grateful to have jobs in this horrendous market. No one as ever mentioned expecting to get tips.</p>

<p>S, 22, is gratefully working a minimum wage job providing customer service over the phone.</p>

[Iglooo]

<p>nj2011mom, That’s very sweet of your D. My D always loves her counselors. I think counselors should be properly paid not tipped. Tips are an unreliable source of income for hard working counselors. I am sure they were not less devoted when tipped little. </p>

<p>So far, tipping seems isolated in NYC area. Could you, NY parents, keep it there and not spread to the rest of the country? We already had to absorb Wall St and other life style excesses coming out of NY. We are full.</p>

[anothercrazymom]

<p>Igloo, ouch! I am from the NY area it isn’t all about lifestyle excesses.</p>

[Pizzagirl]

<p>

Just playing devil’s advocate: </p>

<p>Why would tipping a parking attendent be more appropriate than a camp counselor providing a fun, safe environment for one’s child, for those who object to the whole notion of tipping camp counselors?

</p>

<p>Plenty of people provide services to me and my children but I don’t tip them. I don’t tip their teachers or sport coaches. I didn’t tip their elementary school bus drivers. I don’t tip the doctors or the office staff supporting the doctors. I am heading over to my kids’ school to register my D for her sport (it requires a parent to sign various forms) and I’m not going to tip the woman who takes my registration. This doesn’t seem any different from heading to a foreign country and learning what their tipping policy is for restaurants, taxis, etc. – except in this case, it seems that the NYC posters thought that their policy was a national norm when apparently it’s very regional and limited in scope, as evidenced by the majority of posters on this thread who scratched their heads and said, “Huh? I never heard of such a thing.”</p>

[MD_Mom_1]

<p>We’re only a state away form NY and I haven’t heard of it. I am so, so grateful.</p>

[Hunt]

<p>I would just like to throw in a suggestion on how to “tip” camp counselors at camps where there is no tipping. If your kid had a very good counselor, write a letter to the camp praising the counselor. Send a copy to the counselor if you have his or her address. This will only cost you a dollar, and may be quite valuable to the counselor.</p>

[Youdon_tsay]

<p>I pick up ds2 from camp this week and thought about calling the director to ask her about a tipping policy. But I’ve decided not to because 1) One of my kids has been going to this camp for six years, I’ve never heard of this and don’t agree with it so why start tipping now? 2) Ds1 is considering being a counselor at this camp next year, and it could look like I’m setting up some kind of expectation.</p>

<p>Ignorance is bliss. And less expensive.</p>

[Iglooo]

<p>anothercrazymom, I did go overboard with my snarky comment. Just a little weary of New Yorkers expecting their way of life is the norm considering they couldn’t even afford it without our help in the wake of the financial crisis. A little like a poor relation you took in at hard times decides to tell you how you should live your life.</p>

[jrpar]

<p>Did someone from the NY area suggest that tipping was a national norm? It certainly appears to be a regional practice. And I wouldn’t assume that NY’ers like it.</p>

<p>I think the vast majority of NY area camp counselors would be happy if there were no tipping, and instead a slightly higher (and more dependable) salary. I just did the math, and my younger son made around $2 an hour for his camp job. I’m sure the NY area parents would prefer no tipping as well. </p>

<p>This is really an issue of some (not all) NY area camp owners shifting a significant portion of counselor compensation to the campers parents – which is pretty outrageous when you consider what some of these day camps charge.</p>

[jonri]

<p>I live in NYC. I’ve never heard of tipping. That may be because the camps we used catered to working parents. </p>

<p>I can imagine kids at the elite sports camps tipping. That’s not a scenario my offspring would be involved in.</p>

[Deja]

<p>I would have loved some tips for the thankless weeks of Cub Scout day camp I volunteered at as a den leader in the hot sun when my boys were Cub Scouts. I considered it my contribution towards Cub Scouting, since I didn’t volunteer regularly during the school year. </p>

<p>Count me amongst the majority here who consider tipping camp counselors a very strange concept.</p>

<p>What’s next – tipping the RAs at college?</p>

[milkandsugar]

<p>I feel our society has a strange concept of tipping in general. I don’t really get why we tip in the first place.
It is difficult to know who gets a tip. Why would I tip a delivery guy when there is a delivery service charge? parking attendent? Don’t get it.
Why would I tip a nanny a weeks pay, since they get paid anyway. It is strange in general.</p>

<p>I would rather not tip at all.</p>

[anothercrazymom]

<p>I give my housecleaner a weeks pay at Christmas, I consider it her gift, not a tip. I also buy her a gift. My husband gives his employees bonuses twice a year based on company performance. The people who do more do get a little more, but everyone recieves a bonus. My son is working as a nanny this summer, I’ll see if he gets a bonus! He is making quite a bit of money so I hope not!</p>

<p>Igloo, I just sometimes feel we in the metro NY area get blamed for a lot of stuff! I know quite a few people who work on Wall Street, most of them came from other areas of the country!</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>I agree it is confusing- especially if you travel in other countries.</p>

<p>In US, service workers depend on tips, indeed I believe that the IRS assumes a certain amount to be received as tips and will look for it on your return.</p>

<p>I tip housekeepers in hotels, but at end of my stay, but same thing when you go to a restaurant, you tip when you leave.
I suppose the rationale would be that they should be giving the same amount of service regardless, but if they receive a small tip- they dont really know if you are just cheap or if they didn’t do something that was expected.</p>

<p>I thought this post reflected our confusion with tipping in US pretty well.

The summer before my senior year in college, I went to Seville, Spain with my boyfriend’s family. It was the first time I was out of the country, and I was eager to see and eat as much as possible in our week’s vacation. Each time we went to a cafe or restaurant, though, we were reminded of our foreign status when the waiters handed back the money we had given as a tip. Our Spanish limited, we couldn’t figure out why. When yet another waitress in a cafe returned the tip, speaking in her rolling tongue, my boyfriend (now husband), put his foot down and insisted she have it. Finally, she smiled widely and scurried excitedly toward her coworkers, showing off the pesos like they were a new piece of jewelry.</p>

<p>It wasn’t until later that we figured out that waiters and waitresses in Spain were paid enough by their employers that they didn’t survive on–or expect–tips. A tip was what it was supposed to be–a monetary gift for a worker who did something extra. In the U.S., we know that we’re required to tack on anywhere from fifteen to twenty percent when we dine at a restaurant, because owners of a restaurant have the unique privilege of paying their workers less than minimum wage ($2.83, to be exact). If our party contains six or more people, the restaurant will add the mandatory tip for us. Most of us give twenty percent even when the service is inadequate, for fear of having to show our faces again later as the cheapskates. Even coffeeshops and bagel stores have begun to put tip jars next to their cash registers in recent years.</p>

<p>But many of us are left wondering, what are the rules for tipping beyond dining out? How much is the consumer required to pay above the cost of a service? To whom is a tip a necessity, and to whom is it an insult?
As far as I know, the following service sectors expect a tip: doormen, cabbies, hairstylists, pizza deliverymen, appliance deliverymen, hotel porters, valets, waitstaff. Yet the list continues to grow. I’m also supposed to tip the girl who washes my hair at the salon, and the person who does any waxing. A tip is also expected for the service of a manicure or pedicure, as well as a massage. At Christmas, my family and I went to a Christmas tree lot to pick out our tree. We couldn’t shake the feeling that we had committed a faux pas by not tipping the man who took the tree out of its wooden rack and tied it to our car. Didn’t he do exactly what he was paid by his employer to do, I rationalized. I was again befuddled when I ordered a new dryer. I researched for hours to find the right one at the right cost. One company said they’d deliver the dryer, haul away my old dryer for free, and install the new one. It sounded like a great deal, but when the deliverymen came and performed their task nobly, how much was I supposed to tip them? $5 $10? $20? Their entire day consists of delivering appliances. Must we, the consumers, always tip when a service is performed adequately and professionally?</p>

<p>Tipping has lost its meaning. While once it meant that a worker went out of his way, now it is an issue of class and status. If we are big tippers, we must be wealthy and generous. If we tip small or don’t always tip, we’re cheap. Perhaps tipping in our culture has become a way of showing off in the manner of clothes, cars, and accessories. Giving someone a big tip might be akin to wearing a Tommy Hilfiger sweater, or carrying a Kate Spade handbag. Except that if we don’t tip up to expectation, someone may suffer. As a teacher, I performed many services for my community that were not required by my contract, such as writing recommendations, calling parents to update them about their child’s progress, encouraging a student to enter a writing contest or helping her with an extracurricular activity. But I never expected a tip. Maybe the difference is that my job is held in higher esteem. (Though if it is, not by much.) Have we begun to tip, then, for any service performed that does not require a college education? Are we pity-tipping?</p>

<p>It’s difficult territory to navigate. I believe that workers should be paid a fair and decent wage, but I sometimes wonder if I, the consumer, have become the one who is supposed to be delivering on that promise rather than the employer. I don’t think that a barista in a local coffeeshop has gone above and beyond by taking my order with a smile and getting it right. In fact, on a day-to-day basis, I don’t think that most workers go above and beyond what they’re expected to do, nor should they have to. Many are professional and helpful, and many have bad attitudes. Maybe if tips weren’t expected, if we didn’t feel guilty for not doling them out, if we weren’t so worried about looking wealthy, tips would actually have meaning again.
What gives?

</p>

[anxiousmom]

<p>great article!</p>

[Iglooo]

<p>…Igloo, I just sometimes feel we in the metro NY area get blamed for a lot of stuff! I know quite a few people who work on Wall Street, most of them came from other areas of the country!..</p>

<p>anothercrazymom, That doesn’t get NYers off the hook:) It’s the culture it creates not individual elements. We are social creature and we adapt to local culture in no time whereever we may come from.</p>

[bigtrees]

<p>I think the entire original post is extremely offensive. I have serious dislike anytime people have an expectation of receiving more than the contracted amount of money (with the exception of very few positions like waitresses, etc).</p>

<p>We don’t tip a lot of people who render services for us and some of these people mean a lot. For example, we don’t tip doctors who treat us and make us well again. We don’t tip airline pilots who take us to our destination safely. We don’t tip the people who bring us drinks and food at McDonalds or Burger King. We don’t tip the bus driver who drives us to work or college everyday.</p>

<p>Camp counselers should consider it a nice gift if someone does tip them but not something they should expect.</p>

<p>PS - Be sure that they report all tips on their tax form so they don’t commit tax fraud this year.</p>

[bigtrees]

<p>

One of D’s responsibilities was to take a girl with serious medical issues to the nurse multiple times per day

</p>

<p>Do you realize that if you have serious medical issues, the last thing you want to have to do is to tip everyone who helps you out in life? It is financially unaffordable to do so because the family (or individual) likely has big medical bills and many that insurance doesn’t cover.</p>

<p>For example, the wheelchair pushers at an airport (hired by the airline) don’t get tipped and nor should they. A handicapped person cannot afford to tip everyone who pushes his or her wheelchair, especially since wheelchair bound people have a harder time earning money than able bodied people.</p>

<p>

S once did deliveries for a package store, and said it was always people in the fanciest houses who didn’t tip at all.

</p>

<p>Of course not! The people who own the big houses have huge mortgage bills, pay lots of money in property taxes, and have a lot of expenses. They are also the ones who are good about saving their money.</p>

[crazed]

<p>NYer here.</p>

<p>I went to sleep away camp in the 70’s and my parents tipped the counselors.</p>

<p>My kids have always gone to sleep away camp and we tipped. My son is now a counselor and tips are way down. Counselors do not make good money for a 7+ week job that is 7 days a week, 24 hours a day (with some time off!) Fun job though. They do not do it for the money, but to be with their friends in a camp environment.</p>

<p>I tip my hairdresser… I tip wait staff at a restuarant…Why wouldn’t I tip someone taking care of my kid? The camp is making the money from the cost, not the counselors.</p>

<p>FYI- kids camp froze counselor salaries to last years wages while giving an increase to all other positions. Hmmmm.</p>

[crazed]

<p>Igloo- NY is a big state and not all NYers work on Wall Street. Many who live in the NY metro area do not even work in the city at all!</p>

<p>NYers typically send their kids to camp in all the NE states. Rarely do I hear of a non-tipping rule in a camp.</p>