Private hairdressers - tip or not to tip?

beachbeth

I hate this business of tipping and wondering whether to or not. I personally don't tend to tip my hairdresser, partly because Im not sure how much and don't want to insult her! Its also partly that she is better off than me anyway. She usually has 2 holidays a year, one of which is a cruise!:rolleyes:

I only leave a tip in a restaurant if Ive had really good, friendly service and can see that the waiter/waitress has really tried. But Im usually with the others on this. Ive never been tipped for doing a good job so why should I tip other people?

Gemmzie

I only tip if I get really good value. For example, when my old hairdressers spent two hours fixing a perm that dropped out for nothing, I insisted on giving her £10 because it wasn't really her fault.

I also tipped in a restaurant once when they bent over backwards to adapt the dish for me and gave it to me for free because they messed it up the first time. I've been back twice since and they do the dish the same - they even use it as their dairy-free dish now!

peb

As far I am concerned the UK does not have a history of tipping. I'm with Gemmzie - I would tip for something exceptional but not otherwise. I always return teh bill if there is an "optional" service charge added and ask for it without the charge.

However I was horrified to hear how little some London restaurant staff earned (was it £2.25 an hour) as they would make up the balance with tips. Apparently a good waiter will get £50 a day in tips... Not round here he wouldn't.

It would be interesting to hear from any waiters/hairdressers etc as to whether you can earn enough without relying on tips.

Though now this isn't very DFW and probably our good MrsTine or Fermi will have to move the thread.....

claireabelle_2

I always tip mine a tenner but it's to keep her - she only charges me 55 for highlights and cut/blowdry, and that would be 120 at least in London... she only sees 20 people and I'll stay one of them as long as she does hair, cos she's fab!

izzybusy23

embarrassed_about_my_debt wrote: »

Restaurants - I always ask them to remove the optional tip they add to the bill. I HATE being told what i should tip :mad: and 9 times out of ten what i leave is more than what it says but its just the principal of it, a tip is descretionary so dont tell me im leaving one!

Just a tip, no pun intended, is that if you do eat in frankie and benny's, chiquitos and some others in the same chain, when they ask if you would like to pay the tip by credit card say no. What they are doing is actually using those tips to make their workers pay up to minimum wage as they under pay them! :eek: I read this in a newspaper some months ago now after funnily enough eating at frankie and bennys and leaving a credit card tip. :rolleyes:

Back to the hair dressers, I used to leave a tip when I used to go to a hairdressers I had been to for years and years, but when she c*cked my hair up and I had to go to an expensive one to get put right, I decided to never leave a tip again.. so no, I don't feel guilty and also pay by my switch card so I don't have any change to feel guilty about putting back in my purse.

Edited to say, the USA is a nightmare place for tipping as they really do expect it to bump up their wages. Waitresses only earn summat daft like $2 an hour so rely on tips... but its gets a bit extreme when even people who bag your shopping up in Walmarts expect tips too.

izzybusy23

peb wrote: »

However I was horrified to hear how little some London restaurant staff earned (was it £2.25 an hour) as they would make up the balance with tips. Apparently a good waiter will get £50 a day in tips... Not round here he wouldn't.

It would be interesting to hear from any waiters/hairdressers etc as to whether you can earn enough without relying on tips.

quote]

Just seen your post!! I just said in my post that frankie and bennys and chiquitos also do this.. and waitresses in USA earn $2 an hour and rely heavily on being tipped which is where another of their 'cultures' impresses on the UK.

MrsTinks

I never tip hairdressers... mine works from home and instead I take a bottle of wine and we share most of it (me whilst she's doing my hair - her after lol) then again even when I go to Salons I don't tip - I pay a fair amount for the service and only if something is exceptional will I tip.
Resturants... I have to eat out fairly often when staying away with work, if on my bill it says "tip of x% is included" I ask for it to be taken off and leave half that on principle... Last week I was in a VERY expensive resturant and not only did they have the "tip included" but they bold as brass had a note on there saying that there was a 50p donation to x charity added to my bill too... I was NOT amused!!! If I want to donate to charity I'll blooming well choose it myself!

Sunny_Donny

I will tip in restaurants when the service has been good.
Hairdresser - I have been with the same one for 15 years and followed her from salon to salon whenever she has moved. I tip at Christmas with £10 and a bottle of wine/cava/bubbly. She understands that I don't tip regularly cos I am short of money - go every 7 weeks for hair cut instead of 5 weeks.

beachbeth

claireabelle wrote: »

I always tip mine a tenner but it's to keep her - she only charges me 55 for highlights and cut/blowdry, and that would be 120 at least in London... she only sees 20 people and I'll stay one of them as long as she does hair, cos she's fab!

This doesn't really make sense to me. Just because prices are high in London, why does it mean you have to tip outside of London? My hairdresser puts 2 colours and bleach on my hair as well as cutting and blowdrying and it usually costs £65 (I live in the Midlands). This is a huge amount for me to pay every 6 weeks so I usually try to stretch it to at least 8 weeks and getting to the point where my hair is really irritating me! I think its expensive enough without adding a tip!

(Land_of)_Maz

Re the waiters/waitresses relying on tips... years n years ago i worked for Garfunkels restaurants in Dundee, and i got offerred the chance to go and work in a London restaurant for the summer, no kids so i decided to do it...

I ended up working in Gatwick airport, so not london at all, but the tips were amazing, £40-50 a day on a good day, £20 on a poor day.... mind you there were a lot of Americans so they always tipped.... really made it worth my while travelling home every 2 weeks for my 4 days off with more money than i'd ever had... and that was whilst paying lodgings...

I don't think the wages were that bad, altho i doubt minimum wage was around at that time... i think it was average for the sector... I'm pretty sure Chiquitos and F&B's are part of the same group (name escapes me now) so i don't know how they could have changed so much, especially with legislation supposed to protect workers.....