Tipping Hairdressers?

LillyJ

Nicki wrote: »

Assuming your stylist is on similar terms, that makes her gross wage for what you had done about £14, and I am positive doctors and lecturers earn more than that!

Actually, on an hourly basis, junior doctors earn barely more than the domestics on their wards, almost invariably less than the nurses, and definately less than £14ph!

LillyJ

janey_uk wrote: »

I know the hairdresser wouldn't personally earn that much - although someone at the salon is clearly making a mint! I guess my issue is if I'm already paying that much why tip? Tipping is traditionally in low paid services - I don't tip my plumber or car mechanic as they are seen as well paid already. If hairdressers charge the same as them now (which mine does!) do they really warrant tips too?

"Assuming your stylist is on similar terms, that makes her gross wage for what you had done about £14, and I am positive doctors and lecturers earn more than that!"

A junior house officer (now known as an FY1) had a basic salary in 2007/08 of £28,118. (This amounts to an approx hourly rate of £13.50 - from the NHS Employers own website). Salaries for higher education (HE) lecturers ranged from £25000 - £42000 (Prospects). A teenager (such as my hairdresser) would be many years and several thousand hours of university study away from that - so I would still think an hourly rate that has parity with these is so much as to not require a tip!

Maybe I'm just mean!

Actually, the basic salary is £21,200 for an FY1.
The £28k quoted includes "banding" for extra antisocial hours, longer hours, and intensity.

A large proportion of junior doctors have had their banding taken away, meaning that they are only earning this basic £21,200.

Terrible really for the training (and debt) they have.

According to the BMA juniors have had a 40% pay cut in real terms this year. If this was any other public sector worker eg nurses, the public would be in uproar. As it is doctors the public seem to not give a !!!!!! for some bizzare reason.

melancholly

LillyJ wrote: »

According to the BMA juniors have had a 40% pay cut in real terms this year. If this was any other public sector worker eg nurses, the public would be in uproar. As it is doctors the public seem to not give a !!!!!! for some bizzare reason.

possibly because everyone felt a bit upset that GPs get an average of something like £120,000. so all doctors are lumped together in our minds, when the hospital based doctors (who have to do shifts, be on call, have their holidays fixed by the rota...) earn a lot less.... and i imagine one of the reasons for the cut in their pay is the vast amount being spent on GPs who were very clever when negotiating their contract.

LillyJ

melancholly wrote: »

possibly because everyone felt a bit upset that GPs get an average of something like £120,000. so all doctors are lumped together in our minds, when the hospital based doctors (who have to do shifts, be on call, have their holidays fixed by the rota...) earn a lot less.... and i imagine one of the reasons for the cut in their pay is the vast amount being spent on GPs who were very clever when negotiating their contract.

that's very true, but it is sad that a 23 year old who will never earn the figures quoted gets lumbered with £30k worth of debt and £21k a year.

They get less than a newly qualified police officer (who also gets paid to train).

GPs actually didn't want the new contract on the whole (although they prob now do!) and it was the government who thought that they weren't doing enough then realised that they were meeting all the targets and therefore got a huge amount of money!

Not sure that is the reason why FY1s are getting their pay cut to be honest, its more to do with EWTD and the glut of newly qualified doctors (down to the government blindly overtraining).

But something needs to be done about it, as there is no way in hell these people can work those hours, with ridiculous amounts of responsibility for their age, paying back enourmous loans and having no real job security.

A friend of mine has a loan which she took as she already had an undergrad degree plus a PhD, then went on to do medicine. She took the loan on the basis of doctors earnings at the time. Then wages were cut, and she is now left with an income of £1100 per month and a £600 loan repayment. :eek:

Doctors as FY1s earn less than the AVERAGE new graduate salary (inc people who studied beer drinking for 3 years). Now that is disgusting. If we want proper treatment from the NHS we need to start paying our doctors properly.

there are also no over time payments for doctors either, with many working an extra 15 hours per week for free.

DaisyFlower

just_thrifty wrote: »

I'm probably a real scrooge!!!, but I rarely tip at the hairdresser's or in restaurants etc. Spent years working as a waitress at school/uni and I always felt that, if I'd done something extra for a customer, it was lovely if they left a tip. It's part of your job to be friendly and helpful and you shouldn't assume you will get a tip for it. There are lots of people in poorly paid jobs who don't get tipped- don't think hairdresser's etc have the right to make you feel guilty when you're already paying for the service you're getting....

I must be a scrooge too then lol, I tend to use a mobile hairdresser and for a cut, colour and highlights etc its about £45 for 90 mins max. Only costs are the dye/colours which is bought in bulk and the petrol so she's making a really good hourly rate. I dont tip her as i've already paid her a decent amount.

vivmagb

I go to my daughter-in-laws house to have my hair cut and blow dried by her mobile hair dresser, I have to wash my own hair and it takes her max 15 mins to do my hair as it is very short and fine and she charges me £12 which I think is a very well paid 15 mins so I don't tip.

melancholly

LillyJ wrote: »

t
But something needs to be done about it, as there is no way in hell these people can work those hours, with ridiculous amounts of responsibility for their age, paying back enourmous loans and having no real job security.

but the hours are a lot better than maybe 5/10 years ago, so there has been some improvement - largely due to training more doctors. the problem with job security is largely down to a stupid system for recruitment, which they just have to improve soon!

i'm a phd student and when i finally start a job in a university, i will be earning just under what people consider to be the average graduate starting salary. with 5 years extra training under my belt, that's not so rgeat, but i knew that when i went in for it. the other major benefit of all public sector work is the very generous pension contribution - that's something that is very good for all doctors in hte NHS and does help balance out the lower pay when they first start.

LillyJ

melancholly wrote: »

but the hours are a lot better than maybe 5/10 years ago, so there has been some improvement - largely due to training more doctors. the problem with job security is largely down to a stupid system for recruitment, which they just have to improve soon!

i'm a phd student and when i finally start a job in a university, i will be earning just under what people consider to be the average graduate starting salary. with 5 years extra training under my belt, that's not so rgeat, but i knew that when i went in for it. the other major benefit of all public sector work is the very generous pension contribution - that's something that is very good for all doctors in hte NHS and does help balance out the lower pay when they first start.

Unfortunately, doctors DIDN'T know that when they went in to it, took loans thinking they would be paid the salary doctors were getting a few years ago, and then get an enormous pay cut.
The cut in hours is a terrible thing for training - consultants will have half the number of clinical hours under their belt when they qualify than those who have already got to consultant.

The hours are a lot better though which is a good thing in some ways, but the working week is average (for most it's an average of 56 hrs), but that means many weeks are 80-90 hour weeks, whilst some are a more normal 40 hours. So the days of tired junior doctors aren't over - they just can't afford much in the way of luxuries to compensate themselves!

The fact that they have decided to take away their accomodation has just added to the blow - the free accom was used in the past as an excuse to keep wages low, but now they say it was an extra, and was never used in calculating salaries. What a cheek.

The main issue is there is only one single employer of junior doctors bar the military in this country, and that is the NHS. Therefore they can do whatever they like, and the junior doctors can do nothing about it.

OK sorry, back to hairdressing now!

missbargain

I ALWAYS give a tip to my hairdresser, often quite a substantial one.

She is amazing, and often gives me a free blow dry and a toner (cost of these two is around 60 pounds in Central London where I live).

My usual spend per visit is 150 pounds (highlihgts and a cut), and I give her 160. I know many people on the forum will think this is hugely expensive, and it is, but unfortunatelly, this is quite a reasonable price for the area I live in.

I have tried some cheaper hairdressers, and it was a disastrous experience (brassy highligts, burnt hair and the cut like Mr Bean). I had to go to have it fixed, and it cost me double to have it fixed, so I reckoned that going cheap with hairdressers, at least in my area, is a very false economy (and destroys your hair in the process ).

So to keep my girl happy, I give her about 10-12 quid on each visit. She is VERY happy, and in return (an unspoken agreement) she gives me the freebies I mentioned above. So both of us happy, and I really like my girl, so it is a pleasure to tip her.

I also tip (about 2 quid) a hair washing girl, especially if she gives me a nice, relaxing head massage.

Also, in my country, hairdressing is one of those occupations where you always leave a tip if you are happy. I don't know why, it is just a tradition. I think lots of people here do it, too.

Unfortunatelly, looking beautiful is an expensive business, but I cannot imagine not having my hair done. I do my own manicures and pedicures, but I can't do my own hair (tried it before, never, ever doing it again).

melancholly

£160 every time you go to the hairdressers................... that's above my annual spend! if i had the money, i certainly would get my hair done more often, but never at that price...... even when i went to a central london salon to get highlights done (pre MSE days!), it never went into 3 figures.

i guess if you think it's worth it, then that's the only thing that matters - but blimey, prices like that scare me!!