I am just wondering how our veteran passengers tip their attendants... I believe in tipping the moment we meet the attendant... hoping he or she will remember and provide the service I would expect... and of course, if they deliver on my expectations, an additional tip is rendered. Thoughts? Best Practices? Thanks!
Posted by Boyce (Member # 2719) on :
Tipping before-hand is money wasted. Why would an attendant go the extra mile if he has already been rewarded?
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
Tipping beforehand is not necessarily wasted. It depends on the attendant. However, tipping afterwards is obviously not going to get you better service, as that service has already ended - unless you're a frequent traveller and get to know the attendants.
Remember that tipping is not to subsidise a regular job but to reward out-of-the-way service. Tipping "just because" creates a tipping culture where you feel obliged to tip for normal or even under par service.
Geoff M.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
I never tip beforehand, always at the end of the journey, based on quality of services received. A genuinely good attendant will provide good service without prodding.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
I agree with Mr. Toy and the others. I tried giving a tip at the start of a CS trip and, when we started running late and the water pressure went out in the car, the attendant basically disappeared. From SAC to Eugene I didn't see him at all although he would answer questions from inside his curtained room. He had his hand out after I carried my bags off the train. I gave him a firm handshake and nothing more.
Frank in cloudy, cool SBA
Posted by SouthernServesTheSouth (Member # 2284) on :
On our last trip, I tipped each evening after the attendant changed the room for the night, then when departing the train at our destination I tipped him again due to exceptional service.
Posted by 20th Century (Member # 2196) on :
I agree with Mr.Toy. Providing "good service without prodding" earns the well deserved tip.
Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
I've noticed that many sleeper passengers tip for mediocre or even non-existent service, either out of guilt or because they have the misguided belief that Amtrak employees toil for minimum wage.
If an attendant does nothing more than put the berths up and down? Refill the paper towel dispensers once in a blue moon? Or brew the occasional pot of coffee?
That's part of his job description. He's already getting paid to do it (plus overtime, paid holidays, sick days, vacation days, health insurance, and a pension).
Unless you're a grossly underpaid coffee shop waitress, a parking lot attendant, or a pizza delivery guy, I don't feel that merely performing the basic tasks of your job should warrant an extra tip, let alone an extravagant one.
Mind you, I don't require extra pampering when I travel by train (I carry my own luggage, sometimes make up my own berth, and always fetch my own coffee in the morning). Nevertheless, I do tip well (and only as I'm leaving the train) whenever an attendant has been especially conscientious and genuinely friendly, or has done something beyond the call of duty.
Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :
I agree with Mr. Toy and 2thcentury, if they have already been rewarded then they do not have to keep a good standard of service, however, most Amtrak employees are rather kind people no matter what.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Possibly I'm mistaken, but I would think the last "eligible" crew member to see a tip would be a Coach Attendant. Kitchen staff usually seem to get a "cut' of the tips in any restaurant I know, and I can't imagine it is any different on-board.
Since "most of us" here confine our overnight travel to Sleeper, there is not much occasion to have contact with a Coach Attendant. But I have on occasion wondered how "those fellows make out".
Naturally, Conductors are not amongst the "eligibles', even though surely aboard one "love tub' or the other, some matron with as many $$$$ in her purse as she has diamonds hanging on her, has attempted to tip the Captain!!!.
Posted by CHANGEATJAMAICA (Member # 3737) on :
We tip the servers at the end of each meal. We carry a small supply of stationery with us and at the end of our trip we leave what ever tip we judge proper with a note saying thank you and suggesting what shortcomings and/or outstanding service prompted the tip. Best regards, Rodger
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
Rodger, that's a good idea, telling them exactly what brought on the tip. Dilly, glad you agree.
Geoff M.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: Possibly I'm mistaken, but I would think the last "eligible" crew member to see a tip would be a Coach Attendant.
It has been my observation that coach attendants tend to work harder than sleeping car attendants. Coach attendants usually have charge of more than one car, (i.e. two attendants for three cars) and have more people to keep track of. They rarely get tips. On my most recent overnight coach trip in 2001 I gave my attendant a couple dollars and his face lit up. He really appreciated the recognition.
On a related note, my sister said she had a nice conversation with a coach attendant on her last trip. This person was a former flight attendant, and she told my sister that working for Amtrak is much better than working for the airlines.
Posted by Pojon (Member # 3080) on :
Tipping (really "bribing") is not only categorically disgusting but "immoral". Why the hell should we pay the guy a second time for something he is supposed to do as part of his job description. It should be like in Tahiti and Japan where you don't tip and you don't insult the employee by tipping ("bribing") him. One time I forgot and left a tip on the table in a small restaurant in Shinagawa Station neighborhood in Tokyo and the waitress and the cashier ran down the street to give me back my money thinking that I had accidently left my money on the table. How's that for a pleasing tourist experience. In Tahiti I also forgot and the guy I left the tip for gave it back to me and looked very insulted that I gave a tip--that's a great place!
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
Well, different cultures have differenc customs. They are not inherently "right" or "wrong" just different. In our culture a tip is an expression of thanks.
Posted by mary_228 (Member # 3826) on :
When I was a college student and worked as a waitress in Marshall Field's Walnut Room, I had a customer, an elderly gentlemman, who tipped me in advance. I felt rather insulted, as if he assumed I wouldn't give him good service without this extra incentive. My thoughts must have shown on my face, for he explained that the word "tip" is really an acronym for "to insure promptness".
Posted by PullmanCo (Member # 1138) on :
I tip as I debark my sleeper.
I tip at the end of a meal.
Posted by Pojon (Member # 3080) on :
I can't afford all that "tipping." What a way to use your money up! It was a pleasure to know in advance what the tips would be ($10. a day) on the cruise we took on the Holland America Lines ship the MS Zaandam last November. Then we knew we had to add that to the fare for the week and we knew that the Indonesian and Filipino crew was counting on it because their salaries were so damn low for all the work they did on the ship. In the USA we should expect decent salaries for labor as they really are on Amtrak--so why should we be expected to tip ("bribe") the employee on top of his or her salary. Posted by CHATTER (Member # 1185) on :
If you can afford sleepers on the train and cruise ships, you can manage the tips involved, if service is good.
Posted by CHANGEATJAMAICA (Member # 3737) on :
I've been trying heroically to avoid the subject of the philosophy of tipping and stay on point as to the manner of tipping. But like a chocaholic who can't pass a Hershy bar I've been drawn in. I don't believe in tipping, with the exception of the European manner of "topping off" a restaurant bill that includes service. When you eat at one of those restaurants you know before you order what the bill is going to be. When you order a meal at most other restaurants the blue plate special isn't $9.95 as printed on the menu it's really something between $11.50 and $12.00 (or more). How'd you like to walk up to the counter at Macy's and buy a tie labeled $20.00 and have the clerk tell you the price is $23.00 (plus tax)? The reason you have to tip in a restaurant is because the wait person receives a lower wage than a person in a non service environment. This allows the restauranteur to publish an artifically lower price for his/her product
Posted by CHANGEATJAMAICA (Member # 3737) on :
(continued from above) and to pay the wait staff less than they would make in a non service environment. In my opinion the cost of service should ALWAYS be included in the price of a product; and if you feel the service has exceeded what you consider a norm then top off the bill with a small but considerate "thank you". That said, I don't know that Amtraks service personel, probably the dining car staff aside, earn the lower service environment scale. I do know that when I tip a sleeping car attendant a fiver a night for what is basically a combination chamber maid, room service attendant, and any number of other services it really is just a top off to the bill and not a real tip that the attendant needs to maintain a just standard of living. There I said it and I'm glad...I think. Best regards
Posted by Pojon (Member # 3080) on :
"Change at Jamaica" you are right! In this great country of ours with strong labor unions in Amtrak why should I insult an employee by paying him "to insure promptness?" Shouldn't he already be efficiently prompt?
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