Tipping Recommendations
There are no firm rules when it comes to tipping. But there are certain guidelines you can follow to know what’s typically expected as a gratuity in certain situations.
Bars and Restaurants
The old standard of 15 percent for servers hasn't been standard for some time now. The Zagat Survey began asking people about their tipping habits a couple of years ago and found that the average restaurant tip in major U.S. cities is just over 17 percent. That means doubling the tax to figure your tip leaves you on the chintzy side. (New Yorkers aren't the most generous tippers in the country. Although we beat the national average, Philadelphia's 18.5 percent puts us to shame.)
Bartenders are a different story. The point of tipping bartenders isn't so much to reward the service you've already received as to insure promptness (supposedly the seventeenth-century English origin of the word: t.i.p.) the next time you order a round. Expectations vary: A buck a drink is generous at the Blarney Stone, an insult at the Bowery Bar. "At dive bars, they make great money, because they're banging out drinks," explains Rich, a bartender at Lotus. "But at a place like this, it's more about presentation, so it takes longer." Rich concedes that a dollar is okay if you're ordering a beer.
Trying to grease your way into a fully booked restaurant can be tougher. The odds are better at restaurants that are more about scene than about cuisine. The hip and pretty gatekeepers you find behind the podiums at flavor-of-the-week restaurants are, by nature, more disposed to accept a subtly proffered bribe because they're young and trying to afford a TriBeCa apartment.
Apartment Buildings
A random survey of doormen around the city revealed a wide range of expectations. Depending on the exclusivity of the address and the size of the building, assistance with a heap of packages, cat-sitting for a day, or keeping an eye on a double-parked car can run you $5 to $10. Since most of these services fall under the doorman's job description, you can get away with not tipping, but don't expect him to drop everything when you've really got a problem.
For the staff in New York buildings, the holidays must feel like a Mafia wedding, what with the number of cash-filled envelopes that come their way. A super at a luxury building of 200 units who averages $50 per tenant is pulling in a cool five-figure cash bonus -- tax-free, if he's disinclined to report it. Gifts are welcome, too. The doorman gossip circuit is still buzzing about the lucky person working a York Avenue building who received a Nissan 300ZX for Christmas a few years ago.
There are two things to consider when you're determining how much to give. The first is building size -- the smaller the building, the larger your bonus should be. The second is the level of luxury. Lawrence Vitelli of Insignia Residential Group, which manages some of the highest-priced properties in the city, says supers at its big buildings routinely get between $100 and $300 from each tenant, and at small buildings, $500 to $1,000 is not unheard of. But chances are you won't have to shell out that much. For most buildings, $30 to $50 is appropriate for doormen, $50 to $100 for supers. Support staff like handymen and elevator operators are in the $20-to-$30 range. Adjustments should always be made according to seniority, and if you're planning on doing any kind of renovation in the upcoming year, it's in your best interest to give the super more than usual.
Beauty Salons and Barbers
The multitasking hierarchy at beauty salons can make tipping a tangled prospect. The general rule is that the more time someone devotes to you, the bigger the tip. "A lot of assistants do the entire blow-dry, so if they spent 45 minutes, that should be more on the $10 side of things," says Connie Voines, a stylist at Bumble & Bumble. "But if it's just a hand-dry that takes three seconds, then of course you should tip accordingly."
Taxis and Town Cars
Tourist guidebooks usually advise tipping cabbies 10 to 15 percent, but the best formula I've heard came from a magazine editor who takes a lot of taxis for work. If the fare is under $5, round up to the next dollar and add 50 cents. If the fare is between $5 and $10, round up to the next dollar and add $1. For fares over $10, round up and add $1.50 or $2.
Creative Tipping
The first lesson to learn about bribery is that flattery works. "Compliments are absolutely amazing pieces of communication," says Dr. Kelton Rhoads, a social psychologist and persuasion expert who offers influence consultation through his Website, Influenceatwork.com. "If I compliment you, even if you know that I'm kissing up, amazingly, studies have shown it will still affect your behavior on my behalf." The second thing to remember is that rare is the situation that can't be improved by a discreet show of appreciation. One Upper East Side mother, upon learning that her kids' private-school bus stopped six blocks away from her building, wondered how stops were assigned. It remained an open question until Christmas, when she tipped her children's driver $50. At the start of the New Year, the bus suddenly had a new designated stop right on their street.