Tips for holiday tipping
When Paula Quick left a management position at a Fortune 500 company to start her own business, her passion for quality customer service went with her. The difference was she had to provide it at a more basic level.
The shift also made her consider more closely those who provide her with services.
“In my opinion, poor customer service is intolerable because I feel the customer is always right. Even when the customer is wrong, the customer is right,” said the founder of Quick Work Wellness in Short Pump, who is a motivational speaker, reflexologist and holistic entrepreneur coach.
“Whenever I experience great customer service . . . I don’t hesitate about tipping generously . . . [and] acknowledging what a great job they’ve done. That’s very important, too, to let them know that the extra effort is acknowledged and appreciated.”
The holiday season is the perfect time to show one’s appreciation to those who provide various services year-round. Hairstylists, teachers, babysitters and delivery people traditionally made up the list that has become crowded of late with a variety of niche-services providers.
Personal trainers, makeup consultants and organizers are now as likely to be on someone’s holiday tip list as life coaches, masseuses, dog walkers, pet groomers and elder-care workers.
A survey of 1,800 Americans in the December issue of Consumer Reports confirmed as much — and discovered more: Holiday tips are up about $5 each compared with last year. Manicurists, personal trainers and stylists averaged about $20 in cash or the equivalent. Child-care providers andhousekeepers, meanwhile, pulled in $40 to $50 as gifts or hard currency.
The increased amounts can put a dent in wallets already thinned by high gasoline prices, leading to a dilemma: tip or skip? And if you do tip, whom do you choose and how much is appropriate?
Budget aside, etiquette experts said your relationship with the person is a consideration. So is where you live. According to the Consumer Reports survey, people living in the Northeast give bigger tips than Southerners.
Lonnie Poindexter, a floor installer and former Long Islander, agreed.
“You can actually live off tips in Long Island,” he said. “Every job, that was just the custom.”
Poindexter said he paid for his wife’s business, Beyond Beauty Spa & Salon on East Grace Street, with tip money. There, he said, customers don’t always tip — not that his wife or the staff expect one during the year or at holiday time.
“It depends on how well the client knows the beautician, stylist or masseuse,” he said.
When asked what would be considered a good tip, Poindexter took an impromptu poll of the staff. The consensus was 10 percent to 20 percent of a service fee during the year. Around the holidays, they said, 30 percent would f-tibe a definite bonus.
“It’s a really hard question,” said Poindexter, who said he usually tips his barber $10 on a $15 haircut and adds extra during the holidays.
That barber, Felix Banks, said his best holiday tip ever was $40-$50 on a $10 haircut.
“But not everybody is in a place where they can tip as much as the next man,” said Banks, who works at Genuine You Hair Salon in Midlothian. “Every tip is appreciated. It’s not a given . . . but the vast majority do, even if it’s just $1 or $2.”
Food, chocolates and Starbucks gift cards are some of the ways pet owners have thanked staff during the holidays at the All Dog Playskool on Thalbro Street, said Jamie Love, evening supervisor.
Professional organizer Debbie Bowie of Simply Organized in Mechanicsville said clients often give her a gift instead of cash, but she once got an extra $50.
“That was really nice,” she said, laughing. “Certainly the money is not likely something I couldn’t or wouldn’t use and if I had to say a preference, the money is nice because then I can get something I really need.”
Michele Mattice, who started her pet-sitting and errand-running business in June, hasn’t had to deal with the holiday tipping issue yet. But the owner of Henrico County-based How May I Help You already knows what she wants from her clients.
“If they would like to give me a Christmas bonus, I would like a referral,” she said.
By Penelope M. Carrington
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