Tipping floor installation guys?
Two guys from LB Flooring are installing 725 feet of prefinished wood floors in a brownstone apartment. What should I tip them? Will report back on quality of LB’s work.
Two guys from LB Flooring are installing 725 feet of prefinished wood floors in a brownstone apartment. What should I tip them? Will report back on quality of LB’s work.
well, 6:31, you must’ve been a pretty poor carpet layer to get only $5. If the tip were bigger, you’d probably feel gratitude, not disgust. I did tip the LB floor guys and they did a conscientious job.
I’ve done both kinds of jobs–waited tables and installed carpet. And the one time I got a tip as a carpetlayer it felt gross. I was getting paid a decent wage that I had already agreed upon. Getting a $5 pressed into my hand, with the attendant generosity ceremony, made me feel poorer and lamer than I was.
Now that I don’t do either of those jobs, I will never tip a craftsperson.
I do tip the carting guy’s assistant, and if I hired a day laborer and he did a good job, I would give him a large “tip” (ie, pay him what I thought he was worth and not his stated day rate).
But no, I would not tip someone who is skilled enough to be laying floors.
I guess I started this mess at 3:30. I just don’t think every job merits a tip. Maybe the service was so great that you can’t help but tip. But I don’t take out the tip calculator the minute a contractor walks in the door. I believe in tipping well, but not in tipping everyone. If you do a job for me that I cannot do myself, then I’m paying your boss for your skills and he, in turn, should be paying you for those skills.
Not to sound like I am 100 or like a “Golden Rule” nut – but I generally tip based on how I would like to be tipped if I were doing the job. Tipping people who have done a good job with a good attitude is just decent and the right thing to do. Every job has a different structure – sometimes it is a holiday bonus, other times it is comp. days and other times it is an enormous salary based bonus. Giving skilled workers cash at the end of their day is the same thing, to me.
11:59 is an idiot. what’s the difference between someone who serves you food versus someone who comes to your home for 15 hours to install wood floors in the heat? both are perfomring services. both don’t own the business they work for. If I want to tip these guys, don’t insult me on it. You are a cheap-a$$, plain and simple.
10:01 – Thank you for the compliment but it was my mom who was the class act – in many ways. Just to add that I in no way intended to imply that an owner or gc be tipped. I was referring to laborers, service people and those who obviously do not make much (not highly skilled tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians, etc.)- especially if it was job well done.
to poster 6:37, usually people from working class, or at to say “not wealthy” are the ones that realize and appreciate quality labor and what goes into it. long story short the rich do not tip, they also are most likely to complain/start litigation lol
you are a class act
If you have a double front door wait outside behind the braced door and trip them as they exit the building. That way you get the added effect of a stoop fall as part of the deal.
You are paying them to do the work. Where does it end? They are not waiters or taxi drivers. Tipping is out of control. I wouldn’t tip these guys anything. I don’t tip plumbers, electricians, carpenters, the exterminator, or my contractors guys. For God’s sake, I can’t believe
all this talk. People are intimidated and that is why they do this ridiculous tipping. I bought my contractor some alcohol and some nice sweets for the holidays and sometimes I give people money or stuff when I feel like it. It is NOT obligatory. I think it is nuts.