Tipping barbers

[themdamnducks]

Ok, so i go and get my haircut yesterday at one of the chain barbers. A haircut there is only $12 and i always leave a $3 tip. Now my wife starts to complain that i am tipping too much. She doesn't think i should give them more then $2! But she also complains that i tip the pizza guy too much also. Although as long as i tip them what i do we have never had a pizza come late or cold or anything!! What do you guys/gals think??

[TakeMyCrabs]

From your wife's perspective:

Have the extra dollar be spent on a stranger or have the extra dollar spent on her.

I know what I'd choose if I was the wife...

[toader]

10-20% is standard, more if you choose.

For my haircuts, which are the same price, I usually tip $2, maybe $3 if I'm in a good mood and the person did a good job while being friendly, chatty, and prompt.

For an on time pizza costing around 10-15 bucks, I will tip 2-3 dollars depending on the exact price.

[Dawnmaster]

Well, in America life's "cheap" compared to Belgium, so feel free to tip whatever you please, iirc "the average tip" is 15% (so in your case 2 euros would be enough, but if you think the barber did a splendid job and wish to give 3, then by all means)

In Belgium, prices are so high because the tip is more or less included in the price.

[themdamnducks]

I understand what you are saying tmc, but i also take the point that she gets my paycheck every week anyways so one less dollar for her isn't going to kill her!

And for pizza my average order is around $15 and i usually just give the driver a $20 and tell him to keep the change. I mean, gas is expensive, they have to use their own car and they don't get paid a whole lot an hour! That's how i feel anyways, wife just doesn't agree!

[WzWz]

I think since you've been tipping $3 for the barber, you should continue. If you've been to the place regularly, and you suddenly start tipping lower, the barber may be angry. But in the case of pizza, it should usually be different people, shouldn't it? If so, you can get away with tipping lower I suppose. $5 dollar tip on a $15 dollar pizza is a lot though. I can't say that I've tipped more % than that... on purpose.

[LunarSolaris]

I will usually tip anywhere from 15-20% depending on service. If the service isn't very good, I'll tip less (no tip if the services was flat out bad). 20% of $13 is $2.60. So... $.40 isn't a huge differential to be honest - particularly if your barber does a good job and you like the place.

[TakeMyCrabs]

I understand what you are saying tmc, but i also take the point that she gets my paycheck every week anyways so one less dollar for her isn't going to kill her!

And for pizza my average order is around $15 and i usually just give the driver a $20 and tell him to keep the change. I mean, gas is expensive, they have to use their own car and they don't get paid a whole lot an hour! That's how i feel anyways, wife just doesn't agree!

But if you add up all those extra dollars you spend on tipping, she can take herself out to a nice place once every once in awhile...

[themdamnducks]

I'm definetly not going to stop just because she says so...if that was the case i would never feel boobs again!!

The main reason i tip the way i do to pizza guys is because when i was in college i delivered pizza. They don't get paid crap and there are more people then you would think that don't tip crap! They think that delivery fee is part of the drivers tip, but it isn't....that pays for the places insurance on the driver!

I also think that it bothers my wife the way i tip because is because her dad is one of those that doesn't tip crap anywhere. We go out to eat and he leaves a $1. Good service, bad service, it doesn't matter. We order pizza at his house and he leaves enough to round up the total to the next dollar and that's it.

[Thelioness]

I will usually tip anywhere from 15-20% depending on service. If the service isn't very good, I'll tip less (no tip if the services was flat out bad). 20% of $13 is $2.60. So... $.40 isn't a huge differential to be honest - particularly if your barber does a good job and you like the place.

Like Lunar said, you are only tipping your barber 23% which is pretty close to the standard. And unless you really want to have 40 cents rattling around in your pocket why not round up?

$5 for a pizza delivery seems pretty high. I would say that a couple of bucks is about the average.