[3.0L]

I dropped off my M235i this morning for its annual service. I couldn't help but notice that the courtesy car driver paused in my driveway before leaving. I didn't look back at him directly, but it occurred to me that perhaps he was waiting for a tip. I've used courtesy cars many times over the years and never had any hint that a tip was expected.

He was a very nice young man, so maybe I should've tipped him. What is normal/expected?

[overcoil]

Tipping can get out of hand.
But I would have tipped if he brought me back to my house in the dealership car

[BEM-S4]

Depends - I don't think you need to since the kid's either doing that or something else at the shop so he's really just on the clock so to speak. That said $5 and a "grab yourself some coffee on the way back" wouldn't be inappropriate.

I've had everyone from kids to sales managers, just depending on who had 5 mins, drop me at my office which is a mile from the dealer, I rarely suck up a loaner for the day to save one for someone who really needs it. If it's someone like a sales guy or whatever no that would be really weird.

What I do try to do is at the holidays drop by with a bottle of something for my sales guy and service advisor, service advisor especially. I typically get loaner cars if needed and appointments with little or no notice and oftentimes just show up. I'm not an asshole but my schedule is unpredictable.

[mike@x-ph.com]

I dont think you need to tip him for doing his job

[Rayscott]

I usually take the loaner car. Some of them have been pretty cool rides.

[B_Rice]

I'd tip if they dropped it off at my house.

[Maynard]

I'd tip, never hurts to increase the odds of things happening again, and going well when they do. And glad I'm not the only person who gifts my SA at Christmas w/booze. Haven't really done anything more than change tires w/ the SA but once we get to know each other I'll put them on the list too.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by Maynard

I'd tip, never hurts to increase the odds of things happening again, and going well when they do. And glad I'm not the only person who gifts my SA at Christmas w/booze. Haven't really done anything more than change tires w/ the SA but once we get to know each other I'll put them on the list too.

I realize I'm a pain in the ass to deal with - not due to asshole behavior that's a completely different issue. Bottle of booze at the holidays is just the standard gift, in my mind, for someone that has repeatedly helped me out during the year. That said, and there's no really PC way to say this, but for folks I have working for me who money really matters like the dog walker, maid etc a C Note is the way to go.

[stewie]

I had offered a tip first time I was dropped off many years ago, and he refused it.
Since then, no tipping.

[Maynard]

Agreed - kind of tacky to give a $40 bottle to somebody making close to min wage. I also haven't found a really slick way to check that they aren't in AA, so if I don't know them well enough to just ask, I stick w/ something non-alcoholic. And I figure they have been real cool about all my little peculiarities and detailed RQ's - and really, just the front-end treatment was worth it, not hard-selling me on useless protection plans and not drilling the front plate holes, letting me store the new snows there for a month in the SA's office 'til the car came in, etc. And I'm not even a long-termer (yet).

[USA-RET]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Tipping can get out of hand.
But I would have tipped if he brought me back to my house in the dealership car

Not sure what your financial situation is, but anymore, I tend to tip anyone that provides an acceptable level of service to me.

Most don't make a lot of money so the extra cash they get really means something to them.

[Corinne]

In Europe life is so much simpler - you don't tip ! Maybe in restaurants but the service is already added to the bill. Whenever I go to the US I find it very stressful because everyone seems to expect a tip. Everywhere you go there's a cup marked "tips" on the counter. I never know how much I'm supposed to give, and to whom... It's a big pain in the arse.

[ORIGIN M.]

Tips stands for...

TO INSURE PROMPT SERVICE.

To get exceptional service you tip in advance.


I do not tip any dealership employees as a general rule.

I'd consider buying them something from Starbucks if I'm going there anyway.

[ORIGIN M.]

Pay in cash and leave nothing IF the service sucks, 10% if it's just okay and 20% IF they make the experience memorable. I do not tip bad attitudes, no exceptions. A server is not entitled to it.

IF you feel they did not attend to you, then leave nothing and do not give it another thought.

Originally Posted by Corinne

In Europe life is so much simpler - you don't tip ! Maybe in restaurants but the service is already added to the bill. Whenever I go to the US I find it very stressful because everyone seems to expect a tip. Everywhere you go there's a cup marked "tips" on the counter. I never know how much I'm supposed to give, and to whom... It's a big pain in the arse.

[Maynard]

I'm thinking you never worked in a tip-dependent job like waiting tables or bartending. Tipping just 10% is asking for trouble, an underhanded insult - better to just skip the tip, but don't go back there again (you don't remember them, but they will remember you). 15% is the standard (i.e. the IRS assumes that they are making that all the time). No tipping doesn't send feedback, they just assume you are another penny-pinching dbag (no crime to not want to give them extra for a bad attitude, but it won't help anything); most places split tips so it is still pretty indirect.

And anyplace I ever worked had something like the 'economizer special' that was a bonus added for those regulars who used your tactic - I still recall a group of lawyers from next door to the deli I worked in who would regularly come over at about 3:30 and take up 2-3 tables drinking coffee and BS'ing for about 2 hours, snotty and demanding of the staff, then leave whatever change was left on the bill (not the paper change, just whatever coins). Over time they helped reduce my fear that ingesting human body fluids and hair would have long term health impacts, never even slowed them down. Hey, you never did this in Cleveland did you?

[ORIGIN M.]

Originally Posted by Maynard

I'm thinking you never worked in a tip-dependent job like waiting tables or bartending. Tipping just 10% is asking for trouble, an underhanded insult - better to just skip the tip, but don't go back there again (you don't remember them, but they will remember you). 15% is the standard (i.e. the IRS assumes that they are making that all the time). No tipping doesn't send feedback, they just assume you are another penny-pinching dbag (no crime to not want to give them extra for a bad attitude, but it won't help anything); most places split tips so it is still pretty indirect.

And anyplace I ever worked had something like the 'economizer special' that was a bonus added for those regulars who used your tactic - I still recall a group of lawyers from next door to the deli I worked in who would regularly come over at about 3:30 and take up 2-3 tables drinking coffee and BS'ing for about 2 hours, snotty and demanding of the staff, then leave whatever change was left on the bill (not the paper change, just whatever coins). Over time they helped reduce my fear that ingesting human body fluids and hair would have long term health impacts, never even slowed them down. Hey, you never did this in Cleveland did you?

Thats the problem with this world today. Entitlement. IRS assumes they are making over 8%. Most places don't share tips, the ones who do give less service accordingly.

First you are wrong.

Second if service is just okay no fucking way they are getting more than 10% tip. You are just giving your money away. That's on you.

[ORIGIN M.]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I dropped off my M235i this morning for its annual service. I couldn't help but notice that the courtesy car driver paused in my driveway before leaving. I didn't look back at him directly, but it occurred to me that perhaps he was waiting for a tip. I've used courtesy cars many times over the years and never had any hint that a tip was expected.

He was a very nice young man, so maybe I should've tipped him. What is normal/expected?

No, that is his JOB /

[Maynard]

You are absolutely correct - this is me just giving my money away. It is not obligatory, not even close, that is part of the value of it. Not sure where the 'entitlement' bit comes from, I think you are projecting - any waiter that told me they were entitled to a tip would probably find it hard to get one out of me if I didn't strongly agree. It is something that I see as part good karma, part sharing my good fortune, and partly good old fashioned manipulation. But it does have very real effects - if you go to the same places regularly, and if you show this type of attitude there, then you are probably getting the special sauce.

Sure I wish we lived in a world where everybody took personal pride, and put their best into their job, and took offense at the idea that they needed a tip to do a good service. But that would also be a world where 'minimum wage' was seen as the hourly cost of a man's life, so it would be a decent living wage; not just a commodity that you can drive down to the lowest bid-point.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I dropped off my M235i this morning for its annual service. I couldn't help but notice that the courtesy car driver paused in my driveway before leaving. I didn't look back at him directly, but it occurred to me that perhaps he was waiting for a tip. I've used courtesy cars many times over the years and never had any hint that a tip was expected.

He was a very nice young man, so maybe I should've tipped him. What is normal/expected?

No, unless you had asked him to go out of his way to drop you off at a local Gentlemen's club.

[ORIGIN M.]

Originally Posted by Maynard

You are absolutely correct - this is me just giving my money away. It is not obligatory, not even close, that is part of the value of it. Not sure where the 'entitlement' bit comes from, I think you are projecting - any waiter that told me they were entitled to a tip would probably find it hard to get one out of me if I didn't strongly agree. It is something that I see as part good karma, part sharing my good fortune, and partly good old fashioned manipulation. But it does have very real effects - if you go to the same places regularly, and if you show this type of attitude there, then you are probably getting the special sauce.

Sure I wish we lived in a world where everybody took personal pride, and put their best into their job, and took offense at the idea that they needed a tip to do a good service. But that would also be a world where 'minimum wage' was seen as the hourly cost of a man's life, so it would be a decent living wage; not just a commodity that you can drive down to the lowest bid-point.

I tip on service not because somebody has a low paying job.

Servers oftentimes expect good tips, even when they do a crappy job serving. Go figure.

[caraway81]

No need to tip him.