Tipping at Disney World: Info & FAQ
Tipping at Walt Disney World can be confusing. Is gratuity included on the Disney Dining Plan? Do you tip your Magical Express driver? Is it okay to give money to Cast Members who make a magical moment? In this post, we’ll answer questions about when tipping is expected, appropriate, and how much to budget for tips at Walt Disney World.
I hesitated a while before tackling this topic on the blog. Gratuities have come up in the comments with some frequency, often by international visitors who are unaccustomed to tipping culture in the United States. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a topic I’ve been particularly eager to cover, primarily because I have strong personal opinions on tipping.
Ultimately, I view this as an unnecessarily convoluted topic, with an emphasis on unnecessarily. As such, rather than my normally verbose text, I’m going to cut to the chase here with categories and bullet points and suggested best practices…
Before that, there are a couple of important pieces of background information that will provide useful context in understanding gratuities at Walt Disney World. First, Florida law allows certain positions to be categorized as tipped employees, which entitles the employer to a tip credit of ~$3 per hour. Stated differently, tipped employees can be paid $3 per hour less than normal minimum wage.
Second, Cast Members in positions that are not categorized by Walt Disney World as tipped are required to refuse a tip three times before accepting. Even if you do decide to press ahead in this uncomfortable exchange, be aware that any tips given after refusal are required to be turned in to managers, and are not received by the Cast Member. It’s very well possible some just pocket the money (we hope so!), but you should not bank on that.
Instead, if you receive exemplary service from a Cast Member in a position that is not tipped, your best option is to go to Guest Relations and ask for the Great Service Fanatic Card. This isn’t just a way to say thanks, but is an important in receiving official (internal) recognition and can even be a factor in promotions.
If you forget to do this during your trip, you can either email ([email protected]) or tweet @WDWToday using the #CastCompliment hashtag. Making a point of doing this for under-appreciated roles like custodial, parking, etc., is a great practice. Praise is often heaped upon thoughtful princesses or superlative servers, but not so much for roles that traditionally have less guest interaction.
As you can probably surmise from the above, it’s awkward and unproductive to attempt tipping Cast Members who are not in tipped positions. Unless they are in some grey area or questions are anticipated, we won’t cover every position Cast Members can fill below. If they are not listed, assume tipping is not necessary or appropriate.
Transportation
- Disney’s Magical Express Driver – Yes, regardless of whether they handle your luggage. Base tip of $3-5 per party, plus $1-2 per bag. (Note that Disney’s Magical Express drivers are not Cast Members. They’re Mears–same as the taxis around property.)
- Lyft/Uber/Taxi – Yes. In their idealistic nascent stages, ride-sharing apps sought to eliminate tipping. As more has come to light about their drivers being under-compensated, the solution has been making them dependent upon tips, rather than paying them more and increasing base fares. We recommend tipping between 15% of the fare (longer rides) and 20% of the fare (shorter ride). Our rationale for this range is the proportionate sunk-time of the shorter ride (particularly true for ride sharing).
- Minnie Vans – Yes. These are now categorized as tipped positions by Disney, and these Cast Members can accept cash or in-app tips without following the “refuse three times” rule. Same tipping practices apply as for Lyft/Uber/Taxi.
- Valet – Yes. $2-5 to anyone who touches your car keys.
- Any Other Free Disney Transportation – No. Whether it be monorail, boat, or bus drivers, the answer here is no. Unlike Disney’s Magical Express drivers, these are all Disney Cast Members, and tipping is no more appropriate here than it would be to the Cast Member who operates Tomorrowland Speedway.
Hotels
- Bell Services – Yes, $1-2 per bag. As a general rule, you should tip anyone who touches your luggage in your view. This is also probably a good reminder that you should bring cash if you normally wouldn’t carry it, since most luggage-centric tipping situations will be cash-only.
- Concierge – No. While they may cheerfully provide great service and assistance in helping plan your day or make reservations for you, these are not tipped positions. (This is most definitely not the custom at off-site hotels, where you should tip the concierge.)
- Mousekeeping – It depends. This is probably the most controversial one on this list. While Mousekeeping is not classified as a tipped position, their workload and the personal service-oriented nature of their position leads many guests to leave them tips. At a minimum, we would recommend tipping if you leave a mess. In this case, $5 per day per room seems like a fair amount. (Even more if your kid pees the bed or other “labor intensive” accidents necessitate a deep clean.) If they are just changing the trash, making beds, and bringing fresh towels, consider tipping more of a polite gesture. Put a ‘thank you’ post it note over the money, or place it into an envelope addressed to Mousekeeping. Don’t want to hassle with a tip here? Leave the “Room Occupied” sign up.
- Personal Services – Yes. This covers things like spa services, golf caddies, rental boat operators, carriage guides, fishing guides, etc. This is also the one area that also extends into the theme parks, with locations like Harmony Barber Shop, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and the Pirates League, all of which call for around the same tip as you’d leave in a table service restaurant. (You do not tip in-park tour guides.)
Dining
- Table Service Servers – Obviously. It does not matter whether you’re on the Disney Dining Plan or paying out of pocket, you need to add a tip. (Gratuity used to be included on the Disney Dining Plan, but were eliminated a decade ago.) Custom in U.S. cities is 18-20%. This might surprise those of you from smaller towns who are used to 15%, which may very well be the norm there, but in Orlando, it’s 18-20%. Be mindful that in some cases, an 18% gratuity is automatically added to your bill–review that to ensure you don’t double-tip.
- Buffet Servers – Yes. There is prevailing sentiment that you can tip buffet servers less than traditional table service servers, which is likely predicated upon you doing part of the “work” by getting your own food. Just keep in mind these servers generally bring you drinks and clear more plates than a normal server would. Our rule here is no different than table service.
- Bars & Lounges – Yes. Either $2-3 per drink in cash to the bartender or, more likely, the standard 18-20% on a tab.
- Fast Casual Servers – I think so? Few things are more uncomfortable for me than venturing into a new fast-casual (read: fancy counter service) restaurant, ordering and paying, and then having an iPad flipped over to me to enter a tip. It’s always unclear whether this is a default feature of their software, or if they do provide some sort of ‘extra service’ that might cause their employees to be categorized as tipped. Usually, I’ll err on the side of caution and tip 10-12%, but this varies by location and is not a hard and fast rule.
- Counter Service Servers – No. There’s not even an option to leave gratuity at the register or on receipts.
- Outdoor Vending Carts – No. Even though this, in some cases, is basically just a mobile bartender, you don’t tip here.
All told, there are a lot of situations that necessitate tipping at Walt Disney World. How often and how much you need to tip depends on several variables, including how many people handle your luggage, how often you use paid transportation, personal services, etc. When it comes to how much you should budget for tips, it’s really impossible for us to say. It could be as little as $40 if you don’t do any table service meals, or in the hundreds of dollars if you do a lot of sit-down dining.
What we will say is that we’d recommend bringing at least $8-12 in cash for every night of your trip (so around $60-80 for a weeklong trip, give or take) in a variety of denominations. We say this as people who rarely carry cash at home, and have been in the awkward position of scrambling to try to find money for tips while at Walt Disney World. It’s better to err on the side of caution and have too much cash than not enough.
Finally, regardless of your personal feelings on tipping, don’t take that out on service industry workers in tipped positions. It is a myth that gratuity is a reward or incentive for exceptional service. Under Florida law, employees in tipped positions have a lower minimum wage, meaning that their tips are literally an assumption built into their salary. It’s simply a burden that has been shifted from their employer directly to the consumer for some reason.
You may disagree with this approach, particularly if you’re an international visitor used to employees being paid a living wage and not dealing with these shenanigans (or if you’ve read up on systemic discrimination reinforced by tipping culture). That’s fine, but you cannot “opt out” of tipping just because you disagree with it as a matter of policy. You are not going to effect social change by stiffing a server who has zero hand in writing Florida laws or in dictating societal norms and mores in the United States.
Unfortunately, since these are mostly unwritten rules and norms, there is a lot of room for interpretation; tipping practices do evolve, and also vary by region and even city within the United States. This is in part due to differences in employment law, standards of living, and local custom. All of this makes tipping a particularly tricky topic to tackle, and in no way should our advice here be viewed as definitive. The above is our understanding of tipping at Walt Disney World and our personal practices, but your mileage may vary.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with any of our suggestions on tipping? Any supplemental information to add, or things we missed? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Excellent article!
I did not know about the ability to go to guest services to complement someone. I will try to remember this on future trips. I do put a note in my phone to myself with cast members names that have been wonderful, and I always review restaurants etc on tripadvisor when I get home, and make a point of putting their name in the review.
I would add to remember people who bring things to your room you need, extra towels, grocery delivery, maintenance, etc. Some of the hotels are very spread out and they do not always arrive to your room in a cart. I have seen them hike from great distances.
Regarding the poster who commented on usually tipping a flat rate only, I disagree.
Unless someone is behaving in a completely rude manner (and there have been servers like that), not at Disney though, I practice a rough “base” tip thinking and definitely tip higher if someone is particularly nice and/or goes out of their way to be helpful.
My husband is someone who will do the “exact % tip” and I will give a few more dollars.
I am not wealthy but enjoy a nice life, and I always tell him (and my kids as I try to teach them how to function in the world), that those few extra dollars don’t mean a whole lot to me, but could be the difference in that person buying food, diapers or life’s other necessities for themselves or their families.
This post is helpful to understand who and who not to tip, but the premise is not correct. I spent 20 years in the service industry and I tip a standard amount for standard service, higher for good service, lower or nothing for bad service. The whole point of this system is to provide incentive for good service. That goes out the window and is counter-productive if you always tip the same amount (15-20%). If someone is getting low tips, they should think if a different line of work.
I am also very purturbed about restaurants that ask you to tip before any service is provided (tip when you paid at a counter service restaurant). Most if the time a service is not provided and you have no idea who the tip is going to. This practice is harmful to the whole system. You should not tip someone to take your money and hand you something in exchange.
Thanks again for tackling this “human” topic. This post and the one about wage negotiations are what set you apart from other blogs, some of which clearly receive incentives to turn a blind eye to anything that threatens to mar the “magic” veneer. Truth (and cash, for tipping) is king.
The only thing I would add is, if you have a discount, still tip on the full amount. AP holders and DVC members frequently have spa or food discounts and I know that a lot of people don’t tip on the full amount when they have a discount at spas especially.
I went to one of the Senses spas last year and had a discount and the woman at checkout asked if I wanted to leave a tip. When I told her the percentage I wanted to leave, she asked if I wanted to leave it on the full or discounted amount. Obviously, I told her the full amount and I asked if people really only tip on the discounted amount. Apparently, it was so common that she was actually afraid not to ask because people would get mad at her. Don’t be that person. Tip on the full amount.
Something to note — I was prepared to leave daily Mousekeeping tips during my recent stay at the Port Orleans French Quarter but was thrown off at check in when I was offered a “no daily housekeeping” option in return for a $50 Disney gift card. Since just 2 of us were in the room, I chose the gift card and only left a courtesy tip the day we left. Do all moderate hotels offer this option? I haven’t seen anyone mention it.
Thanks for your great blog!
My understanding is that this is now an option at all Value and Moderate Disney resorts. $10/night minus one night of your stay. Like you, I also took advantage of it on my most recent stay.
My one regret was that when I called and requested additional towels and coffee supplies, it didn’t cross my mind at the time to tip the Cast Member who brought them. I won’t let that happen again and will be more prepared.
“as I suspect your US readers are well aware of what to tip/and how to tip ”
As a US reader, this is still very helpful. Many of us in rural areas don’t regularly encounter people who rely on tips other than servers and barbers/hairdressers. Even then, it’s good to have refreshers, especially if, like me, you were raised by someone who didn’t believe in tipping so you didn’t learn all the people you were supposed to tip until your 20s and 30s.
“You are not going to effect social change by stiffing a server who has zero hand in writing Florida laws or in dictating societal norms and mores in the United States.”
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for this! There are lots of ways to advocate for better wage policy, but placing the burden on servers is definitely not one of them!
Your suggestions for compliments non-tipped cast-members are also excellent – I was not aware of some of the options, but I will definitely start taking advantage of them!
(As a side note, I would just like to say how wonderful it is to see the comment section on this post stay positive. It might be a bit of hyperbole to say it has restored my faith in humanity, but it has most definitely made my day a bit brighter!)
These are great ‘tips’ we in the UK are not accustomed to tipping to this scale at all. I hope that as a whole when we visit the US we are fair tippers, however, I possibly doubt that we are quite as generous as most people in the US just due to the fact that we find it hard to pay twice. This is obviously a bug barer for you Tom!!? I just wish that the pay was higher for the employees in tipping roles and that the employers would take some of their profit and pay their staff properly and then people could just tip extra for good service – service in the US as a culture is far better than anywhere in the world, and I can’t see that changing peoples pay to be much fairer in roles where you are required to tip, will change their attitude towards service – anyway probably going off on a bit of a tangent but thanks – its good to see how the tipping system works in a broken down format.
“This is obviously a bug barer for you Tom!!?”
Apologies, but I’m not sure what the bolded means. Thinking it might be a British term, IGoogled it, and it either is slang for bogeyman, or perhaps it’s just a typo?
In any case, I also just wish employees were paid a living wage and we didn’t have to play these games with tipping. I disagree that the United States has the best service culture anywhere in the world–although that is true as compared to most (all?) of Europe.
I say ‘bug bare’ myself. Its like, an annoying thing that grinds your gears.
Going on vacation to take pics in front of walls… that kinda thing 🙂
Ha – sorry – I meant that its a pain for you to have to do this kind of breakdown when I suppose its only for the international market – as I suspect your US readers are well aware of what to tip/and how to tip – therefore – you probably feel you’re kind of not revealing much for them. Hope I have made sense of it. How funny I didn’t know it was a British term – would also help if I spelt it correctly bug bearer!! its when something bothers or annoys you or you.
I have travelled to lots of places around the world – we had great service in India and some of the best places in Europe are Austria and Germany – The service in France isn’t always great (I am even saying this although I am half french). But we just always enjoy holidays in the US – maybe its the fact its so far away and different from Europe! PS I am an avid reader of all you and your wife blogs – they are such a good read – and very distracting when trying to get work done! Thanks
I took my daughter to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique & my son to Pirates League a few years ago and didn’t even think to tip, (I’m from the Uk). The costs are so high for these activities I can’t believe Disney don’t pay a decent wage with no need for tips for these activities. However, had I known I would definitely have tipped!
I’m IN the US and brought my niece to BBB two years ago, planning to return this summer, and it didn’t occur to me to tip, and the two young women who did her hair were the absolute best! You’re not alone in not realizing that at all! I plan to rectify that with my return trip this August.
You are not alone! As a Canadian I am used to tipping but I also didn’t realized that BBB is a tipable position. I would have done this for sure if I was aware! Thanks for mentioning this one Tom.
We found tipping in bars to be stressful on our last visit: not because we didn’t want to, but because its just not something that happens where we’re from and we were unclear when in the transaction a tip was meant to happen and how much to give. We were paying using our magic bands, and our suspicion was that the servers would have preferred cash tips, but really we didn’t know and didn’t feel confident in asking. It made us prefer drinking at Epcot at the festival booths where that pressure didn’t exist (I assume we weren’t meant to tip there?)
Does anyone know if there is a reasonable preference for cash vs digital tips? I always give cash tips at home as some employers continue to withhold tips in the UK from employees as a way of making up minimum wage changes or admin costs. Does that or anything like that happen at Disney?
Cash is King! As a former server, I can say with confidence most servers/bartenders are always going to prefer cash. At the end of a shift, you typically “claim” your tips. Rule of thumb for most is that you only claim enough tips to indicate you are making minimum wage, less taxes taken out etc, more take home pay. When leaving a tip on a card, you have to enter the whole amount because it’s documented. Sounds a little fraudulent but that’s just the way it is, and sometimes the only way these positions can make a living wage.
While Bridget is certainly right that bartenders (and anyone, for that matter) prefers cash, I never tip in cash at any dining location. Mostly out of necessity, as it’s rare for me to carry a sufficient amount of cash for a tip at a dining spot; partly out of convenience as it’s far easier to just deal with the transaction at the end rather than having numerous sub-transactions.
Between Walt Disney World being an international tourist destination and America becoming an increasingly cashless society, I would be shocked if more than 33% of guests tipped at restaurants and bars with cash. Of course a server will tell you they prefer a cash tip if asked, but it’s not the norm at Walt Disney World restaurants. No need to be uncomfortable about it! 🙂
tl;dr : Don’t worry about using digital tips. If you insist on worrying, increase the amount you tip very slightly when you tip digitally, as employers *are allowed to but do not always* take out processing fees on the tip amount.
This is not legal advice and should be used for informative purposes only. Consult a lawyer for legitimate legal advice.
What Bridget described is tax fraud in the U.S. Tips are explicitly defined as income. I wouldn’t worry about making that harder to do.
The only way digital tips can make it harder on an honest server is that the employer can take the processing fee *for only the amount of the tip* out of the tip.
Example: Say a card’s processing fee is 3%. You tip $1. The employer can take $0.03 to process the tip. if you care about this, increase your tips by a few percent of the tip amount (not the check amount).
FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) prevents the employer from keeping any tips for other reasons. The only other way tips might not be retained by the server is in pooling cases. Example: In restaurants, sometimes servers must tip out a portion of their tips to “customarily tipped positions” which can include cleaning staff or food runners. This happens whether you use cash or digital, though cash makes it easy for a dishonest server to lie and cheat their coworkers. Again, I wouldn’t feel bad about making this harder to do.
According to Tom above, WDW claims a tip credit. This is somewhat complicated.
Though the employer can claim a tip credit lowering their direct pay to the employee to below minimum wage, the employee MUST receive at least minimum wage.
Examples: Say minimum wage is $7.25, and the allowable credit is $2.25. So WDW pays the server $5 per hour. The server gets $5 in tips. The server received $10 that hour, and so WDW doesn’t do anything different, and only paid $5.
If WDW did not claim this credit, then they would be responsible for $7.25 in pay, and the server could have made $12.25.
However, server B received no tips. WDW pays $5 per hour, but this is below minimum wage. WDW then has to pay the employee the additional $2.25 per hour. The server still got minimum wage, and WDW had to pay $7.25 per hour. (But then they probably fired the server, so it’s a small comfort, and realistically most people are just missing out on the amount of the tip credit).
Sources:
Department of Labor (Federal) : https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.pdf
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity: http://floridajobs.org/docs/default-source/2017-minimum-wage/florida-minimum-wage-2017-announcement.pdf?sfvrsn=2
(Note that they say the credit can only apply “towards” the minimum wage, and does not replace it if they don’t reach minimum wage)
On tips being income:
U.S. IRS: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/reporting-tip-income-restaurant-tax-tips
I do like split stays at WDW (multiple vacations within a vacation) but I’m confused about the baggage transfer. I don’t like to call from the room and wait for Bell services to come and collect the baggage, so I bring them down myself and bring them to Bell Services.
I have tried to tip them in the past when I leave the baggage but they refused once, while accepted it on another case.
So what’s the standard here? I’ve read in other places that you tip only when you get the baggage back, but they were talking more of a situation where Bell Services take your baggage at your car and deliver it in your room a few moments later. If it’s in another hotel they’ll be certainly different people.
Every time the baggage changes from your hand to someone else’s, it’s correct form to tip.
We have had multiple Bell Services Cast Members seem mildly surprised when we’ve tipped when initiating a hotel transfer, so I’m guessing a lot of people don’t, but you should.
As a former housekeeper, I will add that while you are correct that “Mousekeeping” isn’t classified as a tipped role like a server (paid less than minimum wage with the expectation of tips), it is also a role where CMs were fully allowed to accept the tips left for them (well, it was 9 years ago. I suppose things could have changed). I think your guidelines are excellent across the board, including that area. I never expected tips, but greatly appreciated them. I do make a point to try and tip daily with this field when I travel, in case a different person was assigned to my room each day, which can happen on occasion due to staffing needs or time off. If you do want to leave something for your regular housekeeper and ensure he or she gets it, you can get his or her name (it should be left on a card in the room) and leave it at the front desk.
“…it is also a role where CMs were fully allowed to accept the tips left for them (well, it was 9 years ago. I suppose things could have changed).”
Things haven’t changed, Mousekeeping still retains their tips.
Great suggestion about inquiring with the front desk and leaving the tip that way–also a good opportunity to tell a manager about their excellent service! 🙂
As a food service worker whose income partially comes from tips I appreciate how you handled this delicate topic. The guidelines are quite useful.
As for your question about the tipping on an iPad, it IS built into the software, but obviously not compulsory. I skip it unless someone explicitly specifies to add a tip. I’ve found that even most people that pay with a card tend to prefer to leave a cash tip.
Just a comment on the “Don’t want to hassle with a tip here? Leave the “Room Occupied” sign up.” We are DVC members; always liked the every 4th day aspect of room service, but they will no longer allow just putting the “DND” sign out and not entering your room every day, just for trash pick up. It’s really in name of safety after the Las Vegas incident last year. I fee compelled to tip even for trash pick up. DM
Correct. The “Room Occupied” sign has replaced the “Do Not Disturb” signs to allow for potential safety checks.
thanks for this. Really useful help for a U.K. visitor in negotiating the strange practices of tipping in the US! As a seasoned visitor with almost 20 trips to the States-I’ve still
learned more tipping etiquette in this post so thankyou!
Thanks so much! I would love to hear your tipping thoughts as they relate to DCL.
Good advice about tipping on DCL can be found here:
https://blog.touringplans.com/2013/12/10/10-tips-tipping-disney-cruise-line/
That link is very useful but one more thing I would note. Unlike the BBB at WDW, I tried to tip on the BBB on DCL for my sons’ pirate makeover and was given the hard refuse and told they do not accept tips. I think that may be because they bring in some Youth club (nontipped) staff to help with the pirate makeovers. Still when in doubt, I always offer the tip, and cast members will always inform you if they cannot take a tip. In short, it never hurts to ask. Again, this is only for the cruise line, not Disney World.
I am personally a strong believer in a flat tip that has no relation to how good or poor the service was. I hate the feeling of having power over someone’s paycheck when dining at a restaurant, I think the job of incentivising good servers and performance-managing poor ones should solely be under the purview of management, and am frankly concerned about the risk of unintentional bias based on who the server is. (I would truly like to think I am above this, but a flat tip is a way of making sure). Similarly, I think tipping higher when someone is being extra nice to you sullies the interaction.
This doesn’t mean I would leave a tip for outright rude service, and as far as I am concerned the next step down from 18% is 0% along with a complaint to the manager. But this would require direct, explicit rudeness, not just inattention/forgetfulness/brusqueness or anything that could be mistaken for a “bad day” (luckily I’ve never received service so poor I have had to follow through on this promise…).
I’m interested to hear the perspective of those who disagree, though. Maybe this is just me as a non-American.
“This doesn’t mean I would leave a tip for outright rude service, and as far as I am concerned the next step down from 18% is 0% along with a complaint to the manager.”
Fortunately, I have never been in the type of scenario you describe, but my course of action would probably be speaking with management before it got to the part of the meal where a tip would be left, and requesting a different server (or flat out leaving?).
It’s hard to say how I’d react without being in that circumstance, but I’d like to think I wouldn’t let things progress to the point that I had the bill at the end of the meal and felt that way.
As a former server, I always directly address any issues about the server’s behavior with the server first. Most times, there is misunderstanding, or behind the scenes issues at play that are no fault of the server even though it may at first appear to be so. If discussing any difficulties results in worse performance or no improvement, then manager assistance almost always resolves the problem.
Please always remember that servers are people too… people who have families, bad days, illness, sometimes mean or nasty managers or coworkers, etc. You are only ever seeing the situation from one single perspective: your own. There are always many more perspectives to look at before making a judgement.
Tipping well (or even more than you think is deserved) doesn’t ever harm anyone and often times shows a level of mercy and graciousness that only speaks well of you and reminds the server that not all customers are jerks 😉
I think I may speak on behalf of all servers when I say that those customers who over-tip with a smile, even when our service wasn’t stellar, are long remembered and have many times turned my day from horrible to great. I still send up prayers of thanks for the ones who were thoughtful and kind when I did a bad job and made mistakes. My goal is to always be the customer that makes a server’s day better rather than worse.
Oh yeah–my first course of action most definitely would not be going to the manager. I’d attempt to address it politely with the server a few times, with the manager being the last resort. Even if the situation got that bad, I’d be careful with what I said when going to the manager, as I really wouldn’t want to be responsible for them being disciplined.
In most cases, I just let it go. I worked in the service industry years ago, and saw how awful customers can be firsthand. Whenever a server is having a bad day, I assume it’s the fault of other guests–not that the server is a jerk.
One thought–in most career fields, excellent work can lead to a pay raise or bonus. For servers, the only reward or recognition for going above and beyond is an additional tip. As a former waitress trying to pay my way throught college AND provide excellent service, I can tell you it meant a lot to me when I got a 30% or higher tip. The transaction was not sullied (not even sure what that means). Instead, I viewed it as an accomplishment and source of pride, not to mention I was grateful from a financial perspective as well.
As a server here in the US for over 18 years, I wholeheartedly disagree with a flat tip. I was very good at my job. If every night I ended with the same amount as my less diligent and charismatic co-workers, I would have been incensed. Tipped positions do not receive merit raises very often, and when they do, said raises are pretty small. Management at every restaurant I have ever worked at had the same mentality: your raises come on the floor.
This not only encouraged me to develop my customer service skills, but encouraged co-workers around me to up their game as well. Nobody wants to be compensated the same as people doing less work.
I’m glad to learn about the Fanatics Card from Guest Relations, or perhaps more so the electronic/Twitter equivalents. What a great solution to both recognize exceptional guest service and avoid uncomfortable tipping situations where the particular CM may not even retain the tip.
You’re welcome. Personally, I hope most Cast Members just pocket the cash (I would!), but it’s definitely not a sure thing…and is against policy, apparently.
Excellent list and sound reasoning. Much appreciated!
Thanks Tom – this is really useful for us visitors from across the pond.