Home Forums Skybox Sports Bar Shoot The Breeze The Art of Tipping...............

As each year goes by I am amazed at the lack of knowledge people have when it comes to tipping.

Mind you some people have it down to a science and know when to tip and the right amount based on their experience or their winning.

Some folks either don't know the etiquette behind tipping or just don't feel they need to. I'd hate to be their waiter or someone that has provided a service to them where tipping is the norm.

I have taken excerpts from the Gentleman's Guide To Tipping

A gentleman knows when and how to tip those who serve him. The unmannered and uncouth do not. Tipping an individual, while not mandatory, should always be done. The only occasion you should not leave a tip is if the service was completely horrendous and the person providing the service made no attempt to remedy the situation.

Traveling

Housekeeping at the hotel. A good tip for housekeeping is between $2 to $5. Don’t just leave cash on the nightstand. It might not be clear to your maid that the money is for her. Make sure to leave the tip in an envelope marked for housekeeping.

Tour guide. Tip between $1 to $5 per person in your group.

Skycap or bell hop. $1 to $2 per bag they lug for you. If you’re running late and the skycap books your luggage to your plane so you can get there on time, bump up the tip.

Doorman. Only tip the doorman at a hotel if he gives you a hot tip on the best places to eat or visit while in town.

Personal Services

Massage Therapist. Give 10 to 20 percent of the total cost.

Nurses. Usually tipping nurses at hospitals is not permitted, but don’t tell that to my wife’s Italian grandma. She’s a retired nurse and believes you should definitely tip nurses and other health assistants. Any time she’s at the hospital you can guarantee she’s getting the best service because she gave her nurse “la boost.”

Valet parking. $2-$5 for the valet who parks your car, and $2-$5 for the valet who later retrieves it.

Baristas/Smoothie Makers/Ice Cream Scoopers. It seems like all these types of establishments have tip jars nowadays. Spare change is always appreciated. If the barista starts making your order as soon as you walk in so that its ready for you by the time you get up to pay, tip a little extra. If they sing a song when you give them a tip, ask them to not sing it or you’ll take the tip back.

Hairstylist. Tip 15% of the cost of the haircut.

Takeout. If you order takeout from a restaurant make sure to tip the cashier a bit. While they weren’t waiting on you hand in foot, they did have to bust their butt to get your order together and ready. If they help you take your order out to the car, tip a bit extra.

Car washer. $3 bucks is good for a basic car wash. If they take extra time in when detailing it, give 10% of the cost of the wash.

Tattoos/Body Piercings. 15% of the total cost. If the tattoo artist does an amazing job of capturing the image of your mother on your arm, tip extra.

Tow Truck. It depends on what services the person provides. If they jump your car or change your tire, tip about $4. If they tow it, $5 is good tip. If they are towing you away from a no parking zone, give them the finger.

Bagger at the grocery store. Typically, people no longer tip grocery baggers. It’s not necessary, but definitely a nice gesture. $1 is a good tip.

Delivery Services

Newspaper deliverer. During the holidays, give them a card with $20. My in-laws do this every year and as a result, they have their paper delivered straight to their door instead of just thrown on the driveway.

Pizza/Meal delivery. 15% is customary. If the weather is bad, i.e. there’s snow and ice or a tsunami, and you’re risking the delivery guy’s life so you don’t have to risk yours, tip extra.

Furniture/large appliance delivery. $5 per person. If they stick around and help you assemble or rearrange your furniture, tip extra.

Out on the Town

Waiters. 15 to 20% is customary. If they do an exceptional job, pay more. If you come in with a large group make sure to ask if gratuity is added into your check so you don’t tip them twice. (Of course, as a former waiter, I always appreciated it when someone gave me a little extra in addition to the gratuity.) Be extra generous when you’re on a dinner date with a new lady; she’ll be sure to steal a glance at the tip line of your bill to see if you are a cheap loser or a real gentleman.

Bartenders. 15 to 20%. Again, if they do an excellent job give more. If you come during happy hour and down 20 $.99 cent draws, don’t just leave 15%. Bartenders have to bust their butt to get those things poured for you and deserve more than just your change.

Casino. There are lots of people you could be tipping at a casino. First, you have cocktail waitresses. 15% is customary. Many people tip dealers when they have a successful run, ensuring the continuation of good karma.

Taxi. Standard tip is 15%. If they get you to your destination quickly, tip extra.

Holidays

During the holidays, it’s customary to give a little more for the everyday services we receive. Here is just a short list of people you should consider giving “la boost” to during the holidays.

Mailman. It’s against federal law to tip federal employees, but they can accept gifts of less than $20. But most will probably look the other way if you give more.

Garbage/recycling man. These guys have a dirty job, recognize their work around the holidays by giving them a tip. $10 per person is nice.

Teachers. If you have kids in school, it’s usually customary to give their teacher a small gift at Christmas time. It doesn’t have to be big. Here’s a tip: teachers get box loads full of body lotion, candles, and various apple themed knickknacks (no, you’re not the first person to think of giving them an apple-shaped paperweight). Give them something they’ll really enjoy like a gift card to Borders or Target.

Babysitter. A gift in addition to their normal pay is nice. Gift cards are always appreciated.

Cleaning person. An extra week’s pay or a nice gift.

Hope this helps somebody out, because the last thing you want to do is come across as cheap or as the author stated unmannered and uncouth.

Hey Freak - you forgot one. Speaking of casino tipping, what about sports contests like Three & Out, March Madness, etc. If the host of a particular contest or pool is doing all of the work to facilitate, its nice for the winners to give a little back.

Birdie - You are right ON! Guys, make sure you take care of the Freakster, he busts his ass and I know he appreciates any and all tips cause it all adds up.

Thanks for all your hard work Freak and Happy New Years!

Best of Luck to ya!

Well I have to assume you are talking about me as the person being the host.

I am not going to name names, but there are people that have won thousands of dollars and didn't tip one cent.

Unfortunately for me there have been several of these take place.

I pay for my entries always and pay out every thing. So I am not getting anything off the top or a free ride. I do all the work by hand, do all the grading, website updating, e-mailing and it's a lot of work not to mention time in doing all of this.

One day down the road, way down the road, I am going to share a story that would blow people's minds. Even I was floored about the absurdity.

Name the names FREAK.

I think you should shame these people.

If they are that cheap or narrow minded they need outed.

It's been too long for me not to be posting and I apologize for that. I have been lurking and reading however.

I am not that savvy when it comes to handicapping and don't want to embarrass myself with a bunch of bad picks.

I have to disagree when it comes to casino dealers. Win or lose, I tip 15%-20% of my initial bankroll. The dealer does all the work and, if he’s fast, but patient with others – he definitely needs to be rewarded. I never tip my bookie (runner) cash, but win or lose I always buy him lunch on settle-up day, and take him out to dinner with his wife twice a year. If I win big, I’ll buy him a pie.

Odd question, what is an appropriate tip if I win a contest to tip the admin of the contest? Thanks!

Crazy how some people can't even tip. I hit the 5-0 twice last year and tipped both. Hit the 5-0 this year and tipped part of that. There's a lot of work involved to e-mail out the lines, get their picks and tally everything up, then grade everything. Pretty unappreciative of some people if they've won thousands and couldn't tip. That's embarrassing if you ask me.

I have never won this but I have hit the 5-0 a few times and always tipped in the 20% range.

Personally I think Freak should either take 10% off the top of the contest or at the very least two free entries. I've run contests, pools and leagues before and it can be a PITA. My GF currently runs a card league at the bar where they play for lunch money and you wouldn't believe the grief she gets. Not worth it for free.

This topic timing is perfect.

I was asked what it takes to run a contest of this magnitude and I sat down and wrote out what it takes. It goes as follows:

What goes into putting on the Bad Man contest?

When the final game of the regular season ends, the contest work for next year starts. It all starts with preparing a new spreadsheet and updating information from the just completed season.

July kicks things off typically as I create the thread in the forum advising of the rules and that the contest is open for registrations. Not only for Bad Man but Three and Out as well.

A newsletter is put together and sent out to the forum and to everyone that was in the prior years contest. That is typically done at the end of July and another newsletter about three weeks later in August as the season is only a few weeks away.

It gets really busy going forward as people enter the contests. I answer a lot of questions, have people sending me funds to enter and a lot of bookkeeping to keep the book straight. Money is transferred from my account to a separate account and it sits there until its time to pay out the winners from not only Bad Man but the 5-0 Side Jackpot and Three and Out.

In the final days before the Friday deadline to enter and submit picks for week 1, it is really hectic and a big overload of time and stress. The last-minute entries come in fast and furious and not only those via Zelle but those that have paid by money order or cashier’s check.

The first week of the season starts for me on Tuesday as I have to print out a rotation schedule. From there, I manually enter it into a spreadsheet and put a preliminary line for each game. For those games with a solid number, I have to determine which way I think the line is going to move. For example, if a line is 6, I have to determine if I’m using 5.5 or 6.5, it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Wednesday, I go back into the rotation schedule and see if the lines have moved, they typically do, it’s like clock work and I make adjustments to the lines if necessary. My alarm goes off at 5:55PM Eastern to remind me to send out the lines for my 6PM Eastern deadline. At that point, I do one last check of the lines for any movements. Next, I take the lines from the spread sheet and load it into the software, quadruple check for errors and upload the information onto the Freaksforum Bad Man webpage. Next step is to post the rotation schedule in the Bad Man topic in the forum. From there it’s on to the e-mail I send out weekly with all of the information. I also have to update the auto response to let you know I received your selections.

Friday afternoon I start inputting the selections into the spread sheet that the contestants send in. This goes on all day and up until the very last minute before entries for the week close. Even then, I often have to deal with people who send in their picks past the deadline and it’s no fun because everyone thinks it’s so easy to just allow them to be late. Sorry, but there’s a deadline for a reason. Even Fezzik found that out in the Circa Invitational this year.

The one thing that I do as the picks come in, I’m tick marking the rotation schedule so when it comes time to do the tallies of picks for each team, I can double check that everything matches up. Most times it does, but I’m not a machine and have to spend time to find my mistake. Sometimes it’s as easy as entering NE instead of NEP or just a mistype from what I’ve manually entered in. When you send in your picks, I tick mark the rotation schedule and then manually type your picks into the spreadsheet. Not to mention the people that don't list their picks in rotation order as it asks, I have to write down the picks and re-order them and enter them in the spreadsheet.

Once everything matches up, I take that spreadsheet and post it on the Bad Man webpage. From there I take the tallied list by team and post it on the webpage and then figure out the consensus top five picked teams.

Sunday, I grade the games manually. Typically, after the 1PM games are all final, then after the 4/425PM games are completed and finally again after the late game. If all five picks are graded, I come up with your record for the week and then tally it to the overall season record and update the points earned. I do this for the rest of the entrants who use the MNF game after it ends.

I then have to reorder everyone by points earned but before doing that, I go over the weekly record to make sure I didn’t make a mistake and check the standings to make sure I didn’t miss to update the point total.

Then I post the information on the Bad Man webpage, which also includes updating the weekly consensus record and the weekly overall info on W/L and the weekly consensus record.

Back to the spreadsheet to manually transfer information from the closed week into the next week which includes the standings and points earned. From there I print out a new rotation schedule for the upcoming week and manually enter it into the spreadsheet and Tuesday starts everything all over again. This for 18 weeks of the season and managing the Three and Out contest and Three and Out.

I do a write up in the forum about the week of Bad Man. If you didn't check it out during the season, you missed a good read.

In between all of this, I get inquiries regarding a multitude of things.

I’ll fast forward to the end of the season as that’s where this started. I send out e-mails to the 5-0 Side Jackpot winners. I do them in batches so I can handle it a bit easier than sending out all 18 weeks at once. Zelle has a limit on what you can send daily so I have to keep that in check as well.

I’m able to use the week verification period to get this completed. Someone always requests a verification of the results so it’s unofficial for several days. There has never been a change to the standings but it’s a fail safe put in place nonetheless.

From there it’s to pay out the winners of the Bad Man contest.

And we are back to where it all starts again.

As you can see it’s a lot of work and a lot of time. So, you want to run a season long cash football contest? There are other things that go on with maintaining the contest such as the cost of the software, the ISP, the URL, and the massive amount of time spent on doing all the work.

A ton of work and very much appreciated. Not only all of this but the daily running of the site!