How much should I tip my maid? - Page 2

I dunno, do you tip the illegal immigrant who mows your lawn??

K

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA Jon.

Funny thing about gratuity etiquette, why not tip your maid if you'd tip your barber/manicurist?

If you're paying cash, just negotiate a fair payment. If you like, think of this as just including the tip in the regular payment. When you tip at the salon, you are basically giving the recipient income s/he may or may not report.

Your barber or manicurist is usually an employee. The basic fee you pay goes to their employer and is distributed to them only indirectly; your tip to the barber is your personal expression of appreciation for his effort in the work he has performed specifically for you.

If a maid is operating a a business as a self-employed independent contractor, she's performing a service for which she is being directly paid. She's obtensibly charging a fee that represents the full value of her work.

When we moved to our current house a couple of years ago, I started off tipping the maids $15. They in turn started going above what was negotiated in our agreement (e.g. doing the laundry, folding clothes, tidying up the garage etc.) so I tipped them some more, so they did some more.

I think with tip I'm now paying about $25 above what we agreed to as a price, but they're doing at least that much more in "extra" work. They come once per week, and my wife loves it, so in my mind it's a no-brainer.

FWIW I tried to tip my lawn-service guys, but they just credited my tip to the following month's bill. Same thing for the pooper-scoop guy, who I'd gladly pay twice what he's charging.

I have a maid service that comes to my home once a week. I always request the same person. For 2 1/2 hours of work, the company charged 86.00. I always pay cash and give 100.00. She goes about what they say they do. On their website, they said up front, they do not do laundry, or dishes. They do not move heavy objects (dog cages in my case). She does my laundry, all dishes, and will move and mop behind and under all my dog crates. Just this pass week, I was sick. She spent an extra 60 minutes at my house free of charge to finish cleaning up the extra mess I left laying around. If for some reason they have to send someone else out, I wait till I see the work they do before deciding to tip them. Even when money is tight, shes understands and does just as good of a job that she normally would do.

 

I've had two live-in maids. Each was paid approx. $500 per month plus room and board for 6 days a week labor. One was a proselytizing Christian. Dismissed. The other was a thief. Fired. The last maid lived w/ her boyfriend and didn't require room and board. I paid her $400 per month and a $100 bonus was given provided a) she didn't annoy me and b) I had not one complaint of the quality of her work. The $100 tip proved a strong enticement and I had no problems.

I say don't tip her. We use to tip our cleaning lady, for a $60 service we paid her $70. She then raised the price on us, which she wanted $80. Needless to say, on a matter of principle we booted her and got someone else.

On another note, in my town, it doesn't matter if they are illegals or not, they still get paid the same amount. Also, I wouldn't try to negotiate based on that. Keep in mind that they are walking in and out of your house all the time. She could easily walk out with something of equal value to how much less you are paying her. my 2 cents.

Rare. I find that I have to keep on switching them up. We have had many in the family and we end up using new ones all the time because they start to slack or they become too friendly with us and expect something more.

Ask if want make sex!

Ugh... gentlemen on a style forum suggesting that you not tip a professional service...???

How banal and how pedestrian.

Of course, you tip, old sport.

And even when the service is sub-par... you just tip less.

 

If it is an infrequent maid, mower, private car-type service (ie., more than a month goes by between uses) then you should generally tip 15-20% of the bill after each visit.

If it is a frequent professional service visit, then you can opt to tip each time, ask the company to add a gratuity to the bill, or give a seasonal one-lump-sum "gift".

 

So, please uphold the "style" standard for which we all endeavor, and keep this simple rule in mind concerning tipping: if you can't afford the tip, then you can't afford the service.

 

Ciao !

 

 

 

 

 

You'll obviously be paying cash.

Give her a crisp $50.

Don't tip. But please give the maid a bonus at year end. Don't buy her anything just give her cash. Maybe double what she makes in a day so like $90