Quizzes & Puzzles2 mins ago
Tipping
38 Answers
Have just returned from driving the present Mrs Hughes to London where she is working all week.
On arrival at the rather posh Kensington hotel that her company have arranged for her, we discovered that the hoitel is in two sections, so we parked the car on the car park, and the concierge trollyed her cases to the other section - around 30 seconds walk down the road. I wasn;t sure about tipping, so I asked - if you don;t ask, you never know. The man said it was not obligatory to give anything, but I gave him a pound.
The present Mrs Hughes was livid - she accused me of being a 'country mouse' and said I should have given a fiver!!!!
Now I am no-one's country bumpkin, but i found myself wondering what is acceptable in high-class London hotels? In the US it's easy - dollar a bag, in Europe, a couple of Euros gets a big smile - but what about our fair capital? Any advice for the future?
On arrival at the rather posh Kensington hotel that her company have arranged for her, we discovered that the hoitel is in two sections, so we parked the car on the car park, and the concierge trollyed her cases to the other section - around 30 seconds walk down the road. I wasn;t sure about tipping, so I asked - if you don;t ask, you never know. The man said it was not obligatory to give anything, but I gave him a pound.
The present Mrs Hughes was livid - she accused me of being a 'country mouse' and said I should have given a fiver!!!!
Now I am no-one's country bumpkin, but i found myself wondering what is acceptable in high-class London hotels? In the US it's easy - dollar a bag, in Europe, a couple of Euros gets a big smile - but what about our fair capital? Any advice for the future?
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I hate the whole concept of tipping. I get paid a pittance but I'm not allowed to accept tips - why should I then be expected to tip folk on a higher income than me? And this 'service charge' that is automatically applied in some restaurants - once we had a works night out and the service charge amounted to 80 something quid???? That's just robbery imo - especially given that we were all low paid workers who had scrimped and scraped to have our one night out.
People should be paid a decent wage for the job they do, their employers should ban tip acceptance to avoid embarassment to their customers. No one tips thousands of other occupations.
Advice for the future, inform the present Mrs. Hughes that you have more sense than to throw money at those who are only doing their job, and avoid London hotels where they preseumably think they have a right to be given more than they agreed to work for, by getting customers to pay again and again.
Advice for the future, inform the present Mrs. Hughes that you have more sense than to throw money at those who are only doing their job, and avoid London hotels where they preseumably think they have a right to be given more than they agreed to work for, by getting customers to pay again and again.
Thanks guys for your answers - i think maybe i should have made it £2, but I am not so flush that I can splash fivers about.
I tip in restaurants if the service is good - if they put 10% on, and the service is not up to standard, i will deduct it. they are not entitled to add it on, so they don;t argue.
joeluke and starbuckbone - I have referred to my wonderful wife as 'the present Mrs Hughes' for some time now - and it is intended ironically - we have been together for thirty-one years, and married for almost twenty-five, she is the first, last and only Mrs Hughes - it's just a bit of humour.
dee-sa - we were in South Kensington, which is now outside the Congestion Charge area.
Old-Geezer - my wife was on business, so the hotel was booked by her employers. They always use top hotels which put us in the position of being slightly unsure of the tipping criteria, hence the query.
Thanks again guys.
I tip in restaurants if the service is good - if they put 10% on, and the service is not up to standard, i will deduct it. they are not entitled to add it on, so they don;t argue.
joeluke and starbuckbone - I have referred to my wonderful wife as 'the present Mrs Hughes' for some time now - and it is intended ironically - we have been together for thirty-one years, and married for almost twenty-five, she is the first, last and only Mrs Hughes - it's just a bit of humour.
dee-sa - we were in South Kensington, which is now outside the Congestion Charge area.
Old-Geezer - my wife was on business, so the hotel was booked by her employers. They always use top hotels which put us in the position of being slightly unsure of the tipping criteria, hence the query.
Thanks again guys.
I think those on this thread saying they would hand over £10 for trolleying a bag for 30 seconds are showing off to us, it costs them nothing. I am much travelled and I stand by 2 quid, and it does buy a half pint of lager in an ordinary pub, which is where I would guess most hotel porters would go.
