Just to add my experience in a similar service industry job as a bellman, we came to expect tips as well. I worked for a very large luxury hotel and tips were not hard to come by at all. WE ALWAYS gave good service and EXPECTED tips accordingly. Typically, we had several conferences every week, all week long. There were always busy rush periods where we would be bussing bags to rooms, stowing luggage, and just generally being helpful. When someone stiffed us, it was annoying simply because there were several other people waiting to be helped who would have tipped us if we helped them first. So that was frustrating. And, in retrospect, this may have led us to create a self-fulfilling prophecy in that we always went for the guests with the nice luxury cars or the expensive luggage first because we knew they would tip us, and tips us well. By letting other, not so flashy guests wait while the others got taken care of first, we may have created a scenario where we wouldn't get very good tips from the people who we assumed wouldn't give us very good tips (i.e. the self-fulfilling prophecy).
Anyhow, I loved that job. Admitedly on paper we got paid $4.25/hour . . . but I have never had to work so little for so much. But yeah, it was expected . . . I never damaged anyone's luggage, but if you were staying with us and weren't a tipper, you certainly were last on the priority list. We were much too busy to waste our time on something like that when there was so much else to be done. Note that this discrimination was not done OBVIOUSLY, as these were only during really busy times, and we did get to everyone, just in our own order . . .
And yes, while we may not have been ENTITLED to these tips, we certainly became accostumed to them such that it was unwritten rule that each bag was a certain dollar amount, and to go less than that was insulting. To go over that amount did indeed reflect good service
Maybe we shouldn't have gotten used to it, but as hossenheffer put it, you just do, and you feel slighted when you don't get it.
To relay a related experience with this rule in action, I remember one night hanging out in the hotel lobby chatting it up when this beat-up station wagon pulled up with this lady dressed up like Mrs. Brady (note that they year is 2000). I trudge out there, knowing full well I won't get tipped (women tend to be the worst tippers, and Intoxicated men with women tend to be the best), but I put my chin up and gave her just as great of service as anyone else since it was my job (and there were not any more enticing opportunities at the time). I loaded her luggage up, waited for her to check in, and then brought her stuff up to her room, showed her how the electronic locks worked (she was confused by this for some reason) and then went on my merry way. Well to my surprise she hunted me down 15 minutes later in the lobby and said she forgot to tip me! 'Oh!" I said surprised as she dropped 2 quarters in my hand, smiled, turned and left. My fellow bellman and I got a good laugh out of it at least
Anyhow, I loved that job. Admitedly on paper we got paid $4.25/hour . . . but I have never had to work so little for so much. But yeah, it was expected . . . I never damaged anyone's luggage, but if you were staying with us and weren't a tipper, you certainly were last on the priority list. We were much too busy to waste our time on something like that when there was so much else to be done. Note that this discrimination was not done OBVIOUSLY, as these were only during really busy times, and we did get to everyone, just in our own order . . .
And yes, while we may not have been ENTITLED to these tips, we certainly became accostumed to them such that it was unwritten rule that each bag was a certain dollar amount, and to go less than that was insulting. To go over that amount did indeed reflect good service
Maybe we shouldn't have gotten used to it, but as hossenheffer put it, you just do, and you feel slighted when you don't get it. To relay a related experience with this rule in action, I remember one night hanging out in the hotel lobby chatting it up when this beat-up station wagon pulled up with this lady dressed up like Mrs. Brady (note that they year is 2000). I trudge out there, knowing full well I won't get tipped (women tend to be the worst tippers, and Intoxicated men with women tend to be the best), but I put my chin up and gave her just as great of service as anyone else since it was my job (and there were not any more enticing opportunities at the time). I loaded her luggage up, waited for her to check in, and then brought her stuff up to her room, showed her how the electronic locks worked (she was confused by this for some reason) and then went on my merry way. Well to my surprise she hunted me down 15 minutes later in the lobby and said she forgot to tip me! 'Oh!" I said surprised as she dropped 2 quarters in my hand, smiled, turned and left. My fellow bellman and I got a good laugh out of it at least
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