Before I start – I have a sneaky suspicion that I may of already written this post before.
I’ve done a cursory check, but can’t find it … however something is niggling away at me that this is ‘old news’, however as pretty much everything on this blog is old news, I guess you’re used to it.
I am a reluctant tipper.
Let me rephrase that … I am a reluctant tipper unless I feel someone has been especially good in how they have handled my request.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Brit … or a total tight arse … but I find it very hard to hand over a ‘bonus’ simply because someone passed me the salt. 10 minutes after I asked for it.
And yet I now live in a society where people expect to get given money regardless of what they have done.
OK … OK … I know in many cases these people get paid shit and a little can go a long way – however with so many hotels/restaurants already ripping people off with a ‘service charge’, I can’t see for the life of me why I should pay a tip on an already self-imposed tip simply because someone is doing their job.
It’s for these reasons that I am deeply unpopular when I go to the US.
I remember paying for a dinner where I was expecting about US$50 change and the waiter – who had been absolutely fucking shit – boldly said …
“Is the change mine?”
I couldn’t believe it, so much to Andy’s amusement, I replied, “No, but a whole dollar of it is.”
To say I was given stares of death is an understatement – but why the hell should I give more money to someone who hasn’t done anything to earn it?
Fuck, I sound like legendary tight arse Rod Stewart don’t I.
This is all coming out wrong … I guess I am just saying that I don’t subscribe to the ‘always tip’ mentality because I don’t believe in rewarding someone if they’ve acted [attitudinally or interms of their performance] like a total tit.
Hmmmmn, I think this has just about guaranteed no one wants to ever work with me again. Oh well …
Anyway the reason I say all this is because this ‘tip obsession’ has ultimately robbed the Sheraton Hotel in Malaysia of a customer.
Last week I was in KL.
I arrived late at the hotel and basically just wanted to go to bed.
Now I stay in a lot of hotels and apart from the Sanderson in London – who tried to charge me TWENTY POUNDS for a toothbrush kit – I have pretty much always found a basic amenities kit in the bathroom.
That was until I stayed at the Sheraton.
Oh no. You see, despite it supposedly being a decent hotel – they don’t put anything in your bathroom except some soap and toilet paper.
“OK, no worries” … I thought, “… I’ll just ring house-keeping.”
“No problems Mr Campbell” they said, “… we’ll send one to your room immediately”.
5 minutes pass.
10 minutes pass.
15 minutes pass.
20 minutes pass.
KNOCK KNOCK.
Finally …
I open the door and find a young guy holding my toothbrush like it was a javelin.
“Your toothbrush” he declared, like he’d just found the Da Vinci code.
“Thank you very much”, I replied … however, as I took the item from the guys hand, I realised he was rooted to the spot.
Had he accidently stood in a jar of super glue?
Was he standing on some chewing gum?
No, the cheeky bugger expected me to tip him.
For bringing me a toothbrush after 20 minutes!!!
And did I?
Of course … because my mind basically went through all the reasons why it wasn’t his fault.
1/ Maybe house-keeping couldn’t find a toothbrush and held him up.
2/ He was young and probably working to pay his way through university. Or look after his dying parents.
3/ I never feel I deserve to be in nice places so I thought maybe some of my guilt could be off-set by helping out this guy … someone I felt more related to than I did anyone else in the hotel.
And that is why I paid more for this toothbrush than if I’d gone to the shops and bought everything Colgate had ever produced for people’s gobs.
Yet I feel a bit pissy.
OK, so in the big scheme of things it’s nothing much, however the fact a hotel feels it OK to make guests order a toothbrush and go through – for Brits – the anguish of ‘do I tip/don’t I tip’ means I am much less likely to stay there in the future.
Maybe I am an anomaly … maybe I am a tight arse … but with hotels doing more and more outlandish schemes in an attempt to get customers whilst still charging outrageous rates for the smallest of items [Can of Diet Coke? $7!!!], they should make sure they get the basics right because I care a damn site more about having a toothbrush in my room than I do a bloody monogrammed bathrobe.