get them $10 gift cards to starbucks. they even give you these spiffy complimentary felt sleeves to put them in so they actually look like a present... and then put it in a nice card. that was my present to everyone i didn't know wtf to get this year.

 

i wouldnt say starbucks because a lot of people don't drink there, but I would give the visa gift certificates, or maybe another store that the majority of people shop at. Its also more intimate than cash.

 

hand out cases of Mt. Dew.... everyone likes Mt. dew.....don't they???

 

$10-20 starbucks gift certificate sounds good to me

 

You should read some of your own rantings.

I don't tip the postman, he puts my mail in the mailbox next to the road, for which as a government employee he is well paid and has quite a nice mileage allowance on the vehicle he uses for the route.
The newspaper carrier also just puts the paper in a plastic tube supplied by the newspaper under my mailbox. It's not like it's some kid walking a route and putting the paper on my doorstep.

The garbage guys manage to get 99.99% of the garbage and recycleables in the truck, while I pay for 100% but it could just be crap flying off the truck that happens to land in front of my house or the other houses on the route.

My barber was the owner of the shop, you don't tip the proprietor of the business.

By the way my wife and I have a sex life that is full and I am quite happy.

 

Have you ever received a tip? I know when I bagged groceries in school that was a great day when someone gave me $1 to load their car for them.

My rantings are usually about someone working the system, not about someone being human and sharing the wealth.

[QUOTE=THEOLDMAN,Dec 22 2006, 09:58 AM]You should read some of your own rantings.

I don't tip the postman, he puts my mail in the mailbox next to the road, for which as a government employee he is well paid and has quite a nice mileage allowance on the vehicle he uses for the route.
The newspaper carrier also just puts the paper in a plastic tube supplied by the newspaper under my mailbox.

 

...i tip my newspaper carrier whenever he comes and collects the payment for my subscription. most newspaper carriers are independent contractors. they're not technically on the newspaper's payroll and they don't get any benefits from the company. that, and they're not required by the paper to put your newspaper in the plastic sleeves... at least not at the one i work at. and give them a break... it's usually some young kid, or somebody who wakes up at the buttcrack of dawn so they can make extra money on the side before they go to their "real" job.

 

I mail a semi-annual check to the newspaper, I never see the carrier, there is no personal contact. The newspaper supplies the plastic "mailbox" that they have the carrier deliver the paper into. It's an afternoon paper that's delivered by 5 PM, M-F, Sat/Sun by 9AM. The only paper carrier I tipped was the one who put the paper in a plastic bag and threw it over the gate into my driveway so that my Chocolate Lab could bring it into the house.


I will tip when someone goes above and beyond the job that they are appointed to do, I'm not about to tip for just doing the job that you are getting paid for.

 

^ so I guess that means NO, no one every gave you a tip.

O well... to each their own. I prefer to make life more fun for others..(except for the a-hole tenants who work every angle)....

 

I got plenty of tips. I was a kid making 50 cents an hour working at a grocery store, back in 1965, I got tipped when I took the groceries out to the car and put them in the car. I also worked in the Hospitality industry for 20 years, mostly as a manager, got tipped then also, but it was when I went out of my way to serve the customer.
Putting a newspaper in a tube outside of my gate next to the road is not going out of the way to provide a service, nor is putting mail in the mailbox out by the road, I still have to go out and get it, rain, snow, or sunshine. As for the butt crack of dawn, well there's lots of people that work through the night past the buttcrack of dawn doing service jobs.
It's like the barrista filling my coffee cup and handing it over the counter, hardly tip worthy, yet they have their tip jar and expect you to dump your change in it.
When I had my kitchen and bath remodeling business I was happy with a job well done, I bid the job for a price, I completed the job on budget.