Tipping the super........

[winneythepooh7]

We got a letter under our door this morning from the management company reminding every tenant to "tip the super" for the holiday season. I know he is in charge of garbage and keeping the building tidy, but honestly, it was like pulling teeth in getting him to fix a pipe that burst in our kitchen recently (it took him well over a week and I stayed home one day from work when he promised he'd come fix it and he never showed). He even tried to get over on the landlord and told her he "fixed it" so she would pay him in advance. What do you guys think is a fair amount to pay him? I don't want us to look cheap, but he doesn't really do anything for us. Is that totally horrible to think that way? Funds are tight this season too because my fiance's sister is getting married next weekend.........would a $20.00 be really bad?

[mishl982]

I kind of think it's tacky your building sent out a flyer saying you should tip the super. Isn't it a personal choice?

[winneythepooh7]

I kind of think it's tacky your building sent out a flyer saying you should tip the super. Isn't it a personal choice?

Exactly. They probably did it because they know he is bad and doesn't follow through.

[meatwad]

I say next time you see him you tip him over.

[AshleyJordan]

$20 should be more than enough! If the super's not doing his job, I wouldn't even give the $20! How tacky that they sent out that notice!!! :evil:

In all my NYC apartments, I've tipped the super when he's done something 'extra,' i.e. assemble my furniture, and for the holiday itself, I've given him and/or his family something nice, maybe a bottle of champaigne or the like.

[red]

if he doesn't fix things in a timely way i wouldn't tip him. but that's not likely to make him any more responsive in the future.

it's totally tacky to send a reminder to you to tip him. i live in a doorman building, so there are a bunch of guys who work there and our board just makes a note in the newsletter of the names of the workers. last year we gave the super a bigger tip than we gave everyone else, but this year i think we'll give him a smaller tip and give the 2 doormen more because they are always helping me with packages, groceries, unloading my car, etc.

[wordsmith]

Renting from an independent landlord rather than a management company, living in a building that's not a complex, and having no superintentdent means I don't have to give anybody squat for Christmas. Which is cool. I usually do sent my landlord a card, when I send cards, because I've known her all my life and she's the mom of a childhood friend.

[winneythepooh7]

$20 should be more than enough! If the super's not doing his job, I wouldn't even give the $20! How tacky that they sent out that notice!!! :evil:

In all my NYC apartments, I've tipped the super when he's done something 'extra,' i.e. assemble my furniture, and for the holiday itself, I've given him and/or his family something nice, maybe a bottle of champaigne or the like.

I didn't tip him when he finally got around to fixing our pipe. Is that bad?:evil: Maybe it's not a good way to think, but I know he has a free gorgeous apartment, and he gets a maintenance fee every month from all of the owners in the building, so he should at least do things on a timely basis, or not expect to be tipped.

[spokes]

you should call the mgmt company and ask them if thye are providing thier ee's with a christmas bonus.

i always laugh at magazine articles that list how much you should tip people for certain services - if i floowed thier advice, i be spendiong my bonus tipping eveyone who provides me with a service.......

[redav]

I really don't know much about tipping. Besides restaurants and my barber, I can't think of anyone else I am supposed to tip. In fact, my company has a compliance policy that any gratuity over $20 is prohibited. (They just increased it from $10.)

I did find this website: http://www.tipping.org

It says:

Superintendent: $30 - $100, Depends on the type building and how the super has been with you through the year.

[spokes]

what a great website - i could how else could i ever figure out 15% to 20% of $72.89........

[meatwad]

Besides my barber, I don't really have anyone to tip at Christmas time. I suppose I should tip my mailman and the guy who picks up the trash.

[AshleyJordan]

I didn't tip him when he finally got around to fixing our pipe. Is that bad?:evil:

No, not at all. He was late in addressing that and that was part of your apartment's regular maintenence. I never tip for regular apartment stuff that should be expected. That's his job!

I tipped for the furniture assembly because he didn't have to do that, and he didn't ask for a tip, either. He was doing me a big favor.

[CTGirl]

Besides my barber, I don't really have anyone to tip at Christmas time. I suppose I should tip my mailman and the guy who picks up the trash.

I don't tip anyone either, cept hairdressers and wait-staff. I never see maintenance people (they come while I'm at work) or the mailman, or the trash people or any of them, so it would be very strange for me to tip them.

[AshleyJordan]

the last people I'd want to tip are the mailmen and trash collectors! I reserve tipping for good service!

[wordsmith]

I've never seen my mail carrier, and a truck comes at 5 a.m. every other Tuesday and empties our collective building dumpster, so, yeah, I don't see the waste management company driver, either.

[meatwad]

I've never seen my mail carrier, and a truck comes at 5 a.m. every other Tuesday and empties our collective building dumpster, so, yeah, I don't see the waste management company driver, either.

We've got a private trash pickup that we pay for ourselves. I usually pay him in 4-6 month blocks.

[wordsmith]

If I lived in regular residential zoning, I would have to pay the city a monthly fee for garbage pickup. But I live in a building that houses a business, and they contract with a private waste management company rather than pay for city pickup, and I'm allowed to throw my trash in the dumpster that's used for that. So it's tied into my rent, since I rent from the business.

[meatwad]

...since I rent from the business.

That's the ho house?

[wordsmith]

No, but close, it's an insurance agency now.

When it was a brothel, it had various "legitimate" businesses fronting it.

[cache]

When I was a paper boy, I used to get tipped out the wazoo for Christmas...probably on average $20 for every house, with some as high as 100...but that was when I actually had to go door to door every month collecting money. I carried the around in a little baggie as I went through the neighborhood...ahhh, the good old days....