GRATUITIES: AMERICANS LIKE TO TIP

Teri Ford cleared a table at Pop's Pizza where she works as a waitress.

You've prepared your vacation budget, down to the last dollar, including tips.

Or, have you?

Normally, bellboys will graciously take your bags at the desk when you check in a hotel and accompany you to your room.

No problems. You tip him a buck or two a bag, and send him on his way.

That's way it used to be.

Welcome to the new world.

When you roll up to the hotel door, you're greeted by a doorman. He takes your bags from your car, places them on a rolling rack and whisks the luggage into the hotel. He expects a tip, a buck or two a bag.

Once you check in, the bellman assumes custody of the rolling cart and transports your luggage to your room. He expects a tip. Another buck or two a bag.

With four bags, you have now paid $16 to get in your room. When you check out, the situation is reversed. A bellboy takes the bags to the desk, someone else picks them up and takes them out to your car.

Another $16.

If you stay one night in a $100 room, that tab is now up to $132. And, you're not through yet.

All etiquette books advise us to tip the chambermaids, 10 percent of the cost of the room in an "expensive" hotel (another $10, and you're up to $142). If you eat at the hotel, you're tagged for gratuities for the headwaiter and the dining room waiter.

The first thing you know, that $100 room will be up to $150, with a third of it for gratuities only.

Tipping is no longer a reward, it's expected.

The word, "gratuity" derives from the Medieval Latin "gratuitas," which means a present or a gift. Tipping, which stems back to the 18th Century usage and stands for the words, "To Insure Promptness."

The original meaning of the words has changed. A gratuity is expected now in many instance, and has become obligatory in others.

Tipping has been built into the system. Employers and the Internal Revenue Service assume that certain workers will receive tips and, consequently, these people are paid lower wages.

Many tip earners are guilty of under-reporting their tips, according to the IRS, which estimated that the majority of tip recipients report only 50 percent of their gratuities.

This means, according to the IRS, that at least $6 billion in tips goes unreported every year, making tips the second-biggest tax dodge in America, behind illegal income.

You don't have to bother a lot about tipping in Europe. A 15 percent service charge is included in most service bills. The Chinese forbid tipping altogether.

In America the customer still has much of the say on the amount of a gratuity, although for groups of 15 or more, many restaurants will figure in a set gratuity, usually 15 percent, in the bill.

Good Housekeeping's Book of Etiquette, says tipping "usually insures a living wage for the tippee, and has become obligatory."

Good Housekeeping, and other etiquette books, say more about tipping.

"For especially skilled and cheerful service you may be moved to `add to' the basic tips." That, claim the etiquette experts, is a reward, and hopefully an incentive as well.

Charlotte Ford, author of "Book of Modern Manners," says a tip of some sort is mandatory. She writes that a tip is a measure of appreciation for service. "Though your tip should, in part, reflect your gratitude or lack of it in regard to service and courtesy, a tip should be mandatory.

"To leave no tip at all is a vengeful gesture," she writes. "Some waiters and captains make their living from tips, in some cases working for tips only. I think is unduly harsh to omit a tip completely."

Dennis "Doc" Cain, owner of Port Cape Girardeau, a full-service, downtown Cape Girardeau restaurant, agrees.

"We feel our servers give good service," Cain said. "If you are unhappy with the service or lack of courtesy, given the server a chance to improve by complaining early in the meal. If things go uncorrected, we'd like to know about it."

Ford, in her book, says if you see no improved results, a "10 percent tip will make your point."

In some cases, if a person leaves a smaller tip than is generally expected, the maitre d' or captain may inquire if there was something wrong with your meal.

A server in most full-service restaurants, receive between 15 and 20 percent of the bill before taxes. In most cases a 15 percent gratuity is customary.

This may not be the norm for self-serve restaurants.

"We don't expect 15 to 20 percent tips," said Cora Lee Sample, of Pop's Pizza in Cape Girardeau. "But, our servers do expect tips of some kind."

"We offer lunch and evening buffets," she said. "Patrons do wait on themselves, but our servers take drink orders, are available for service throughout the meal, and then clear away the tables. We do offer service."

Not a lot of people tip at her establishment, Sample said. "We have groups of 15 to 25 people who eat here and never leave a tip. Again, we don't expect big tips, but even 50 cents a person would be appreciated. I think if you're getting good service you should tip, and if you're not getting good service, tell us."

At one time, tipping was mostly associated with the restaurant and-or hotel industries.

It's more than that now.

A survey of tippers have shown that Americans like to tip, to the tune of more than $12 billion. So we go on tipping.

Americans tip the man who opens the card door, the man who carries the bags into the hotel and the man who takes them to the room. We tip the maid, the maitre d', the waiter, the wine steward, the parking valet.

Not all Americans like to tip. That's the reason for "Tippers Anonymous." For $2, a person can become a Tippers Anonymous member. Members will receive a book of report cards that can be removed and left with their tip.

"You have just served a member of Tippers Anonymous," the card reads. "This group is dedicated to improving service and restoring its reward -- tipping -- to its rightful status. Based on experience in other establishments, I have rated your service as indicated (excellent, good, fair, poor) and tipped accordingly."

The card, however, is printed in small type, allowing the tipper to exit the premise before the waiter can wade through the reading.

Tipping has moved into most service businesses -- beauty parlors, barbershops, taxicabs, resorts, nightclubs, trains, on shipboard, in gambling casinos and much more.

The guideline in most of these industries is 15 to 25 percent for any service provided.

There was a time, not so many years ago, when owners of certain businesses were not tipped.

"That has changed," said Monica Metzger of the Generation Gap Beauty Salon. "In the beauty business, if an owner, the owner of the salon, has cut your hair, he-she deserves a tip."

Etiquette experts agree, saying owners who cut or set hair should receive just as much gratuity as others in the salon.

Nowadays men also frequent beauty salons. Their hair is cut as carefully and stylishly as women's hair. Men, too, should tip, accordingly -- 15 to 20 percent of the bill. The day of a shave and haircut for six bits is history.

Many beauty salon customers never tip during their visit, but give money or presents at Christmas.

In the case of taxis, gratuities ranging from 10 to 15 percent of the fare is the norm, with an increase for any special services, such as a long haul, late at night or helping with the luggage.

Some new signs which may be going up in the Midwest in the near future reflects one of the newest enterprises in the Midwest, gambling casinos.

The Nevada Casino Dealers Association recently installed signs and billboards saying only that "Tipping is Permitted" in the state' casinos.

Casino dealers and those people who "pay off" slot machine jackpots, depend on customers' generosity for much of their income. Many dealers, like waiters, earn minimum wage and depend on the tips, or "tokes" to supplement that income.

Gambling tips have dwindled as much as 30 percent over past two decades.

TIPPING RULE OF THUMB

Airplane travel: Skycaps only.

Apartment houses: Elevator men, doorman, superintendents, janitors, usually at Christmas time only, in new bills in gift envelops, $25 to $100.

Aboard ship: bar steward, tipped at end of trip, 15 to 20 percent of tab.

Automobiles: Chauffeurs of rented car, about 20 percent of total bill for an evening; parking attendants if you're a steady customer, a buck or two occasionally, and $10 to $20 at Christmas.

Barber shops: barber, manicurist, 15 to 20 percent of bill..

Bars: Bartender, 20 percent of the total bill.

Beauty salons: hairdresser, shampooer, manicurist, 15 to 20 percent of bill.

Casinos: Dealers, payoff clerks at slot machines.

Deliveries: Delivery boys, $2 to $5.

Hotels: bellboys, $1 to $2 per bag; chambermaids, 10 percent of room rate; doormen, depends on his services. You don't have to tip elevator men.

Mail carrier: It's illegal for postal workers to accept cash tips, but you can send a letter of appreciation to the carrier's supervisor.

Newspaper carriers. If your paper is still delivered by a neighborhood boy or girl, tip them $10 to $25 at Christmas. For distributors who deliver your paper, the same amount should ensure continued good service.

Restaurants and lunch counters: waiters and waitresses, 15 to 20 percent of bill.

Taxis: Drivers, 10 to 15 percent of the meter, more if driver helps with luggage.