Do you tip your hairdresser if the rate is already high?

[Livida]

I'm trying a new hairdresser and am going to be charged £45 for a wet cut. At my old place (moved house) they charged £30 and I gave a £5 tip and wine at Christmas. But I really don't want to pay more on top of £45 (still happy to do Christmas wine if I end up going back though!) Is this really mean of me? I wasn't going to get it cut at all but it really needs it so I can't put it off any longer.

No teacher is expecting a present I promise you. It’s the parents that started that nonsense.

"But they are NOT on 'low salaries.' They are on the national minimum wage - like the majority of workers in this country. (Some are on more.) Do you really think 'the binmen' are on a low wage?! 😆 They earn more than most 'non professionals.' They earn nearly £40K where I live. And my postie is on £37K. (Midlands.). Why don't you tip the checkout operators in every store you go to, (every single time you go,) and the staff on the tills in the post office, or the chap who comes to look at your boiler to do a safety check, etc etc. I find tipping the postman and the binmen utterly bizarre. I don't know a soul who does that in real life tbh. Do some people really believe that serving staff, carers, hairdressers (and binmen and posties!) etc get 2 quid an hour or something? It's not 1993!"

Who said anything about 2 quid an hour? They are on low salaries compared to me right now. It's relative. I can, at the moment, afford to tip them. Most of my friends tip the postman at Xmas. We tip our binmen because they are really good compared to the ones we used to have. So it might be utterly bizarre to you, but not to me. Our postmen and binmen do not earn the salaries quoted by you. I can tip if I want to. You obviously don't want to. So what?

I know! I have a lot of teachers in the family… at Christmas they are snowed under with boxes of chocolate, mugs and hand cream. When we get together as a family they are always getting people to take stuff home because it goes off before they can eat it!

One year 2 mums in my son’s class went to the Christmas markets together and both decided to buy those giant gingerbread sculptures they do there- like a cathedral made of gingerbread. They were about the height of a 5 year old child, and they both gave them to the teacher, with a real air of ‘look at our generosity’… what is one woman supposed to do with 300lbs of gingerbread?!

Oh gosh, this is so hilariously true... Some years ago, (maybe 20,) my DH and I used used to know a few chaps who worked on a building site. One was a bricklayer. and the other 2 were a carpenter and an electrician. (We called them 'workmen!')

People in the offices, and the lower management etc used to look down their nose at these men when they saw them around, in the pub or cafe at lunchtimes.. (The 'workmen' were self-employed and they were contracted by people.) The 'office people' would look down the nose at them like there were nothing, because they had a bit of dirt on them and scruffy clothes from being outside workmen. Assumed they were badly educated and a bit thick, and probably on shit pay.

The fact was that they were very talented, and skilled, and were on around three times the salary of these snooty, lower management and 'office people.' Even 20 years ago, one chap we knew got £1000 net pay some weeks - from being a bricklayer. I shit you not. One guy had a five bedroom detached house with 2 bathrooms, and 2 bedrooms with en suite, and a double garage, and a garden with an acre of land. It was exquisite inside. He (and a few builder mates built it from scratch.) He now has a house worth around £700,000. All paid for many years ago. And he is retired. Retired at 50.

I have been, but only go twice a year £175 ish for colour, cut, blow dry & straighten.

what is one woman supposed to do with 300lbs of gingerbread?!

🤣

No, but I get her a little present at Christmas and if I go near her birthday. I pay a lot of money, I don't want to patronise her as if she isn't making a decent living.

No, I thought it’s more of a thing in the US? I already pay 100 quid for cut and colour, can’t afford tips😂

Not just hairdressers, but generally I've stopped tipping unless I've had great service. My reason being, I have two jobs very close to minimum wage, I don't get tips for either, no treats. One, we do get a little something for xmas (within £10), but the other absolutely nothing, not even 'Happy Christmas' from management who are usually in room when we leave. Haven't forced him, but DH has come around to my way of thinking and has stopped tipping himself.

That's the thing you see, lots of people in non-tipping jobs (admin workers/secretaries/receptionists,) and checkout operators, and shop assistants, and call centre workers, and people who work for the public sector (land registry, DWP, inland revenue, social work, council etc;) don't get tips. And as has been said, some of them get paid less than hairdressers, and waiting staff, and carers, and window cleaners, and binmen, and posties!

As I said, it really is an outdated and antiquated practice. It should be consigned to the history books. It doesn't belong in this century.

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No. My highlights and cut cost £180! They are not getting another penny. Have also stopped tipping in cabs.

I’ll still tip in a restaurant.

I really don’t like countries (like the US) where you are supposed to tip for everything. It’s very confusing.

Is it Japan where it’s rude to tip? Sounds good to me.

It's fine I never tip my hairdresser
Mine is now a friend so I take her a bottle of wine at Christmas

Many builders and tradesmen and women I've met over the years are incredibly well off
They usually like to moan about everything ( whilst posting up pics of their latest holiday to Barbados)
Not envy, but never judge a book and all that.

Is it Japan where it’s rude to tip? Sounds good to me.

I wish it was universally considered rude here. It feels rude to me unless the person is almost certainly on a lower wage to me, like an apprentice or a teenager. Tipping social equals on a similar wage feels very wrong. Just makes me think of a lord or lady and a servant. Both parties, as equals, should agree on a monetary value for a service and that should be that.

I used to, but at £38 for a wet cut which takes 20 minutes, I no longer do.

Food delivery people - £5

This one surprises me but then if I get a takeaway it's usually just for me and costs around £10 so I'm not going to give a tip of 50%! But equally handing the person a pound coin would just feel ridiculous.

Literally the only place I tip now is a restaurant, but the service has to be above the standard you'd expect generally so I don't always.

Yes it is japan where its rude to tip. I've been there a few times and it's one of the reasons I enjoy it, you know where you stand and there's no awkwardness. Also been to America where they aggressively go after their tips and it's one of the reasons I won't go again.

I've just paid £145 for a colour & cut. How much do hairdressers make? As in full time annual salary? My DD has expressed an Interest in training to be a hairdresser. I'd always thought of it as a low paid job, but perhaps not?

There are a lot of people working in minimum wage jobs, but aren't doing a job where they are likely to get a tip. I'm not in the UK but I am pretty sure a postie or a binman is likely to be earning as much, or more, as I ever did in my job and no-one was ever going to tip me (and I wouldn't want them to).

Do you tip all the retail workers when you buy something from a shop? Why are you singling some out as being worthy of a tip and not others on the same low wage?

I don't tip. They use Fresha now and there's no option to tip (they haven't enabled it) and I don't use cash.

Binmen do not earn £40k.