Cleaning Ladies, Mailmen, Dog Walkers Begin Shakedown For Holiday Tips Today
Tis the season of syrupy sweetness and the service people in your life are going to be pouring it on strong. Your dog walker will fill her pockets with treats she paid for herself. Your cleaning lady will leave a box of peppermint chocolates on the dining table. The mailmen will keep his pepper spray holstered no matter how much your dog barks and snaps.
But don’t get used to all the extra charm, consideration and care because it’s going to screech to halt as soon as the holiday tipping season is over on Christmas Day.
“It physically hurts me to smile this much,” said Charlie Kelly, a residential doorman in Chicago, “but my first year here I was wearing my usual frown and I made substantially less in tips than the other guys. So if I have to kiss a little ass from now until the 25th, I’ll do it.”
Gina Torrento, a dog walker in Houston, has her own way of maximizing seasonal gratuities. “My usual routine is to take a few dogs to the park and sit there for an hour checking my email,” said Torento. “But during the holiday season, I take selfies of me and the dogs all over the neighborhood to show my clients that I’m exercising the shit out of them. It never fails — every year I get really nice holiday tips.”
Brandon Tomalsin, a postal carrier in Boston, goes the extra mile during the holidays, too. “I usually stick a cheap card in the mailbox to wish people on my route a Merry Christmas,” said Tomalsin. “I sign it Brandon, Susie and little Carl even though I don’t have a family — another mail carrier told me this would boost my tips by 30–40% and he was totally right.”
According to sociologist, Dr. Marcia Knowlton of Purdue University, the ritual of tipping service workers during the holidays began with Boxing Day in Britain during the Victorian era. Servants of the wealthy were given the day off on December 26th and received boxes of leftover food to take home with them. American service workers latched onto this tradition but insisted on cash tips instead of edible treats and also made sure the ritual lasted a whole month instead of just one day. Dr. Knowlton estimates that more than $22 billion will be paid in holiday tips this year in the U.S.
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