I am having Verizion FIOS installed for TV, telephone, and internet, which will be replacing my cable TV. My sister-in-law says I should tip them $5 each (2 people). I didn't know I was supposed to, I thought it was only furniture delivery people. Is she correct? Please answer soon before they are finished with their work.
I don't want to tip or not tip based on whether I'm grateful. I'm pay money for a job or service, and it should be done in a competent manner. It is simply a business transaction, and my gratefulness shouldn't matter. I'm a computer programmer (currently unemployed), and if I solve a problem for a client, I wouldn't expect a tip, because it is not customary and I'm just doing what I'm paid to do. (Although if they want to take me to dinner that is very nice, and praising me to my boss is always appreciated.)
I like to base my tipping decisions based on custom. I'm not going to tip when I go up to the counter and order ice cream, take out, etc., because it isn't customary and these people just want to make some extra money. I tip in a restaurant because it is customary, and also, restaurant workers are paid less and tips are a large part of their pay. I try to tip the customary amount, unless I feel that I have a very good reason to tip more or less.
To Earth2Dee, I always tip furniture delivery people because I believe that is customary, and these are usually low paid workers doing heavy manual labor. The only exception would be if they were careless or incompetent and damaged the apartment or furniture, and luckily this hasn't happened so far.
My feeling was that these people work for the giant phone company Verizon, unionized and probably fairly well paid, and that it is not customary or necessary to tip them. I certainly wouldn't tip them if they were here to fix something that was their fault because their whole company is incompetent from top to bottom, and I had no phone service and they wasted hours of my time trying to make me test everything in my home to prove that it is their fault and not mine (this has happened previously).
However in this case, nothing was wrong. I ordered their FIOS service (telephone, internet, and TV), and they did do a lot of work to install it.
To Michelle F: Sorry for not picking your answer, and I wouldn't be surprised if you are correct. However: (1) My sister-in-law seems to know a lot about these things. (2) I've known her for her whole life (family friends) and I don't know you personally, so rightly or wrongly, what she told me has more clout. (3) I can't verify your answer, and both Verizon FIOS technicians accepted my $5 tip. Even if they're not supposed to I suspect it is probably standard practice to ignore this rule, because if it was that serious a violation they'd probably be afraid of getting fired and would have refused it.
I don't want to tip or not tip based on whether I'm grateful. I'm pay money for a job or service, and it should be done in a competent manner. It is simply a business transaction, and my gratefulness shouldn't matter. I'm a computer programmer (currently unemployed), and if I solve a problem for a client, I wouldn't expect a tip, because it is not customary and I'm just doing what I'm paid to do. (Although if they want to take me to dinner that is very nice, and praising me to my boss is always appreciated.)
I like to base my tipping decisions based on custom. I'm not going to tip when I go up to the counter and order ice cream, take out, etc., because it isn't customary and these people just want to make some extra money. I tip in a restaurant because it is customary, and also, restaurant workers are paid less and tips are a large part of their pay. I try to tip the customary amount, unless I feel that I have a very good reason to tip more or less.
To Earth2Dee, I always tip furniture delivery people because I believe that is customary, and these are usually low paid workers doing heavy manual labor. The only exception would be if they were careless or incompetent and damaged the apartment or furniture, and luckily this hasn't happened so far.
My feeling was that these people work for the giant phone company Verizon, unionized and probably fairly well paid, and that it is not customary or necessary to tip them. I certainly wouldn't tip them if they were here to fix something that was their fault because their whole company is incompetent from top to bottom, and I had no phone service and they wasted hours of my time trying to make me test everything in my home to prove that it is their fault and not mine (this has happened previously).
However in this case, nothing was wrong. I ordered their FIOS service (telephone, internet, and TV), and they did do a lot of work to install it.
To Michelle F: Sorry for not picking your answer, and I wouldn't be surprised if you are correct. However: (1) My sister-in-law seems to know a lot about these things. (2) I've known her for her whole life (family friends) and I don't know you personally, so rightly or wrongly, what she told me has more clout. (3) I can't verify your answer, and both Verizon FIOS technicians accepted my $5 tip. Even if they're not supposed to I suspect it is probably standard practice to ignore this rule, because if it was that serious a violation they'd probably be afraid of getting fired and would have refused it.