Airport skycaps have been admittedly screwed over in recent years. Airlines have imposed $2 curbside check-in fees, but none of that money goes to the skycap. Most people don’t know that, and don’t tip.
But these American Airlines skycaps at Miami International Airport went too far in pushing for tips:
I checked one bag with him, and, after giving him $2 plus $1 tip, he said my tip wasn’t enough. I thought he was joking. He said $2 went to American Airlines, and he needed more than a dollar tip per bag to make a living. I said I thought the gratuity was up to my discretion. He said not if I wanted my bag intact when it arrived in Chicago – and suggested I take my bag inside if I didn’t give him a better tip.
I was stunned and asked the skycap next to him if harassing customers for tips was part of American’s policy. He said yes, with a smug look. I said I was going inside to talk to customer service. As I walked away with my baggage-claim number, he said he couldn’t guarantee my bag would arrive safely in Chicago.
[...]
I boarded the plane and picked up my suitcase in Chicago without a problem. But, when I got home, I found bags of messy garbage in my luggage! I had to dry-clean some clothing and am considering throwing away the suitcase.
A $1 tip gets you some complimentary trash. What would a $0 tip yield?
American’s response: “Appropriate action was taken.” The passenger got 8000 frequent flyer miles and an apology. No reimbursement for the dry cleaning bill. Stay classy, American! — MARK ASHLEY
Give a good tip to Miami skycap or get a surprise in your luggae (sic) [Daily Southtown] (Run a spell-check, people!)
(Photo: dann :*)
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Greedy bastards… These baggage handlers are employed by the AIRLINE and performing a service for the AIRLINE. Were the baggage handlers not around, then the people at the customer service desk would have to do all this work. Instead, the baggage handlers save the desk people time and money, along with the AIRLINE.
The baggage handlers should complain to the AIRLINE about their low wages, not the passengers. The passengers have already shelled out hundreds of dollars for the flight AND good service. The baggage handlers should be providing that good service SINCE THE PASSENGERS ALREADY PAID HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS!
This sense of their entitlement to our money is ridiculous. Hell, the customers could do the baggage handlers’ job. Have those self check-in kiosks print out destination tags. Then, we can tag our own bags and lift it ourselves to the luggage belt.
“Furthermore, we get into the argument of “claiming $2.13 an hour to the IRS while taking home cash tips that raise your hourly rate to $13+”, and the associated “bitching about credit card tips because they prevent me from performing tax evasion” deal.”
Funny, I don’t remember claiming any of this. My restaurant taxed me for 15% of sales, which took a decent chunk of the check I got from them. The point of listing my pay was to demonstrate why tipping is expected in American restaurants. I no longer work in food service.
“No, actually, delivery is included in the price of the pizza, or I pay extra for it. If you aren’t getting paid enough as a delivery driver to make it a lucrative job, then quit! It isn’t my job to subsidize your paycheck entirely because you say so. You took the job knowing you get paid $X per run, plus minimum wage, plus tips if anyone decides to give them to you. If $X per run + minimum wage isn’t enough to make the job worthwhile to you, then don’t do it. I was an assistant manager at a pizza place for several months and can tell you that there are plenty of people who will happily jump in to take your driver job if you get sick of it.”
If you order delivery, there is a charge, but not all of that goes to the driver, and you of all people, having worked for a pizza place, should know this. If you don’t like tipping the driver, get off your lazy butt and drive to the store and get it. That’s always an option and is actually faster. Once again, you’re paying for an optional service. I can’t think of any pizza place that is delivery only. I could make the delivery game work, but only through tips. And once again, I no longer work in food service since graduating.
@Buran “This is why I put a lock on my suitcase that only the TSA can open.”
Do you get other staff requesting to search your luggage? How do you enforce this?
@Greg L: Working at many restaurants (not thinking Denny’s), stars or not, requires a good bit of patience, knowledge (menus are crazy these days), and awareness. It’s not easy or fun work, but people end up in all kinds of places and the argument “just get a better job” is a very easy thing to say when you’ve never faced that.
It must be nice on up on that horse.
In an ideal world, people could do the jobs they were best suited for, wherever they may be. Just because it doesn’t require a college degree doesn’t make it easy.
Your arguments speak to a larger social divide: those who want to help others and make the world a better place, and those who’s understanding of the golden rule is as a form of discipline (“if i were XYZ, I’d want to be poor/fired/punished…”).
Your attitude makes me sad. The extra handful of dollars you might have given your poor waitress could have helped someone out. Your stance isn’t going to fix pay rates or help anyone, save yourself.
This is part of why Europeans call Americans “cheap”.
@a_m_m_b: Buy a TSA approved lock, only a TSA can open it (in theory) with a special key.
My kids order pizza often when we go out and we would usually leave them a $20 to pay. I told my son to give the guy whatever change was left (meaning the coins) plus $2 for a tip. Somehow in his middle school head, he heard give the guy the change from the $20. This went on for a whole summer without us noticing but then we figured out we were tipping the pizza guy $8 or $9. It was a sad day at Domino’s when we figured it out.
if you think tipping in the US is “optional”, you are a cheap bastard.
it’s ok for you to be a cheap bastard, but at least have the gravitas to admit it.
15% is the baseline ANYWHERE you have table service. If you are not planning on paying 15% in addition to the items you order off the menu, you should not be eating there.
I’ve never even heard the term “skycap” before, so I had to look it up. There’s suggested tipping info on there.
I’ve always avoided those guys because I wasn’t really sure what was going on. Do they work for the aiport or the airline? Why would I give that guy my luggage instead of carrying 50 extra feet?
In Australia there’s no tipping (for the most part) and it’s quite refreshing. Yes, the price of food and services is higher, but it simplifies everything.
(As for shitty jobs, try mowing a practice football field with a push mower in 100 F weather for $5.15 an hour.)
Tipping is a very touchy subject with a lot of people. However most of your $2.13 and hour waitstaff are far from professional (in my experiences) and so they might come to my table with an attitude because so and so stiffed them on a tip right before I sat down. Guess what, if you have an attitude when I first walk in the door dont expect much of anything from me. There are of course places now that add 15-18% on your bill for tipping. If I go to one of the places then that 15-18% is the tip, not my 20+% i usually leave (assuming the service was there). I have worked in restraunts and heard I dont know how many waitresses bitch about tips. Yeah maybe you are right but you keep bitching and get pissed off and carry that attitude around with you to your next table. Hate it or love it tipping is not a requirement, you want a tip from me? earn it. I dont expect you to wait on me hand and foot like I’m a king. I expect you to be nice and pleasant if you cant do that, I cant leave you a good tip.
Face it everyone has rough days where they take out their frustration on others, In service industries where you get tips that just happens to affect your pay. I do know thats not always the case for bad tips but it damn sure is in my case. I’ve been at restraunts and got up to get my own drinks because the waitstaff wasnt around, yes I have enough common sense to know if its to busy or not. From working in a restraunt I know things happen and food isnt always perfect but running out of whatever it is im drinking is nobodies fault but yours, dont let me run out of my coke or whatever and I’ll leave a good tip, unless you just come around my table mad at the world.
In this story however I assure you if someone tells me my tips isnt enough I will promtly take my money back and keep on walking, with bags in hand.
@jurgis: I incredibly resent the assertion that Americans are ‘cheap’ because some of us are willing to say what others won’t – working at a restaurant is an easy job, unless you are working at a very high-end restaurant. Memorizing the 10 ways you can order the penne alla arribata does not require a great deal of work. Yeah, it requires patience and awareness just like every other service-industry job on the planet, most of which do not receive any tips.
I’ve worked in several chain restaurants and you realize this is why I don’t anymore. I realized the industry sucks and left it. It sure must be nice to be able to make blanket assertions about people you’ve never met and their work history because they’re willing to call a spade a spade.
I tip exactly 15% everywhere no matter what, as there’s absolutely no benefit to tipping more and tipping any less means you might get your food messed with, so my ‘arguments’ speak to the fact that if you’re going to endlessly whine about your job, maybe you should consider just how good you have it in the first place.
The ‘extra handful of dollars’ that I have I earned and I have no obligation, right, or desire to ‘help a poor waitress out.’ I went out to have a meal, not to participate in a charity event. If the ‘poor waitress’ is doing so poorly as a waitress, then she should get another job. They do exist! Trust me, as someone who escaped from foodservice, it can be done! Waitresses do not want to leave food service because they have most of the population bamboozled into believeing they make below minimum-wage and therefore require charity to not starve to death.
Further, if Europeans are so superior because they give random service employees extra money…. oh wait, they don’t. Europeans don’t tip. So, somehow I fail to see where this argument even remotely came from. Americans don’t tip, therefore they’re cheap, Europeans don’t tip, and therefore are generous. Right.
Perhaps “discretionary” is a better word to use than “optional”. When I go to a sit-down restaurant, I expect I’ll be tipping about 20% on the meal. If the restaurant includes an “18% gratuity” automatically, then that’s that. But generally the wait staff doesn’t have to do anything “above and beyond” to get a good tip. If anything, they have to do something negative to “earn” a bad tip from me.
As long as they aren’t rude and don’t leave me waiting for a LONG time (before taking my order, or when my drink is empty, or when I’m done and waiting for the check), they can pretty much count on at least 20%; its easy math (just double the bill and shift the decimal point), and I’ll usually round up to the dollar, not to mention they’re getting tipped on the tax (where applicable).
On the other hand, if they do something to piss me off, I’ll break out my 3rd grade math skillz and give them 15% to the penny. I’ll only stiff a waiter under really, really special circumstances. I can’t even remember the last time that’s happened, but it has happened, and they certainly deserved it.
If a waitperson is chronically taking home only $2.13/hour, and consistently “getting screwed” on tips, then they should consider a career change.
Unfortunately, I think it is painfully obvious from the comments that some people have made a living from tips, and others have not. When I was waiting tables, I just thanked God that I didn’t have to wait on Mr. Pink every day.
To anyone who thinks that restaurants aren’t trying to screw over their employees – watch what their lobby does every time there is a minimum wage increase. Management makes their bonuses based on the profitability of their individual store, district, etc., all the way up to the corporate offices. One of the best ways to increase profitability is too minimize the amount of money the store pays its employees – so if they can make the people eating food pay their employees directly, less is spent on wages. It also makes the wait staff be nice to people. Waiting table is dirty, tiring, and thankless work – you have to deal with people when they are hungry, often you skip breaks so your section isn’t abandoned, and you have to deal with other peoples problems on a daily basis. If you have to rely on tips, you are going to think twice before you tell someone to control their damn kid or that 15 refills of soda is an abuse of the free refill system. If you want to be able to stop tipping, then only eat at restaurants that pay decent wages and make tipping what it was meant to be – a thank you for attentive service, not an underhanded attempt to pass the costs directly to the consumer.
I don’t want to sound like I’m blaming the victim, but if I read this right, the lady travels with her bags unlocked.
In this day and age who would? Or is there some law in the US which requires no bag be locked on domestic flights? A decent and inexpensive lock won’t add much to your weight and will prevent invasion except by the most persistent thief since there isn’t time for a baggage handler to fiddle with the lock.
I lock all my bags when travelling, and I have the check-in clerk examine and agree that any side pockets were empty and have her put stickers around the zipper keys. (Never buy a bag with only one zipper on an external pocket!)
I’m with Rajio. Tipping is sleaze, pure and simple. And absolutely the last place, in a post-9/11 world, where any kind of tipping of anybody should be occurring is an airport. It is wildly inappropriate that anyone handling luggage can legally accept tips. It should be illegal, plain and simple. It is, at minimum, a serious security issue. I’m shocked that it has apparently been overlooked.
Tipping sets up extortion, bribery…when tips are involved, every single interaction with a customer is a game to be played.
It rewards waiters for the chef’s work, and can punish a waiter for the restaurant being busy. It discourages team-based service.
It encourages an entire underground economy where people who accept tips don’t pay the same rate of income tax as the rest of us.
It’s f*cked up economics. It’s f*cked up psychology, f*cked up social relations, too. Read the book “Punished by Rewards.” Note the concept of overjustification.
It’s a flipping curse. It’s amazing that any kind of tipping paradigm still exists in 2007.
There are better ways, people.
Restaurants, etc. need to start having some gonads and (1) pay employees fairly and honestly, and (2) price things for customers fairly and honestly. End the game playing. Wouldn’t that be a relief to everyone?
10% – bad service at a regular restaurant
15% – regular service at a regular restaurant
20% – regular service at a good restaurant
If your service is that bad at a restaurant to warrant
Also, if any customer service oriented person mentions something about how ‘they don’t get paid enough for what they’re doing for you,’ then GET ANOTHER SERVER/SKYCAP PERSON IMMEDIATELY.
Although it sucks to get your luggage stuffed with trash, he should have immediately taken back his luggage and checked it in himself.
Wow, just gave them 8000 miles… What about compensation for the cleaning and everything else. Where has the management gone?
I hope their garbage man just throws their garbage all over their yard because they didnt leave a tip for them or something.
They are already charging you $2, why the heck should you have to tip them? Doesn’t make alot of since.
It would be like tipping the hostess at a restaurant that sits you down. Because she got you a comfy booth instead of chairs… NOPE..
@XopherMV:
Actually the skycaps are not employed by the airline; the airlines contract out the work to separate companies.
Although American’s image doesn’t look great, this guy should have contacted the skycap company for a reimbursement. American doesn’t have financial liability, so the miles are really beyond what American needs to do. I am guessing that American might not higher this company in the future.
…..Having worked in the food biz, back 30 or so years ago, I can say definitively, that tips were a great BONUS! I can also say, as a cook, my single worst experience with a “paid customer” was when both of our waitresses were sick. I was force to serve as a waiter, which I would have groveled face-down in piss to avoid. Still, the local US rep Ben Erdrich, was eating with his family at our little eating place. I cheerfully took their order, agreed to “off-menu” items, and retreated to fix their order. I got everything ready in a matter of of less than ten minutes; carried everything to the table, and produced their bottle of Mondavi cabernet, chilled to perfection to 60 degrees in our fancy wine-machine. Result? Nasty, no longer in office Alabama District 7 congressman Erdrich left a 4 dollar tip on a bill of $175. “Mr. working class,” indeed. This how democrats make Republicans of us all…
@Greg L: Of course they don’t tip in Europe, prices are higher to compensate for it. Then again, sometimes the service is a bit more relaxed… like getting coffees and then hanging out and smoking with you, instead of getting you a refill or serving someone else.
Americans have a reputation as being cheap and foolish… whenever I go overseas (I am not originally from here) it’s the same thing, “Americans are obsessed with money and it’s all they talk about: they drive giant cars and then hold their purse strings so tight that they will fight with someone to save a few dollars.”
If this sounds directed at you, it is indeed not-so-much… but in a country with a history of bizarre oppression and socio-economic inequities parting with a few extra dollars isn’t a big deal.
There is a saying, “a person who is nice to you, but mean to the waiter is not a nice person.”
Make the world a better place, who cares if you are rich in the end, that doesn’t really matter.
For the record, I agree with the general complaint that the article addresses: the skycaps should just quit.
@Greg P: no tipping “for the most part” in Australia is about right. I’ve noticed some fancier bars are trying desperately to make us a tipping culture. They give your money back entirely in change on a tray. I refuse to tip for drink service in Australia.
If I have a good meal, I will do as the Europeans do and round up a couple of dollars.
What I dislike most about Europe: paying to use public toilets. I prefer tipping in the US for most things rather than having to hand over 50 Euro cents to use the toilet.
I can’t believe he knew the two guys were pissed off about his under-tipping and he didn’t even bother to jot down both of their names. Plus, threatening to report them to customer service and NOT actually doing so is pretty much just asking to be abused by these employees.
SO we all agree that the airline charging $2 for curbside is absolute b.s. Its just capacity they would have to have elsewhere. That said, if you are going to frickin use curbside, get a clue as to what to tip ya cheap bastard.
Nobody walks into work to hear the boss say “You know, I customarily pay you $20 per hour, but I just forgot to set aside the money this week for your pay. HERE’S $10 PER HOUR, DO A GOOD JOB FOR ME.”
What? its not like they ONLY make what they get in tips is it? What kind of wage are they making? I don’t get tips and I don’t harrass people. I hope they fire the fuckers.
sorry I have no idea what a Skycap is, can someone shed some light on this service? PS I’m from Canada I don’t think we have these guys.
In the old days you could straight up bribe the skycaps to put through additional pieces of luggage and avoid fees, etc. I don’t know if this is done anymore because I refuse to check baggage. I’ve lost too many bags.
Once, I was flying NWA, and the skycap really blatantly started panning for a tip. I was getting my stuff together, and planning on tipping, after he printed my tags and put my bag on the belt. But he was such a jerk to make mention of the tip, before he was done with the work, that I decided not. Needless to say, I arrived without one of my shirts.
These people do almost NOTHING, imo. Print the tag, and turn around with my one bag, and pick it up and set it on the belt. That’s not worth anything, period. Someone please explain to me why they deserve a tip when I could walk a few feet in the door and receive the same service with no tip expected. But, I had been tipping because others tip.
Never again will I use a “skycap”.
Skycaps have been getting screwed for the past few year. They used to offer their curbside check-in service for tips alone, but then the airlines got into the act, charging a mandatory $2/bag. But many (or most?)
I think when people complain like this, its pretty common there’s a fair amount of of exaggeration of the actions of the “offender” as well as a minimization of the complainants’. In public service it is very, very common. Frankly I’m shocked when otherwise intelligent people don’t see through this.
This story reeks of this kind of deception. I worked as a skycap and a manager for many years and I can tell you that it’s a very, very unusual case for a skycap to outright, verbally ask for more money and then outright tell you you might not get your bag intact. I’m not saying, nor do I condone that it has happened to people. But run the risk of getting fired for telling someone that?
In all my years as a skycap, I’ve never even HEARD of a skycap doing all that, and I’ve known of skycaps getting fired for much, much less. I’ve personally fired skycaps over the years just for “intimating” or just giving bad service, let alone what’s proffered here. In my company it was a terminable offense, on the spot to ask for a tip. Period.
I love how people try to put qualifiers on things, to their benefit. It should be “a skill” before someone gets a tip? Really? LOL!! Where’s that written?
It is a convenience to the passenger to get your bags taken care of right here, right now, rather than going through the hassle of getting in a line. If you really do look down on people like that who are trying to make a living, don’t use their service. Simple.
In no way would I justify what the skycap did, if it was, indeed the case. But I tend to think there’s quite a bit of deception written here, quite honestly.