Valet Parking

Unfortunately, this rant is more of a "preaching to the choir" post. However, let's talk valet parking dear readers.

Do you use valet parking when you go to a restaurant, hotel, mall or (this is the one I always end up using) at St. Mark's Hospital? Does it say "Free Valet Parking" when you park there? Do you know that free is not really free? In other words, please tell me you tip these poor guys (it's always guys, so don't give me the feminist argument) to run backwards and forwards and put up with whatever attitudes people are sporting that day.

I was at St. Mark's last week and got some money out of my wallet to tip the valet. A gentleman was waiting for his car, but going around and looking to see if people had money in their hands to tip the valets. Not because he wasn't sure if he should do it, but he was actually guilting people into doing it. When he saw that I had my money in hand, he said loudly, "I cannot believe people in this city. They are so rude. Nobody ever tips here."

Now this guy was a little bit extreme, but I think it had more to do with the fact that he was dying from cancer and really didn't care what people thought of him. (There's another blog entry - why, when people find out that they are dying, or when you get to a certain age, you really don't care what comes out of your mouth?)

However, I can attest to what this man said about people tipping in Utah. "Nobody" is taking it a little far, but very few people do, in fact, tip or tip decently. Do you know that the guy at the valet stand is making less than, or at the very least, minimum wage because his employers assume that you will tip? It doesn't even have to be a big tip. When I hand these guys $3 it's like they've won the lottery. And the person getting into their BMW or Jaguar can't even be bothered to hand over a dollar.

Some people say it's a generational thing. This might be true.  My friends and I are 20%ers at restaurants.  My parents are usually 15-18%ers. Some say you have to work in the service industry (or have friends who do) in order to understand tipping.  This is probably the most true. I know too many people who worked too many crappy jobs to put themselves through college and realize that the same holds true even now. People are still doing these crappy jobs to put themselves through college.

So, do you tip the valet? Will you now?