THE CHRISTMAS CAROL “Silver Bells”, first recorded by Bing Crosby, roughly nails the festive temper in New York. “City sidewalks, busy sidewalks | Dressed in holiday style,” he croons. “Strings of street lights | Even stop lights blink a bright red and green | As the shoppers rush home with their treasure.” All that’s lacking is a lyric about vacation tipping. In the Big Apple, it’s not solely Father Christmas who is worried about lists. Many New Yorkers make “tipping lists”—and test them twice.
Festive ideas go to those that make New Yorkers’ lives simpler. Doormen, dog-walkers, meals deliverers, storage attendants, hair stylists, nannies, yoga instructors and the like anticipate a Christmas gratuity. Trying to determine whom to tip, and by how a lot, is as a lot a part of the seasonal planning as selecting a tree or having Chinese meals on Christmas Day.
Tips are given in gratitude for providers rendered; if not a proper requirement, in America they’re anticipated. In the festive interval it’s customary to present a dog-walker the equal of per week’s pay. A nanny ought to get one to 2 weeks’ value. Food-delivery employees 20-25% per order. Streeteasy, a property-listing website, suggests tipping FedEx or UPS couriers $20.
Tipping doormen is especially fraught. Some residents say they contemplate their doormen to be virtually household. They are trusted, discreet, and be careful for the protection of residents, together with youngsters. No-one needs to present too little—or an excessive amount of. “It is all so potentially awkward,” says a stressed-out New Yorker. Elaine Swann, an etiquette knowledgeable, means that so long as a tip just isn’t given in a crumpled ball, it’s more likely to be gratefully obtained. But to keep away from awkwardness, she provides, many givers today use electronic-payment programs, resembling Zelle.
Among doormen, at the least, money stays king. Every doorman your correspondent interviewed says that whereas cookies or poinsettia potted crops are all very effectively, they at all times hope for an accompanying envelope of money. One, manning the doorway of a swanky constructing on Park Avenue, says that in 2021 festive ideas made up a tenth of his annual revenue.
How a lot doormen get might depend upon the kind of constructing. Tenants, on common, are stingier with ideas than owner-occupiers. For those that toil in posh buildings alongside Fifth Avenue, particularly senior workers, ideas can run into the hundreds. “You could get $900 from one resident and $60 from the next-door neighbour,” says a doorman.
Those in luxurious flats overlooking Central Park could also be an exception. But most New Yorkers, together with bus drivers and lecturers, stay in buildings the place tipping a superintendent or a porter is the norm. During the pandemic, too, appreciation grew for individuals who confirmed as much as do their jobs when many white-collar employees have been capable of keep at house. Streeteasy suggests giving a doorman $25 to $150 and upkeep employees $25 to $75. Casey Roberts of Streeteasy says, “It is really just about showing your appreciation.”
Most recipients are grateful for no matter they get. A constructing supervisor says one colleague sees them as items relatively than ideas. “He doesn’t open the envelopes right away. He likes to wait and open them all on Christmas Eve.”■