I get lots of tips in my job. Most of them have to do with dying or having sex with myself Id prefer the money though.

One of my clients is a spa. The staff there get lots of tips. I think 20% is OTT but tipping is the norm.

I get confused with tipping too. I have never tipped a massage therapist though, I paid $65 for an hour, I can't afford a tip as well. I tip food delivery drivers, waiters/waitresses, hairdresser, that's about it. Once I left a nicely wrapped food treat for the mailman at Christmas, didn't even say thank you.

Then only have a half hour hand job. A spa is an obvious case of somewhere one should tip.

I've never been to a spa, this is massage therapy. Why is a spa an obvious place to tip?

For some reason, these places don't really seem to offer hand jobs for women.

A spa is an obvious place to tip because it's a personal service in the manner of, and often including, hairdressing. If one is having physiotherapy in a hospital or clinic then that's treatment and one would not usually tip. I suppose massage "therapy" to be a form of recreational rubbing closer to the former than the latter.

Why is personal service an obvious place to tip if they're already charging you upwards of $65 per hour? Massage therapy can be spa-like I suppose, but it also covers things like deep tissue massage following sports injuries so therapeutic in that way, I think it depends on the type of practitioner you go to. My hairdresser says that tipping is around 50/50 for her.

Thats just how it is... we dont make the rules, we cant explain the rules, all we can do is point out what is considered standard behaviour in Canada.

Dbd has it pretty nailed...if its something medical then you dont tip, if its something more like a haircut, then you do.

I agree though that 20% is taking the piss, but leaving a $5 or 10 wont break the bank.

That's true, I just like to understand why I'm expected to do something All of my massages were for injuries so I guess that's the other side of the line anyway.

I guess it comes down to what you're used to too.

Best tip you can give someone...

"Don't eat yellow snow"

Half an hour? I would be able to walk afterwards!

I hate tipping hairderessers, they don't seem impoverished.

My daughter is one and like servers at a restaurant, that's actually how they make most of their money.

Good hairdressers get good tips - Crappy hairdresser don't get tips. So I'm being told.

Sooo if 20% is considered excessive ... What would the great BE massive suggest I tip when I use my gift certificate that is worth 350???

My tipping policy:

- Restos get tipped at least 15% of the amount before tax.

- Dog groomers get rounded up. Usually comes to $90 and I give them a $100.

- Taxi drivers get an amount that depends on how convenient the rounding is.

- I *think* I tip my barbers. I don't know how much he charges, so I just hand over the cash and he hasn't complained so far.

- I tipped the movers who delivered our own furniture $40 (for the two of them). I don't tip delivery people who deliver furniture we just bought.

- I tipped the workmen who finished our basement with a case of beer. While working they didn't want cups of tea, but I made sure they had ready supplies of pop + crisps + biscuits. Apparently Canadians don't do this, but they appreciated it.