High Rise Life: Tipping The Front Desk

I usually tip a Jackson for each on-site staff member (cleaning people, building engineer, etc), but now you are making me feel far too generous.

We tip between $25 and $50 to each concierge depending on their helpfulness throughout the year. Building manager gets around $75. I checked with Emily Post and this seems to be what is “proper.”

Our building arrived at the decision that tipping the property manager cash was poor etiquette. The logic was the PM is a professional salaried management level employee. Our building focused our tips towards the front desk staff, building engineer and cleaning staff.

Seriously? The people in my building have never done anything for me other than to say hello. I don’t feel safer having them there or anything. Not sure why they even have them 24/7/365. Seems like a waste of money.

The one time I tried to use them for drycleaning I had a suit that took over a week to get back to me and my questions of where is it were met with an I don’t know. Not their fault I’m sure, but the “concierge” service is a joke in my building in my opinion.

Honestly, I rarely tip my building staff. Our cleaning folks are rarely ever seen. Sometimes I wonder if they exist. Our front office tends to hide out in the comfortable surroundings of their office and our door folks rarely leave their desk.

I think the tip amount really depends on the depth of service the building staff provides, which isn’t much in my case. I usually leave a card for the door staff, but the tips will be saved for those who actually leave their desk behind.

In my previous building, there was a formal drive each December. The money was redistributed to the staff based on seniority and hours worked. This insured that the behind-the-scene folks, part-timers, and odd shift folks were rewarded. The collection drive included a report of the previous year with the number of households participating and the average contribution. I always put in more than average and felt good. My current building has no system but occasionally passes the hat. I ignore the hat and make my own direct gift which insures that the whole amount gets where I intended it. I think in terms of Grants, not Jacksons. I mean $1/week isn’t too much.

Some of the front desk staff are so rude and/or indifferent that they should be paying ME to have to see them every day. I hate to say that, but it’s true. Some of the front desk people are nice and helpful, but most won’t go out of their way to help you with anything.

And I am already paying so much in condo fees to pay their salaries (in part – I realize the fee covers many other things too), I really don’t think I should be paying any more. Sorry if I sound like a grinch, but I feel $680/month is more than enough to pay.

We here in Artisan have great staff- I always tip our building manager and usually the building handyman. Two years ago I started with $25 Starbucks cards but last Christmas we had no handyman at Christmas time so I gave $50 cash to our building manager. The residents of the building tried to encourage a group gift but had very little response. I like individual gifts but I always feel bad that we have a rotating staff of desk people and I find it difficult to give to them- Don’t really know them all – should we single one out??? Feel lucky that we have such a nice group here after reading others’ posts!

We give about $150 a year at the holidays to our condo staff. We work on a sliding scale: Most helpful front desk people get the most, less/not helpful get a much smaller percentage. Somewhere in between for the building manager.

Some of the comments make me more thankful for the quality of staff in our building.
I tip the building manager, and long-term front-desk staff who are helpful. I’m largely motivated by the desire to make sure that good people stay here and feel appreciated. Most of our front-desk staffing slots turn over every few months…I don’t feel much obligation there.
There have been some efforts (by others) to organize end-of-year donations in the building – they haven’t gotten too far. I assume thats largely because our building has a lot of renters and a lot of younger residents.

Agree with first artisan resident — we have some great staff members and I want to make sure that we keep the good ones. Tips are a nice thank you and a way to provide some positive reinforcement

For some of you who don’t tip, you might try it and see if you get better service! I know, I know, condo fees are exorbitant, but you’d be surprised how little your concierges make – especially if they are contractors instead of building employees. Of course, a tip is NEVER required, only a nice way of saying thanks – or “paying it forward” for good service in the year to come.

I echo the above comments: the Artisan does have really excellent front desk staffers. I think our cleaning crew is great, too.

Just as a response to “artisan resident”: Renters do tip! (Or at least I do.) I’m opposed to a group/building-wide tip because it encourages free-loading. When I personally hand them an envelope, the front desk and cleaning staff know that I appreciate them, and that inspires some level of goodwill towards me that a group tip doesn’t provide. Besides, I’m pretty sure these people all make scandalously low wages compared to the residents they serve, so I feel that the individual tipping system–which probably maximizes their take as compared to a group tip–is the best for all.

dc resident – cool, thanks, my speculation may have been wrong and your points are well taken.

We have one wonderful front desk person in my building who I typically give $50 for Christmas. The rest of the front desk staff are constantly turning over. However, I can’t say I mind the turnover since most of these other folks have been rude, unhelpful and once I even found a guy asleep and snoring at the desk.

My building manager is a salaried professional (and I know his salary is not too shaby based on our condo’s budget) so I have not tipped him for his service.

I disagree with the earlier Clara Barton post. I’ve lived in the building since it opened. Some front desk people have been friendlier and more helpful than others, but my experience is that when I am kind and friendly to them, they respond with courtesy and are very helpful. The cleaning people work really hard and keep the place spotless. Our condo fees are not making these folks rich. I agree that tipping the building manager is a bad idea…she is salaried and presumably well paid.

Tips? I don’t think so. Not in *** ****. The front desk is pretty much useless and the BM is just a step behind them. I’ll agree with the comment above that my 550+ condo fee is good enough until the service improves.

I’m not going to “pay it forward” for basic service that is part of the job. Tip to service not to the outlines of etiquette!!

a short reminder that this is a moderated forum and readers and commenters alike should refresh themselves on PQ Living’s Comment Policy especially the second paragraph which discusses how we view comments about specifically named buildings. thanks for the good comments so far.

My condo board takes up a collection and distributes it among the staff based on tenure and type of position. I generally give about $100 to $150 to that fund. Being a frustatrated pastry chef in my spare time, I also make sure the front desk is well stocked with baked goods throughout the holiday season. But, that also is my way of keeping said baked goods out of my apartment and out of my mouth.