Do you *consistently* tip other styles of performers?

[PracticalDancer]

All, my family had a lovely evening at a restaurant over the weekend, and were lucky enough to be treated to live jazz while we dined. As we left, it was during a sound reset, so I was not able to only tip the band, but to speak to them, too.

They were stunned. Happily stunned, but stunned.

Has tipping performers in general become a lost habit?

Is that why dancers are so rarely tipped?

When you see other genres of performers that you enjoy, do *you* tip them?

Please be honest!

 

[Sophia Maria]

Unfortunately I don't get much opportunity to see live performances of anything, me living in the middle of nowhere and all! But if I do go out somewhere and watch even only a part of a performance, I always tip. I think sometimes the reason people don't tip is they've become a little jaded, maybe, like, "Oh I've seen this kind of stuff before and they're not doing much special" (I've heard people say things like that). But to me, even if they're not at the top of their game that day, even if they aren't a world-class performer, they are taking this time to entertain - you. And they probably do this partly if not entirely to make a living. And I guess most of this just comes back to my frequent rant that more and more people nowadays haven't learned how to put themselves in other peoples' shoes and have respect...but that's a whole other can 'o worms.

On the other hand, I did watch a live street performance once where one of the performers was always on a mike asking for money and criticizing crowd members who didn't give money, and the whole thing felt really tacky. That lack of politeness and humility that usually makes me want to tip well, made me give less than I originally intended.

 

[Kashmir]

Tipping isn't part of the New Zealand culture. We pay for service upfront - whether they are waitstaff, musicians or dancers - so probably my vote is irrelevant.

 

[Ariadne]

Just like dressing up to go out to eat and not clapping until the end of the symphony/concerto instead of after each movement knowing how to tip performers is a social skill that has fallen off from disuse in the US. We just aren't taught how to go about it. When people don't know what they are doing they're easily embarrassed and likely to avoid even trying. Sad but true.

 

[jjj]

Normally they get hired by the club and we pay extra in the entrance. In small restaurants you do see a tip jar and to be honest they are very bad performers. I tip depending on the person. But as far as I'm concern most places already pay them upfront.

 

[Shanazel]

Tipping used to be an expression of appreciation for a job particularly well done; now it is an expected source of income in many places. I saw a waiter in Mexico City chase a customer into the street, yelling at him because he'd failed to leave a large enough tip. One of the the many things I loved about Ireland is the wait staffs were paid good salaries and tips were not expected.

My husband is a professional musician paid union wages who does not expect tips at his gigs. However both of us consistently toss money in the hat for excellent street musicians and for good dancers in restaurants and similar venues where tipping is expected. I don't tip dancers who have performed on stage.

Personally I hated the whole tip the dancer thing but I made most of my dancing income that way. I occasionally had an employer who figured if I made my fee in tips then I shouldn't expect to be paid by the venue as well. There are still a lot of bastages like that out there.

 

[Sirène]

I wish "other" was an option. I voted "no" however I usually buy the musicians' CD(s) which run between $10-$20 and most times are CD-R's in a paper envelope.

 

[AndreaSTL]

I don't tip bands in a venue; I assume they have been paid by the house. If I stop to watch a street performer I will tip them. The only exception is as animadanza mentioned: if the performer harps on the tipping and gets spiteful about it I won't do it. And tipping because you made a coffee? Nope.

 

[walladah]

It is typical in Greece (and in mediterranean in general)

to tip people in services... or maybe in general (i bought a choco-muffin yesterday and they also gave me a big pretzel as a tip... to the client!)

esp. in performing arts, particularly in traditional venues or fairs, tipping is good manners and a recognition that a) even if the venue owner pays the performer well, money will never be enough for art to be remunerated and b) that the tipping person has been so happy with the performance that she/he considers the entrance-standard fee a mean payment for the performance enjoyed. It is "obligatory" to tip and tip well, if you demand the band to play something for you to dance or for your wife/children/friends to dance with you... in a taverna, in a wedding, in a fair etc.

It is also a show-off of generosity, art-understanding and high social status, to tip performers.

This has made the thing to be with rules: you never touch a performer woman, singer or dancer or musician (tipping like this a bellydancer would seem something like abuse against her). In some cases, people used to put a currency note on the band musician's front, but this also has been considered vulgar and the last years, i think it has stopped.

Good manners make you to send the tip with a waiter or to go and give the tip in a discreet way to the band or to a waitress to transfer it to the lady performer. For lady performers, many-zero tipping is not good manners to be done with money, it would also seem vulgar. Good manner tipping used to be in... kind: jewels, flowers, bottles of expensive wine. i think that this holds for celebrity performers too all over the world today: costumes, night gowns, expensive jewels, etc.

I do not know whether this type of tipping rules will fade out with tipping getting fading due to economic hardship. I remember though that narrations of tipping rules, cases, absurdities and generosities originate also in difficult times too, so maybe tipping will continue, or get more generous.

 

[Sophia Maria]

We just aren't taught how to go about it. When people don't know what they are doing they're easily embarrassed and likely to avoid even trying. Sad but true.

Very true, very true. I think the biggest problem isnt that people are deliberately mean or rude. It's that people are inadvertently rude because they get intimidated and would rather just leave than have some sort of social pressure on them.

Another note about street performers: this is an awkward pragmatic issue. I was walking in D.C. with my sister, and there was a guy playing an accordion on the street. He wasn't the greatest to be honest, but I generally like to leave something to appreciate the guts it takes to go out there and perform. However, I realized the only money I had on me was one twenty dollar bill, which is emergency back up money and also more than I thought his caliber of performance was worth. But it still really ate at me that I just walked past him, because I always tip. I feel guilty about it now. ...I also don't run into this situation often because I don't live in a city...

 

[nightdancer]

Even within countries, it seems to be a regional thing. Last year, I moved from one side of the US to the other. What expected in the state that I left is different than the state that I came to. The people here consider a tip as exactly that; an appreciation of a job well done, with about 20% being the norm. Where I left, it was mandatory and I have seen servers be very loud about their evident displeasure at what was left, even when the service was awful.