I work for the Feds and tips are not allowed, even as small as $1. Nothing. No way. We'd be fired for taking tips. If someone brings in candy or something similar and it has a low value, the office can accept it and the items are for everyone. Anything worth a chunk of change is refused.I don't think those rules are intended to prevent small token tips, and even more so if it has nothing to do with any transaction in which the company is a party directly or indirectly. But of course, if you don't want to tip, you should not have to lean on someone else to arrive at that conclusionJuuust kidding.
I'd bet that the restaurant in the Capitol does not employ state workers. If you have been to a national park and go to a lodge or restaurant there, you are not being served by federal employees.By that reasoning, if you go to your state Capitol and have a lunch in the restaurant in that building, you don’t tip the server because they are a Government employee. If you claim they are not, why do you claim Amtrak servers are Government employees?
Sure, Amtrak gets a subsidy from the Government (via Congress), but so does your manufacturer of your car. So are all Dodge employees Government employees too?
Nobody is trying to impose anything on anybody.
Yeah, this isn't happening either. You're arguing against a strawman. Thanks for your valuable efforts to argue otherwise. They really make the forum a better place in every single thread you drive it into.
That must be an agency-specific thing. We're allowed nominal gifts under a certain value. I'd have to dig the handbook out of wherever I dumped it after new hire training for the particulars, but there is no blanket prohibition.
No, since Amtrak employees aren't government employees.
They're almost certainly contractors and not government employees either.
I was not talking of feds. I was talking about my experience working for a publicly traded global company and its ethics policies. The hanky panky that potentially goes on especially in government contracts (not necessarily US Government mind you, it is just one of our customers. There are dozens of other governments and their agents that we deal with routinely) can be quite mind boggling and we get annual training on what is and is not allowed.I work for the Feds and tips are not allowed, even as small as $1. Nothing. No way. We'd be fired for taking tips. If someone brings in candy or something similar and it has a low value, the office can accept it and the items are for everyone. Anything worth a chunk of change is refused.I don't think those rules are intended to prevent small token tips, and even more so if it has nothing to do with any transaction in which the company is a party directly or indirectly. But of course, if you don't want to tip, you should not have to lean on someone else to arrive at that conclusionJuuust kidding.
Worm of cans I lid on back putBy that reasoning, if you go to your state Capitol and have a lunch in the restaurant in that building, you don’t tip the server because they are a Government employee. If you claim they are not, why do you claim Amtrak servers are Government employees?
Sure, Amtrak gets a subsidy from the Government (via Congress), but so does your manufacturer of your car. So are all Dodge employees Government employees too?
Amtrak dining car staff have a base salary that is an order of magnitude more than typical restaurant workers and they also enjoy employment and retirement benefits that vastly exceed those of most Americans. They don't have to worry about handling special requests or cooking your meal a certain way or even knowing what ingredients are used. To be perfectly honest if I ever received Amtrak level service from any Ritz-Carlton I probably wouldn't tip anything at all. In fact I'd likely get my meal comped with a never ending series of apologies. Except that's never actually happened. Probably because Ritz-Carlton staff are well trained to provide friendly and professional customer-focused service instead of barking instructions and treating customers like a nuisance.
Well first... The difference in pay for a server from Joes Slop House vs. La Ritz is probably quite minimal. In fact, La Ritz may pay the same because the "extra" income would be from the higher tips due to higher priced meals and alcahol.
Working conditions certainly ARE different on a train. DC staff are often tasked with working all three meals. They have no choice but to work overtime, especially when trains are late. On LD runs they must be away from home up to six days in a row. They must balance those trays with the strength of a gymnast and the grace of a ballet dancer despite the rock/roll of a train on sometimes questionable track. They survive in a bureaucratic nightmare where creativity, once cherished, is now frowned upon--and where the employee handbook is literally 806 pages thick!. They get stiffed tip-wise a lot more often than wait staff in stationary restaurants do.
Very nicely stated!
Thanks for attempting to return this thread to the original topic.
To be fair, I do feel that for the most part Amtrak staff do provide good service.
If I order ameal for a value of 50$, to which server is that accounted. Sometimes one server may take my order, another bring it, and a third bring the next course etc.
As stated earlier by a member with 30 years experience in the hotel industry (post #2), that only applies to food service or tipped workers paid less than mimimum wage.
Per post #1 the 8% issue is relative to the employer, not the employee.
The IRS publication Is for employers, but it's policies and regulations effect directly upon what is reported employee's (s') taxable compensation.
