pismobum said:
Tipping has become a required 'curse' of our society. Keep in mind that most food service personnel are 'minimum wage' and depend on tips for income. Amtrak dining personnel (and car/sleeper attendants) are UNION personnel and probably make more than you do. Do you leave a tip in your hotel/motel for the 'minimum wage' maid? If not, why would you tip your highly paid room attendant on the train?
Pismobum,
I'm sorry but I must respectively disagree with the above. While I'm not a big fan of unions at all (read I’m anti-union), there are still limits to what a union can do.
First a little background. Years ago I worked for JC Penny and after holding several different jobs, I ended up in a supervisory role in my stores accounting office. As such I was privy to certain things that many others were not. One was what the waitresses in the restaurant were making. At that time minimum wage for the regular workers in the store was $3.55 an hour. The starting wage for a waiter/waitress was $1.10 an hour. It’s my understanding that the required minimum for a waiter/waitress is now up to a buck sixty or so. Yes better restaurants may pay their waiters more, so they can attract the best. But even then, most waiters/waitresses still don’t make more per hour (before tips) than the regular federal minimum wage that even a worker for McDonalds makes.
Waiters and waitresses are exempt from the regular minimum wage laws, because they get tips. Therefore no one pays them the standard minimum wage. Even in a union shop, the rules are different for a quote/unquote "regular" worker vs. a worker who depends upon tipping for their livelihood. Yes a waiter/waitress who is in a union may have a higher base rate than a non-union waiter/waitress. But under no circumstances would any waiter/waitress have a starting hourly rate that is equivalent to a worker in a non-tip position. Not even a union can change this simple fact.
Next it might surprise you to know that all Amtrak workers, with the exception of perhaps Amtrak management, are in the unhappy position of being the lowest paid workers in their field. Any Amtrak conductor can go make more money working for a freight company or even on most commuter RR’s. In fact there was a recent article raising concern that many Amtrak workers might actually defect from Amtrak to go work for the new company that will operate Boston’s MBTA commuter RR’s. Why, simply because those with seniority can make more money with the MBTA.
Now I’m not personally privy to just how much a sleeping car attendant makes per hour. In fact I’m not even sure if they get paid by the hour or by the trip. However knowing what a typical Amtrak conductor or engineer makes, I seriously doubt that a sleeping car attendant is making the same amount of money. The same would also be true for a dining car attendant. There is simply no way that any union is going to get substantially more money out of Amtrak for such a position than they could get out of any other restaurant or hotel. According to a few reliable sources that I’ve got, the average salary for an assistant conductor is around $35,000 per year, assuming that he/she works 40 hours a week with no overtime.
Next you should also be considering that unlike a typical waiter/waitress, Amtrak’s work three meals a day. Often from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM with only a few breaks during the day. Not to mention most waiters/waitresses don't have to balance their tray of food or drinks while the resturant is moving at close to 80 miles an hour.
A sleeping car attendant is technically on duty 24 hours a day until the train reaches it’s final destination. How many maids can claim that? He's also responsible for making sure that the passengers in his care get on and off at the correct stops. Additionally he's charged with their safety. Finally most maids don't have to serve the elderly and/or handicapped their meals in their rooms. They have room service, a sleeping car attendant is the room service.
Finally if the temptation of being rewarded for a job well done gets me better service, then I’m all for that. In fact I just left the biggest tip I’ve ever given a sleeping car attendant for the attendant I had on my return on the AT. Even without the slightest hint that I would reward him, this gentleman went way out of his way to make my family comfortable and happy. He was truly a gem for Amtrak and I was quite happy to reward him for his efforts.
If you don’t give me good service, well then you loose.
By the way I usually do leave a tip for the maid in a hotel room if they’ve done a good job.