Sometimes it’s hard to navigate the world of tipping etiquette. You tip the pizza delivery guy, but not the paperboy? It can get really confusing and though there’s plenty of advice out there written by and for Englishers, there’s never been a definitive guide for Mennonites. So, here it is: tipping etiquette for Mennonites.
- skycaps, bellhops, doormen, and parking valets if they handle bags – one stick of Trident gum per bag
- hotel housekeepers – make the bed yourself
- coatroom attendants – one nickel for handling women’s ice cream pails, and a dime for men’s rubber overshoes
- restaurant servers if the service is good: 10% in big cities, 5% in Steinbach or Winkler, leftover change in Grunthal or Blumenort. Everywhere else: “oba, they can eat what’s leftover on my plate yet.”
- restaurant servers if the service is poor: nothing and you report them to the elders
- bartender: $100 – this is more like a bribe than a tip.
- concierge (only if they arranged tickets to an evangelistic crusade or reservations at Chicken Chef) – $0.10 and a gospel tract
- parking valets are paid upon pick-up of buggy – $1 per horse to cover the cost of oats
- pizza delivery boy – one piece of pizza or a kiss from cousin Martha
- taxi drivers – one shoulder massage or round up to the nearest dollar
- the schekjbenjel – nothing, you’re paying him almost minimum wage already once
- the pastor – $200 per sermon where he avoids calling you out on your sins.
(photo credit: brianfagan/CC)