Should I Tip? and How much?

Stopped by the grocery store this morning to grab donuts for everyone, and took a stroll through the liquor dept to see if they had any Eagle Rare. They have a spot on the shelf marked for it but I have never seen it there. "Pat" walks by and asks what I am looking for, I say I just checking to see if by chance they had any. Anyways I give her my number and she said that if any came in she would call. I am running around at work and look at my phone and there is a message, it came in and she has a bottle put aside for me.

I know I should offer a tip but how much on a $30(ish) bottle of bourbon, I am thinking I will offer her $5.\

 

$5 on a $30 bottle should be fine. She might say no thanks anyway

 

If you want to try to offer a tip, $5 would be nice, but a lot of grocery chains discourage employees from taking tips.
For going above and beyond, I would ask to speak to her manager and tell them how much you appreciate what she did. Could go a lot further than a $5 tip that could possibly get her in trouble.

 

In jobs like these that are generally "non tipping", she may refuse either because she's not comfortable accepting it (especially since being seen on camera pocketing the tip could lead to trouble), or because there might be a workplace policy against tipping. I've certainly gone out of my way to dig up things for customers before when I worked in retail... and can tell you I would not have accepted a tip of any amount... and if the customer insisted, I suspect I'd have sought the explicit approval of my manager.

My approach to situations like these is to ask "What is the highest compliment I can pay you?". Aside from putting them in a potentially awkward situation with being offered a tip, however much that tip is could well be worth far less than some other form of appreciation.

For example, I know for a fact that many chains of retailers reward employees handsomely if they are mentioned positively by name in a survey completed by a customer. They can't necessarily say "Please fill out the survey and mention my name", but many times I've explicitly asked for their name if it's not on a tag and voluntarily mentioned that I will fill out the survey and make a point to mention them... which resulted in visible happiness.

Of course, if there's no survey... an email to the store's management would likely be the best route. Might be tedious to write that up compared to slipping $5 to them, but the two or three minutes you might spend doing that could be what scores them a raise or a promotion. Back when I was the employee, I've also had my ass saved more than once by customer compliments that offset an unrelated screwup/screwups around that time... so I also think of it from that perspective too.

Good on you for going out of your way to show your appreciation. I might still offer the $5 (perhaps in the form of a gift card instead of cash, say to Starbucks or similar)... but be prepared for them to not accept it, so that you can have a backup of some kind ready.

 

Crack open the bottle and let her have the first swig.

 

Rather than cash, maybe a five dollar Starbucks card or something similar. The store might have a no cash tip policy, but the gift card should be okay.

 

As somebody who has worked retail, sending an email through the company’s “contact us” page complimenting the employee by name, and/or filling out the survey if there is a receipt (some surveys allow you to enter comments about either exceptionally good or bad things about your transaction) would probably be the best path. Also, accepting small gifts/cards given as appreciation is generally ok, but accepting cash is generally a no-no for non-tipped employees

 

Yesterday, I bought a case of bottle beer and bag of ice with a tall IPA.
The young guy behind the the plexi glass + facemask said something to me
I didn't react cos I could not hear it
I grab some of the crap....turn....and was gonna make two trips to my car.
The kid was behind me carrying the heavy bottle case.
I was impressed
Thanked him at the car.....he turned to leave.....I gave him $2.
He was surprised and appreciated it.
I remember chuckling..... " What am I ?.....in Vegas ?".........big spender !
.
Tip her if you feel it !

 

Offered a tip an she declined. Was surprised that I offered.

 

If you end up making your compliments through survey/email, be sure to mention that she declined a tip when offered. Dedicated employees who truly view it as being "just doing my job" to the point that they'll decline a cash tip are a true rarity IMO... and hearing that completely unsolicited from a customer will be excellent feedback to a manager/supervisor IMO.

 

5 the first and 2 each thereafter and tell her to keep them coming. Every once in a while give her another 5. Your machine will never be dry.

 

Our company (heck, our industry) frowns upon employees taking anything beyond small gifts of nominal value. It is the most ignored policy in our company around Christmas. The feedback is always appreciated because you want to know that your people are doing good work but there was no way I'd do anything to an employee who accepted a tip. Some of my people had customers that would tip them as much as $100 and I wasn't going to tell them to turn it down.