Do You Tip…The Shower Attendant?
By: Heidi O.
You and your spouse go into the truckstop to partake of a much needed shower. You get your little paper certificate and wait for your number to be called. When your number is called, you and your spouse head back toward the shower. On the way, the attendant sees you both together and offers you a bigger shower or what this particular truck stop calls a “Platinum” shower. You thank the attendant and go about taking your shower.
Another day, you are at a different truck stop to shower. The shower attendant sees you and recognizes that you are a couple and knows there is only one set of towels in the shower room. The attendant stops you and says, “Here are some extra towels, enjoy your shower!”
Now, for the big question! Do you tip the attendant? Do you feel the attendant went above and beyond in changing the showers for you? Do you feel the attendant went above and beyond offering extra towels before you had to ask?
Well, it happened to my husband and I several times and, YES, we do tip the attendants for going out of their way. If they upgrade our shower or offer that extra towel, then we feel they went beyond their job duties and we give them a tip.
These tips can range anywhere from $2 to $5, which is actually a fair sum to someone is who being paid a semi-decent hourly wage (no pun intended). Just as a side note here: we tip waitresses based solely on their service and can vary from 10 to 20 percent, but that is a whole other article!!
Do we tip all the shower attendants, NO. Do you? Do you think it’s customary to tip a shower attendant that has simply cleaned the shower and walked away to the next one, not really caring to take a minute out to say “hi” or even ‘”have a great day” once you are done?
We have been to some extremely nice places and, in all honesty, most places we have stopped to shower have been nice. Ok, maybe they aren’t marble floor, candles by the tub nice (except for those Little America Truckstops that have the nice tubs and beautiful decor in them!), but let’s say nice as far as a truck stop bathroom go.
Have we had those ones that you just aren’t sure of? Well, of course we have! Several places we have been, I am still wondering why the shower attendants haven’t been replaced! Those are the ones you do the “wash and dash” and get in and get out as quick as possible!Honestly, even those weren’t that bad and had they been, we would have used our trusty Assurance Bath Wipes and kept on trucking to a more decent place. We try to stay in decent places that have decent facilities.
So, my question to all of you is, do you tip and what are some of your reasons why you do? My reasoning is that if a person takes time out to go above and beyond what is just expected from them then they deserve a little bit of recognition.
You just NEVER know how greatly even $2 can affect someone’s day or how $5 can make someone not only smile, but they will surely remember you on your next trip through!!
Let’s all join together to recognize the outstanding shower attendants when we have one and make someone smile every once in awhile!