OW checkout dives - tipping?

[NauticalNick]

i must say i was shocked at all the responses.

first.....as an instructor i rarely saw a tip. but at times i did receive something extra. one time something very nice.

as a non paid intern.....i may have been given something a couple of times.

i never expected a tip. and i agree with most of the comments here. i was being paid to do a job and i did it the best i could.

but i wonder how many of the divers here who responded by saying no to tipping, then turn around and tip quite nicely when away on vacation. hmmmmm

I think paying for a cert and fun dives on holiday are different. If I am doing a cert on holiday, with all of the expense that entails, I would not tip but again if just doing a handful of dives and people really went out of their way in terms of pickups etc then certainly I would tip. My DI in Bali picked me up from my hotel on the back of his scooter in the morning and took me home at night so I tipped him pretty well at the end of the trip.

 

[texasdivemaster2012]

In many major diving destinations, Florida, Caribbean, Hawaii, etc., the dive guide does not necessarily get paid directly. The dive guide could be an instructor not instructing or a dive master / dive con. They often depend on divers tips to get by.

The divemaster (not instructor) in the open water dives in a course does similar functions to a dive guide at destinations. They might do the site setup, issue tanks and weights, help out divers in general.

To fail to inform the students that it is appropriate to tip the divemaster in a course promotes the idea that it is also not necessary to tip the dive guide at destinations. They didn't tip the divemaster in the course, so why should they tip the dive guide at the destination. In other words, the certified student divers won't know any better that this is normally done.

It should be the divers conscious choice whether or not they tip.

Many destination dive operations have to specifically address tipping on their boats. Yet many divers still do not tip even when the service is good. You can't blame some of those divers, because they don't know any better. But you can blame the diveshop that certified them.

I know that I wouldn't want to be associated with a dive shop that trained divers that it is ok or even normal to not tip destination dive professionals. I have seen a couple of cases where individuals from specific dive shops have actually developed a reputation for not tipping. Those divers kept getting the short end of the stick and wondered why.

The worst case that I saw was in Florida with a dive operator who did not normally provide a divemaster underwater although it is customary in many other places. Divers could opt to have a divemaster underwater who they were not charged for (unlike Cozumel), but were expected to tip the divemaster. Many still did not.

 

[Badger7]

I always keep an extra 10 and a 20 tucked in the bottom of my reg bag. Whenever I'm diving with a DM or training with an instructor, if they do the bare minimum I thank them for their time and try to learn something new from the experience. If a DM or instructor goes out of their way to make the experience awesome in any way, there's a little extra something for them in the parting handshake.

My time is valuable and so is theirs. As the paying customer, I like to encourage those who take pride in their work. If the org is fishing for tips its kind of icky but isn't going to change my behavior with the actual employee. If I hire you and you make my experience a little special, I'm sharing a little extra thank you.

 

[Bigbella]

I could see a decent tip after a class or tour ended or something along those lines, for good work -- but I wandered into a coffee shop the other day, while on the road; poured my own damn cup and used an automated kiosk for payment, and was given the option of leaving either a 15, 20, or 25 percent tip, for the slacker with a bull ring through his nose and a tattooed blue ankh on his forehead, who acknowledged no one who came into the place, and sat busily scribbling in a notebook.

Yeah, that works . . .

 

[Badger7]

I could see a decent tip after a class or tour ended or something along those lines, for good work; but I wandered into a coffee shop the other day, while on the road; poured my own damn cup and used an automated kiosk for payment, and was given the option of leaving either a 15, 20, or 25 percent tip, for the slacker with a bull ring through his nose and a tattooed blue ankh on his forehead, who acknowledged no one who came into the place, and sat busily scribbling in a notebook.

Yeah, that works . . .

Yeah, point of sale tipping is WAAAAYYYYY out of hand now and I'm not supporting any of that. The dude selling onions and flowers at the farmers market has a tip option for card payments. This image has been floating around the internet the past few days too, with the $0 tip button covered with a sticker:

 

[texasdivemaster2012]

It not just the dude at the market.

Last time, I was at the airport, the credit card machine came up with a tip option. Kind of ridiculous for getting a $4 can of soda out of the cooler myself.

Recently, I was registering for a wine tasting. When I went to pay for the experience, the same tip screen came up. I thought it was for the guy conducting the session. I paid the tip, but then later gave the guy running the session another tip. The tip at the register was for just checking me out.

The dive guide I tip $20, after a two tank dive works a lot harder than the cashier who rings me up for a wine tasting experience.

 

[SKPK]

We currently have a friend who is getting certified. Did his book work review this morning and the instructor had an entire part in “dive etiquette” which included tipping. It was suggested that he tip today, and then again on the next few days, and tip the boat captain separately.

We suggested that he give his entire tip to the instructor at the end of check out dives, and that the instructor should be responsible for sharing, if necessary. Of course he can reduce the instructors tip and give to boat captain. Any thoughts? Never heard of this practice.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

This sounds like tipflation to me, I've never heard of such a thing.
They just need to pay them what they're worth and stop with the games and pressuring the customers.
This kind of pisses me off hearing this.
Where is it going to stop?
The prices at restaurants continue to go up and now they want minimum of 20% tip on top of it.
The pressure can on the counter of every coffee shop and food place.
And now instructors?
Are we going to have to start tipping clerks at grocery stores because it's hard work and not the self check out?
Do we tip the salesperson at the dive shop too because they showed you a new mask or a regulator?
How much should we tip the service technician that rebuilt your regs? 15 or 20%?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Never heard of it. Never seen it at our shop here in Nova Scotia. Only tip I once got while divemastering courses was a beer. At a shop in NY I was told that since the DMs didn't get salary the students were encouraged to tip them, but not the instructors.

Was someone holding a gun to the divemasters heads telling them they need to work for free except for tips?

 

[SKPK]

Was someone holding a gun to the divemasters heads telling them they need to work for free except for tips?

I don’t know if it’s management or ownership but seems to me that the shop ought to be able to share and maybe the employees don’t trust each other. Which is pretty sad. Thanks for your response.