We recently visited New Jersey for the Memorial Day weekend and had a great time. That’s not of the point of this post, though. New Jersey is one of the last places (along with Oregon, I believe) that requires full service when you get gasoline. Besides New Jersey, I actually don’t even remember the last time I had the option of getting full service when filling up the car.
Anyway, my question regards the protocol of tipping the gas station attendant. I didn’t tip the guy since all he did was take my credit card, swipe it in the machine, fill up my car (while walking away to do the same to another car) and hand me back the card. I didn’t even need to sign a credit card receipt. Back in the Stone Age, the gas station attendant minimally washed off your car windows and often checked your fluids. If that occurred in New Jersey last weekend, I definitely would have tipped the attendant a dollar or two.
When I mentioned my New Jersey experience to a friend, she said that I should have tipped the attendant. Since I disagree, I pose this question to you. Should you tip the gas station attendant when full service is required?
Monday, June 04, 2012
What Would Bruce Springsteen Do?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
I have lived in New Jersey for 15 years now and have never once tipped a gas station attendant. I hope this doen't make me a horrible person.
full service is required at restaurants too... I mean, when you go to applebee's, I don't think they would let you stroll back to the kitchen and pick up your own food when it's ready... do you tip your waiter?
on the other hand, I suspect there's a higher level of variance in terms of the level of service you get from waitstaff at a restaurant and what you get from a gas station attendant... if the rationale behind tipping is to encourage good service, then perhaps your inclination to tip if the attendant at least washed the windows (or in some other way provided "good" service) is the right way to go... after all, the only way you could have had *worse* service would have been if he poured sand in your gas tank...
Captain - By that logic, do you tip the butcher at the grocery store since they won't let you cut that meat? What about the cashier at the grocery store since some stores don't have self-checkout? I assume you tip at the dry cleaners too since they won't let you use their equipment?
Yeah, I don't think you're supposed to tip the gas station attendant.
Post a Comment