I keep my small sailboat in a marina year-round. Is it customary to tip
or give a present to the marina manager at Christmas? How much?

This is not a marina for the affluent. My boat is only worth about
$1600 and I pay $120 a month for the slip.

Thanks in advance!

wrote:
I keep my small sailboat in a marina year-round. Is it customary to tip
or give a present to the marina manager at Christmas? How much?

This is not a marina for the affluent. My boat is only worth about
$1600 and I pay $120 a month for the slip.

Thanks in advance!

Does he drink?
A bottle of hootch might be appropriate at Christmas.
Just don't expect to haul it over to his office in a Muslim cab. :-)

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
I keep my small sailboat in a marina year-round. Is it customary to tip
or give a present to the marina manager at Christmas? How much?

This is not a marina for the affluent. My boat is only worth about
$1600 and I pay $120 a month for the slip.

Thanks in advance!

Does he drink?
A bottle of hootch might be appropriate at Christmas.
Just don't expect to haul it over to his office in a Muslim cab. :-)


LOL!

wrote in news:1160962340.606458.92790
@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

I keep my small sailboat in a marina year-round. Is it customary to tip
or give a present to the marina manager at Christmas? How much?



How soon after he notices it filling up with water do you want him to
call you? If you gave me that nice bottle of my favorite Scotch, I'd
probably run right up the dock to the phone and frantically call you. If
you never even said hello and never tipped me anything, I'd get around to
it next time I was near a phone.

Just depends on what level of "service" you expect from the dock crew,
waitresses, or any other service people you deal with making minimal
wages for long hours.

Now, the marina manager isn't NEAR as important to you as those college
kids they call "dock hands" that pump the gas and walk the docks. THOSE
are the ones to tip! THOSE are the ones to make friends with, even if
you patently object to that little earring in his nose...(c; The finest
tip you can give a dock hand is TAKE HIM SAILING! That's why he got the
job at the marina in the first place...his love of boats. Your neighbors
on the dock will never figure out why 3 dock hands come rushing down the
dock to tie up your boat, standing on your finger pier at the ready to
make a perfect landing....ignoring the snobbish *******s down the dock
that never give them the time of day and treat them like lesser animals.
They're landing the boat they go SAILING ON! Think about the political
ramifications of taking a couple of those boys with you, next time you
want to go sailing and are a little shorthanded. Your boat will never
sink.

"Hi, Cap'n. There was water in your dingy and it was dirty so Mikey and
I pumped it out and cleaned it up for you, Wednesday."

You'll never get used to it.........(c;

Larry wrote:
wrote in news:1160962340.606458.92790
@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

I keep my small sailboat in a marina year-round. Is it customary to tip
or give a present to the marina manager at Christmas? How much?



How soon after he notices it filling up with water do you want him to
call you? If you gave me that nice bottle of my favorite Scotch, I'd
probably run right up the dock to the phone and frantically call you. If
you never even said hello and never tipped me anything, I'd get around to
it next time I was near a phone.

Just depends on what level of "service" you expect from the dock crew,
waitresses, or any other service people you deal with making minimal
wages for long hours.

Now, the marina manager isn't NEAR as important to you as those college
kids they call "dock hands" that pump the gas and walk the docks. THOSE
are the ones to tip! THOSE are the ones to make friends with, even if
you patently object to that little earring in his nose...(c; The finest
tip you can give a dock hand is TAKE HIM SAILING! That's why he got the
job at the marina in the first place...his love of boats. Your neighbors
on the dock will never figure out why 3 dock hands come rushing down the
dock to tie up your boat, standing on your finger pier at the ready to
make a perfect landing....ignoring the snobbish *******s down the dock
that never give them the time of day and treat them like lesser animals.
They're landing the boat they go SAILING ON! Think about the political
ramifications of taking a couple of those boys with you, next time you
want to go sailing and are a little shorthanded. Your boat will never
sink.

"Hi, Cap'n. There was water in your dingy and it was dirty so Mikey and
I pumped it out and cleaned it up for you, Wednesday."

You'll never get used to it.........(c;

It's a shame that the work ethic has evolved to having to bribe someone
to get the service you are already paying for...

"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...


It's a shame that the work ethic has evolved to having to bribe someone
to get the service you are already paying for...


True, sort of. But, on the other hand, there are often opportunities for new
workers to think about better ways of doing their jobs. It's not always that
their work ethic is less than it should be. They're just young. These
opportunities are not always noticed. But when they are, it can become a
path to advancement, maybe more money, or just more job satisfaction.

Last year, my son worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant. One night, the
place was packed, but nobody new was coming in. So, the kitchen slowed down
and he was caught up with his dishwashing, but the dining area was packed.
He felt dumb just standing around, so he put on a clean apron, and backed up
the waitresses with collecting dishes, filling water glasses, etc. When I
picked him up after his shift, he pulled $50 in singles out of his pocket
and said "Pops...the waitresses...the think I'm a god or something. They
just gave me all this".

He could've made a lot of money (for a kid), if the putz owner hadn't gone
out of business.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...


It's a shame that the work ethic has evolved to having to bribe someone
to get the service you are already paying for...


True, sort of. But, on the other hand, there are often opportunities for new
workers to think about better ways of doing their jobs. It's not always that
their work ethic is less than it should be. They're just young. These
opportunities are not always noticed. But when they are, it can become a
path to advancement, maybe more money, or just more job satisfaction.

Last year, my son worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant. One night, the
place was packed, but nobody new was coming in. So, the kitchen slowed down
and he was caught up with his dishwashing, but the dining area was packed.
He felt dumb just standing around, so he put on a clean apron, and backed up
the waitresses with collecting dishes, filling water glasses, etc. When I
picked him up after his shift, he pulled $50 in singles out of his pocket
and said "Pops...the waitresses...the think I'm a god or something. They
just gave me all this".

He could've made a lot of money (for a kid), if the putz owner hadn't gone
out of business.

Well, some industries, such as restaurant workers, are paid a pittance
and their real pay IS their gratuities. I don't think marina managers
count on them, though. I remember when I was a kid, it was semi
customary to give the mail carrier (rural) a little something for xmas.

"basskisser" wrote in message
ups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"basskisser" wrote in message
oups.com...


It's a shame that the work ethic has evolved to having to bribe someone
to get the service you are already paying for...


True, sort of. But, on the other hand, there are often opportunities for
new
workers to think about better ways of doing their jobs. It's not always
that
their work ethic is less than it should be. They're just young. These
opportunities are not always noticed. But when they are, it can become a
path to advancement, maybe more money, or just more job satisfaction.

Last year, my son worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant. One night, the
place was packed, but nobody new was coming in. So, the kitchen slowed
down
and he was caught up with his dishwashing, but the dining area was
packed.
He felt dumb just standing around, so he put on a clean apron, and backed
up
the waitresses with collecting dishes, filling water glasses, etc. When I
picked him up after his shift, he pulled $50 in singles out of his pocket
and said "Pops...the waitresses...the think I'm a god or something. They
just gave me all this".

He could've made a lot of money (for a kid), if the putz owner hadn't
gone
out of business.

Well, some industries, such as restaurant workers, are paid a pittance
and their real pay IS their gratuities. I don't think marina managers
count on them, though. I remember when I was a kid, it was semi
customary to give the mail carrier (rural) a little something for xmas.


Pay scales are wacky, too. At a bar where I play, the owner's soon-to-be son
in law is the cook. He just graduated from some big-name cooking school in
California. One of the best restaurants in town offered him a job as a line
chef. $9.75 per hour. This is a place where the cheapest entree is $25.00,
and they're busy all the time, non-stop. Meanwhile, my son's working as a
T&A observer, also known as a lifeguard. He's getting paid $8.85.

basskisser wrote:

It's a shame that the work ethic has evolved to having to bribe someone
to get the service you are already paying for...

Or that the human heart has hardened to the point where an annual token
of appreciation
cannot be considered anything other than a bribe, as well as
unneccessary, because, after all, the service was "paid for". We now
encounter tip jars almost everywhere we go.
I have a tough time justifying a tip when there has been no personal
service rendered. I hate to admit it, but when I get to the head of the
line in a self-service cafeteria (where you
gather your own food and are expected to clear your own table) I seldom
feel compelled to drop a buck or so into the jar labeled "college fund"
for the benefit of a surly, disinterested
cashier who doesn't smile, doesn't look me in the eye, and whose only
service is a few keypunches and announcing, "$8.35, please." Some
people seem well suited to minimum wage employment.

Proliferating tip jars may reflect the economic fact that wages in
general have been pretty flat
for several years. Management may be responding to some of the requests
for increases with "Naw, not this year. But you can put out a tip jar
if you want to." Our service industry workers are being reduced to
begging, and that's pretty sad.

The situation with this marina manager is different. He most likely
isn't soliciting tips and doesn't expect a tip in the course of his
daily or even monthly duties. A $20 bottle of booze,
a couple of decent cigars, a pair of tickets to the ballpark, or
whatever else depending on what the guy likes to do is different than
an attitude of "I won't lift a finger to keep your boat secure and
protected unless I am regularly tipped, and the amount work I do on
your behalf will depend entirely upon the amount and frequency of your
tips".

So I disagree that the marina manager is trying to bribe the OP. A tip
in this case would probably be a sincere expression of appreciation for
personal service rendered, not a substitute for an equitable wage or a
bribe to get any service at all.

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...

basskisser wrote:

It's a shame that the work ethic has evolved to having to bribe someone
to get the service you are already paying for...

Or that the human heart has hardened to the point where an annual token
of appreciation
cannot be considered anything other than a bribe, as well as
unneccessary, because, after all, the service was "paid for".

Sometimes, the creativity of a tip becomes the reward in itself. Where I get
my car worked on, there are 3 guys. None of them eat donuts, or even the
best cheese danish in town, so that's out of the question. Two of them don't
drink, and I'm not so sure alcohol's a good gift anyway because you never
know, ya know? The guy who works on my car once spotted a hairline crack in
my brake rotor, which had just been installed by the Ford dealer, so as far
as I'm concerned, he may have saved my life. I tried to hand him some cash.
He said "I make plenty of money here, but I appreciate the gesture". So, I
sent him flowers, which he still laughs about five years later. I guess the
value of that gesture was that it DEFINITELY broke up his routine. :-)