I did not tip the valet. I went to a restaurant yesterday which has restaurant and also a wedding venue. When there are weddings, parking is tough a they have velvet. They hire a valet company and it’s a bunch of young kids basically. We get there and wait in line to be parked for a good 15 mins; it was poorly organized and people were slipping in in front of me. I didn’t wanna cause a scene. After 15-20 mins wait, we get to the front and they take our car. Then when we pick it up, they make us wait in the cold for 5 mins as they retrieve the car. They were parking the car in the streets and had to walk down. The valet sort of drove my car fast back to me. On pass off back to my car he goes key inside. While waiting, the other valet receiving cars is like making offf handed comments about customers and how they’re not reading signs, right next to us. On pass off, I do a full 360 walk around (was that rude?) and by then the valet that drove my car got into another car and sped away to park that car; seemed like he slammed on the gas for that car. I would normally tip on pass off but I wanted to make sure my car wasn’t damaged and by then the guy left so I ended up not tipping but also left a little unnerved at how they drove the other guys car. I did put my car on valet mode. Was I rude and AITA for not tipping and also meticulously doing a 360 of my car
You don’t have to use the valet service park your car yourself.
There was literally no other space, they have a 10 spot parking lot and the venue is on a dead end block off a Main Street and the valet had taken up the entirety of the block with cars they were double parking. Not even sure if that was legal
Park how ever far away you need to and walk
That fact is not relevant to OPs question here.
Depends on the venue. I’ve worked private events that do not have other parking for people and id they wanted to go to the event then they had to park with us or park pretty far off somewhere else off property.
The tipping culture in America is insane
Eh, while it’s not the valet’s fault that you let people “slip in ahead of you” a tip is supposed to be an appreciation of service, and the service here was below ideal. Waiting 5 minutes for them to retrieve the car? Not a huge deal. But the careless driving? And then he moved on without giving you a chance to tip. So I say NTA.
NTA, tipping = everyone loses except for the business owner. There’s no situation where not tipping makes you an asshole. I grew up with parents not giving a shit about tipping. I never knew the tipping culture until later in life. Tipping is never an expectation, it’s a gesture. If it is expected… They need to be explicit. If people’s lives depends on it, the business owner can give better wages.
I know I’ll get flamed for my comment but I didn’t say I don’t tip.
Next time just park your car yourself. If they can park it on the street so can you.
INFO: You admittedly went to a place super busy so you had to wait in line. Then you’re upset you waited 5 min in the cold for your car. Where else would you wait? Was there an option? If you know your car is being parked down the street did you not expect to stand and wait for them to retrieve it? It sounds a bit like you have unreasonable expectations regarding valet service and obviously these kids were not the ones who set it up. Maybe blame management but not the extras hired for a one off occasion. They rely on tips.
I don’t tip for valet if there’s no option to free park. If I was choosing to use valet then I’d tip.
YTA