Holy Mackeral! I Have Been WAY Overtipping! What to do.

[Possum]

Were you paying in cash and you'd hand her $35? On what turns out to be a $15 service? I'd be annoyed that she never said "Oops, you overpaid me. It's only $15." The cynic in me thinks she took advantage. The optimist hopes she was going home each time and telling her DH about the wonderful, generous customer who tips so incredibly well.

I suppose next time I'd give her $18 and not say anything. If she asked I'd explain why I'd been paying so much before.

This.  She's been taking advantage of you.  No average person tips $20 on a $15 bill, and if they do, sooner or later you'd think that the attendant would say something, or show great gratitude, or something.  Go one more time, pay and tip the appropriate amounts, see how she reacts.  If you go again after that and service is as good as always, you can continue--but honestly, I'd consider shopping around for a new salon.

[fountainof]

I don't think it is right to assume that this nail person is taking advantage.  I will say that for me when a service is a low cost I may tip 100% or more.  I wouldn't for example take a $5 cab ride and give $6, I would give at least $10.  My hair stylist once charged me only $5 for a cut for DD as she said it was like a bangs cut and I paid her $12 as I thought $5 was way too low.  Sometimes when prices are lower people tip more.  For example in my province there is now sales tax on salon services.  Tips have declined because people were used to just paying $XX for the service and tip and didn't really think about paying $XX plus some more for tax. 

Anyway, next time I would just give $20 and probably not say anything.  If I did want to say something I would say it like I had thought the prices changed "Oh, I see here your refills are now $15".

[Lynn2000]

It sounds like payment is very casual at this place. In my imagination, a business would be run more strictly, so that there was no way someone could not realize the enormous tip/overpayment they were receiving for so long; but it seems like they've chosen a different route, and the clientele they've cultivated like it that way. Which is fine if you like that.

First I think I would double-check on the price some way--either asking in person, or doing the anonymous phone call thing. It sounds like they have a relaxed atmosphere where an out-of-date or misleading sign might not be noticed or removed right away.

If indeed it turned out I'd been paying the wrong price, I would just start paying the right one using the same method I'd been using before. Unless you said something first it seems like they wouldn't even notice the change.

Part of me thinks something ought to have been said to me early on--I won't suggest the manicurist is taking advantage of anyone, but it seems like at best sloppy record-keeping, and that would make me personally uncomfortable. But at the same time, I would feel embarrassed that I hadn't caught the mistake earlier myself, since the sign was right there, and if I wanted to keep going there I would just say good-bye to that money and treat it as a lesson learned.

Interesting situation.

[tinkytinky]

If everyone is paying her in a different manner (check, cash, envelope of money, etc) she very well could not have known about the over tipping. for example, if she just adds up her amounts received and jives that with the amount of work she did for the day, (or 2 or 3 days...) the extra tip would blend in:

"I had 3 full sets x $30; 7 fills x $15; 6 manicures x $8 (?); 2 pedicures x $10 (?); so my total would be $263 for services and I have $330 including tips! wow I rock!" a 20% tip on that amount would be $52.60 so she may think that a few people may have rounded up their tips... it could easily happen especially with the relaxed feel for the salon.

I would probably just pay the $18-$20 and not mention it.

[Rigatoni]

I had been having some very intricate art done on my artificial nails at my fill every 3 weeks.  The stylist charges $30 for the fill but I would tip $10 or more depending on how involved the art was.  It's not unusual for me to tip $20 or more on a $30 fill, because the art is "free".  At the same time, if the stylist wanted to be sure she was going to be paid well enough for something involved, she would say "ok but that will be $40" or something and it's still tip the additional $10 or more if I thought it was worth it.  Overall, I look at the service and tip together and give the total amount of money that I think the service I got was worth to me.

So what I mean through all that was that if the fills were done spectacularly, paying $35 for them is not such an unexpected number that I think the stylist would go out of her way to mention the "overpayment".

[gramma dishes]

This is so embarrassing.   

I've never had acrylic nails, so I don't know what "a fill" means.

Could someone explain it in a simple way?

[Rigatoni]

When your nails grow out, instead of putting new tips on, they file down the edges where the nail originally touched your cuticle.  Then they put new acrylic on in the gap area and smooth it out so it looks like you just had the tips put on.  Basically they're "filling in" the area on the natural nail that is now bare.

Eventually you have all natural nail supporting the acrylic part, and it's stronger and better than when you first had them.

[gramma dishes]

Thank you, Rigatoni! 

[violetminnow]

If Yarnspinner was paying 60 for every new application and 30 for every fill, you could say that the manicurist assumed a 100% tip was normal, but she's not. Getting 4x the tip when you do a simpler procedure isn't the norm. I don't think the manicurist would think that it was her intention.

 I understand why Yarnspinner wouldn't want to rock the boat at this point, but I think she should at least let her know that she thinks she's been paying the wrong price. That way they will know to be more mindful of issues like that in the future. Not all customers would be so forgiving. I know the feeling of being cheated would tarnish the business to me forever.

[Lynn2000]

It's a really interesting situation, I think. I could imagine being like the OP--having found a place I'm comfortable, I don't want to disturb things, so I'll just quietly start paying the correct price and save $15 each time. I just wonder if I, personally, would be able to get over it, though--or if, like violetminnow says, I would keep thinking about it each time I went there.

I mean, the way I figure it, there's only a few scenarios.

1) The manicurist knows the OP has been paying way too much but never said anything to her, which is kind of dodgy. She should have double-checked with the OP right at the beginning, and not "assumed" it was a massive tip each time.

2) The manicurist has no idea how much the OP has been paying, due to the way payments are done at the business. That seems like a really bad way to run a business to me, especially one so heavily based on tips. How does the manicurist even know whether she's getting good tips from individual customers or not? What's the point of tipping if there's no connection between the money given and the job done? And, no one else at the whole business noticed, either.

3) Payment setup like #2, but someone at the business--not the manicurist--is taking advantage of the casual bookkeeping to skim from the till, so the records come out like they "should" in the end.

None of those things make me, personally, very comfortable. #2 is probably the "best" and it still suggests a really ridiculous level of sloppy business practices. I will be really curious about what happens the next time the OP goes there and pays only $20--if anyone even notices or says anything.

[MommyPenguin]

You know, there's also a slim possibility that the manicurist didn't notice that the payment should have been $15, either.  She might have received $35, or whatever it was, and not had it register in her mind that, oh, wait, this service is $15.  So she just recorded it as $30 with a $5 tip, making the same mistake that the OP was making.

[Yarnspinner]

I see her next week.  I will keep you posted!

[CrazyDaffodilLady]

I see her next week.  I will keep you posted!

Where's our update? 

[Marisol]

I'd probably start going somewhere else because I don't know how I would approach the topic (shy!).  I am curious to know what happens when you do, and what you ended up saying.

[Yarnspinner]

You know, I almost forgot about this!  Had my nails done last week and handed her a twenty dollar bill, which she looked at oddly.  I said "This is kind of awkward.  I noticed that the price for fills is $15.00  I never actually asked...I always assumed fills were the same amount as a full set."  She said "Well, I am using a much more expensive powder on you and the process is more time consuming (and it is, I know it takes at least another twenty minutes).  So I went into my pocket book for more money and she said "No, no.  I should have had the price up before this.  The powder fills are twenty five dollars.  But you always tip so well, don't even think about it this time."  So I decided that, with the fills being twenty five, I will add on a five dollar tip and call it good.  She knows I am having financial troubles (what is it about having one's hair done, getting one's nails done that turns us all into gabby gusses?)  so I don't think this will be a problem.  Given that one of the places I used to go charged me forty for fills before we even talked about tip, I still think I am getting a deal.  If there are any more issues, I will let you know.  Thanks for the help and support!