In relation to what Sandy said, my assumption is the salon owner builds his tip into his pricing since at least where we live, it isn't customary to tip the owner. I also pay him and my cleaning person in cash, which I think they appreciate.
Yup me too. And I pay my hairdresser and cleaning people generously and they appreciate it as I appreciate them. I tip and give cash gifts when I feel it is appropriate. No one has ever been disappointed with me as a long term customer.
Your long term customer comment made me think...I've had the same hairdresser for 30 years (first the wife and several years later I switched to her husband when she had health problems and had to stop working), and my cleaning person I have had for at least 25!!!!
I do too! I waited tables in my youth and quickly realized how difficult that job is, and how either stingy or generous certain people are. Co-workers would bicker amongst themselves to serve the known good tippers, and basically have to be assigned the known poor tippers and foreigners (typically poor tippers). I am sensitive to and reward excellence in service as well. Some employees, in any field, do the bare minimum to get the job done, and others strive for excellence every time. I believe that to just be inherent personal qualities. So when I find someone doing their utmost to please me, I reward them for the effort, as much as I like to be rewarded for my effort.I love tipping. In another lifetime, when my husband was a student and waited tables and we had three children under our roof...Christmas tips were how we put gifts under the tree. You never know how you are helping people out this time of year.
I tip big anyway but depending on who I’m tipping, I might double the tip.
I do too! I waited tables in my youth and quickly realized how difficult that job is, and how either stingy or generous certain people are. Co-workers would bicker amongst themselves to serve the known good tippers, and basically have to be assigned the known poor tippers and foreigners (typically poor tippers). I am sensitive to and reward excellence in service as well. Some employees, in any field, do the bare minimum to get the job done, and others strive for excellence every time. I believe that to just be inherent personal qualities. So when I find someone doing their utmost to please me, I reward them for the effort, as much as I like to be rewarded for my effort.
My thinking is that I am very lucky to have achieved as much as I have in life considering what I come from, and an extra $5, 10 or 20 isn't going to really affect me, but it WILL make another person very happy. I have found that almost without exception, the more I give, the more I get. And the unexpected pleasant surprise I can give to another person, thrills me just as much. There have been many times in life when I couldn't do that, but now that I can afford diamonds, I can certainly afford to tip well.
Maybe hair salons are different and owners charge more for their services, but I don't charge anyone more for services based on location, perceived wealth, or any other factor. I do charge some people less based on perceived wealth though. I have a series of clients at a retirement home that I know are on a fixed income, and I charge them half of my usual rate. I don't do it for the people though, I do it because I want those pets to be comfortable, and charge as little as I can to break even and make the people comfortable in seeing me on a regular basis. I also have a couple of homeless people that I groom pets for that are in my area, as it breaks my heart to see the pets in those conditions as I drive by day after day. Many people don't understand the hugely detrimental effects of overgrown nails and matted hair, so I do my level best to help those pets whose owners can't afford me. This, as well as tipping well and generously, is just another way of giving back for all of the gifts life has bestowed upon me.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
@MakingTheGrade, I would recommend a salon environment as mobile salons are too small to handle a dog as big as that, salons also have unlimited water to get through that coat and the power to dry with more than one dryer. There are a few things you should ask: in order to get through that coat, it helps if they have a recirculator, which has the power to force water and shampoo deeper in to the coat than a manual bath; and whether they deshed or not.
Leonbergers, being double-coated, should never be shaved, only trimmed to tighten up their shape. Because of the volume of the double-coat, it is imperative that they be de-shed regularly, and especially before, during and after the bath, to debulk the coat. Many groomers skip de-shedding because many owners don't know any better to know the difference, and because it is arduous, messy and highly time-consuming on this type of dog. But de-shedding is the difference between a barely bathed/dried dog, and a well-groomed dog. Bathing and drying without de-shedding only serves to tighten any existing mats, or to compact the coat further. I would also make sure he is being hand-dried and not cage dried, especially if the cage dryer is heated.