It's Not Your Job to Feed Them A salon is not a restaurant, and salon workers do not rely on tips to get by like waiters and waitresses do -- at least they shouldn't. "Any facility should be paying enough to their employees so that they are totally compensated off the service alone," says Phillips. "If a hairstylist is relying on tips for lunch money, that's totally off focus from why we should be giving gratuity. You should be getting gratuity because you did an amazing job."
That said, that doesn't mean you can leave the tipping line blank at the salon, guilt-free. Phillips stands by the rule, "If the service provider was good, tip them." In fact, Philips and Scott Fontana, owner of Newport Beach, Calif. salon Christophe, say that tips make up 20 to 30 percent of their salary.
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