Tipping the owner

[DarinMartell]

I have always been torn about this. Not just on boats but at bars, resturants, even barbers.

I like to think of myself as a good tipper (20% or more). But a tip is supposed be given to someone that gives you good service and normally you know they rely on tips for a large part of their wage becuase right or wrong the owner knows they will be tipped and pays accordingly.

How does that figure into when the owner gives you the service? Be it bartender, barber, waitperson, or dive boat captain. I am of the thinking that I just paid this guy $8 for these two beers, do I really need to give him another buck? Does the same go for dive boats? If I pay $90 for a two tank dive and the owner of the boat is both captian and crew, do I really need to give him another $20 tip? I want to make sure I tip everyone that deserves it so I wanted your advice. Do you tip owners?

[scubacat80]

I just went diving in FL yesterday. The captain was the owner and I did not tip her, but I did give 15% to the Divemaster which was $10 on a $63 dive. I would not tip on the rentals as a general rule.

[terrillja]

I tipped the owner of a shop on St. Thomas because he was also my instructor for my AOW and Rescue, as well as the instructor for my dad's discover course. So I'd have to thank him for getting my dad into scuba, worth well more than the $40 I gave him.

Oh, and he let me do a few more dives that he never charged me for, like after I finished my rescue course and was on the boat already, so he told me to grab a tank and watch everyone during the second dive, put the observation part of rescue to the test.

[MicahEW]

that is awsome. I am friends with the owner at my LDS and he throws me a bone sometimes too.

Originally Posted by terrillja

I tipped the owner of a shot on St. Thomas because he was also my instructor for my AOW and Rescue, as well as the instructor for my dad's discover course. So I'd have to thank him for getting my dad into scuba, worth well more than the $40 I gave him.

Oh, and he let me do a few more dives that he never charged me for, like after I finished my rescue course and was on the boat already, so he told me to grab a tank and watch everyone during the second dive, put the observation part of rescue to the test.

[Zyxistal]

I would tip the DM but probably not the owner.

[scubacat80]

Originally Posted by terrillja

I tipped the owner of a shop on St. Thomas because he was also my instructor for my AOW and Rescue, as well as the instructor for my dad's discover course. So I'd have to thank him for getting my dad into scuba, worth well more than the $40 I gave him.

Oh, and he let me do a few more dives that he never charged me for, like after I finished my rescue course and was on the boat already, so he told me to grab a tank and watch everyone during the second dive, put the observation part of rescue to the test.

I think that if the owner was my instructor that would be a different story. A few days/weeks of putting in the effort to train is different then driving the boat for four hours and having little contact with the divers.

[fireflock]

For the most part, the boats around here without a DM are small (6-packs) and even a lot of those have a mate during the season. I know what it's like to get the boat ready and wash everything down at the end of a trip, so I tend to tip even the owner if I think he worked hard and tried his/her best to make the trip what we wanted. IF someone does the work of a mate, I tip them and don't ask if they are the owner, a daily employee, or a full time captain who runs the boat for an absentee owner.

A lot of the 'pay the captain, tip the mate' mantra bleeds over from the charter fishing business (around here anyway) so the daily fee for those boats is almost double what a 6-pack dive boat collects for a day on the water. Fuel consumption evens out some of the disparity, but not all of it.

Rich

[RikRaeder]

I was always taught not to tip the owner of a business. Makes sense to me.