Why are Las Vegas cabbies so weird about tips?

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

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The exception to this is like say I brought $1k to the casino and I have some small amount like $50 left. Then basically the last thing I need to buy for the night (either food or a cab) I'll just drop the 50 and complete the night's debacle.

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Isn't that what roulette is for?

[*TT*]

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shaniac you're wrong here, the standard is for the waiter to say "i'll be right back with some change"

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Not in high end restaurants, its generally "I'll be right back with a pen.

OP - give the jerk a buck and walk away. Its funny, people always talk bad about NYC cabbies, but they are angels compared to Vegas cabbies, in Vegas they are demon spawn.

[El Diablo]

Crane,

"Another time the [censored] cabbie took me the long way around from the airport to the Gold Coast. I wasn't paying attention until I realized where I was. I was steamed. When we got there I refused to pay. All hell broke loose. I knew where this was going to end up, but I wanted to have my fun.

"You cheated me, you cheated me!" I was screaming. He screamed back. I said call your supervisor, call the police. I was really enjoying myself. Finally he said, just pay me fare, no tip. TIP! I yelled, TIP! I'll pay the fare minus what you cheated me! The cops came. I explained. I ended up paying the fare. But I got my moneys worth."

I had the exact same experience with a cabbie taking me and some friends from Cheetah's to Hard Rock. First time I pay attention, I realize what a roundabout BS way he is taking us back (was very familiar with the correct route and how much it costs at that time), so I ask him WTF. He says "NO I TAKE YOU SHORTEST WAY" I say are you fking kidding me dude? We argue a bit, I say whatever. We get to the Hard Rock and the fare is whatever, like $10 more than it should be. So I tell him I'm going to pay him how much it should cost and give him that much. He starts yelling at me and we're going at it a bit. Door/security guys come over. They knew me at the time since I'm really nice and tip well. They ask what's up, I tell them, they tell the taxi guy that he can either leave or they can call the taxi commission. Dude says he is gonna leave then says something liek "you are a thief" to me, at which point I go off on the dude yelling at him about ripping me off and then calling me a thief and is the only time in my adult life that I can recall having to be physically restrained from going after a guy.

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
Crane,

"Another time the [censored] cabbie took me the long way around from the airport to the Gold Coast. I wasn't paying attention until I realized where I was. I was steamed. When we got there I refused to pay. All hell broke loose. I knew where this was going to end up, but I wanted to have my fun.

"You cheated me, you cheated me!" I was screaming. He screamed back. I said call your supervisor, call the police. I was really enjoying myself. Finally he said, just pay me fare, no tip. TIP! I yelled, TIP! I'll pay the fare minus what you cheated me! The cops came. I explained. I ended up paying the fare. But I got my moneys worth."

I had the exact same experience with a cabbie taking me and some friends from Cheetah's to Hard Rock. First time I pay attention, I realize what a roundabout BS way he is taking us back (was very familiar with the correct route and how much it costs at that time), so I ask him WTF. He says "NO I TAKE YOU SHORTEST WAY" I say are you fking kidding me dude? We argue a bit, I say whatever. We get to the Hard Rock and the fare is whatever, like $10 more than it should be. So I tell him I'm going to pay him how much it should cost and give him that much. He starts yelling at me and we're going at it a bit. Door/security guys come over. They knew me at the time since I'm really nice and tip well. They ask what's up, I tell them, they tell the taxi guy that he can either leave or they can call the taxi commission. Dude says he is gonna leave then says something liek "you are a thief" to me, at which point I go off on the dude yelling at him about ripping me off and then calling me a thief and is the only time in my adult life that I can recall having to be physically restrained from going after a guy.

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same thing happened to me once, when I forced the driver to let me out at NYNY the cab driver got out and started demanding payment. I had the door guy call the cops, the driver stayed there until the cops rolled up and then he took off like a bat out of hell before they could get out of their car. Sure it wasted 10 minutes of my life, but boy was that sweet!

[El Diablo]

All,

Opposite experience story. Last trip to Vegas with beetz, we are going from some casino on the strip to Hard Rock. Or maybe it was from Rhino. I dunno. Anyway, we run into HUGE traffic. The dude comments that this will take forever and turns around, then cuts through this super desolate alley between some warehouses and stuff and basically cuts all the way across town on this road that is barely paved. At one point we were looking at each other in the back wondering if we were about to get shot, we had no idea where the f we were and we've been to Vegas countless times. Next thing we know, we shoot out past the side of some warehouse right onto the road a block from Hard Rock. Wow. Fare was like $11, I gave him $20.

[MicroBob]

Nate, yes the cabbie is probably out of line.
And I hate having to tip for something like a cab-ride.
But the instant I read your post and saw that you are tipping $1.20 for a $6.80 cab-ride I thought, "Wow. Even I'm not cheap enough to do that."

I never asked anyone about it but I think the default minimum is around $2....even if the ride is only $6 or $7.

Yeah, so it's a high percentage for a tip. Big deal.
Valet-parking or getting a drink in a casino are free so if I tip $1 or $2 then I ended up tipping a percentage of infinity compared to the cost of the service.

So some of this stuff seems a bit out of whack.

$2 tip felt far more appropriate to me and not a single cabbie had to tell me.

I'm not much of a cab-rider though and I got more experience doing this in LV than any other place.
Maybe I was way over-tipping? I actually wondered that at the time.
I simply concluded, "there's no way I should only tip $1.20 or something for a $6.80 cab-ride. That just feels way too cheap to me. $2 tips it is!!" (or $2.20 or $2.40 or whatever some of the time).

I would probably also tip $3 for an $11 or $12 ride but wouldn't feel quite as bad if I only gave $2.20 or something on those I don't think.
Partly depends on friendliness/jerkishness factor and/or my own mood I guess.

[*TT*]

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I never asked anyone about it but I think the default minimum is around $2....even if the ride is only $6 or $7.

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Coming from NYC the default is 1 buck for the first 10 dollars. I generally tip 2 bucks at 9. This seems to be very common in NYC, I rarely see more or less than that in the circles of people I associated with.

[Andykay]

Crazy US tipping culture. In Australia tips are a priveledge, not an expectation. Sometimes you'll tip at a restaurant if the food/service was good or if you're paying with the next denomination up.

I almost never tip cab drivers, and if I do it's like $30 on a $28 fare or something.

I can't understand why a culture where people get paid directly for their services hasn't taken off in America. Obviously you do to some extent, but the messiness of tipping and calculating involved in the way so much of the service industry works in the US is just ridiculous.

-Andy

[traction]

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fare was like $10.20 at the most ... I hand the guy $12. He's like "c'mon man you only gave me $11" I say "no way I gave you 12" I grab the money and re-count since he's still holding it up by his head. I count it up and its 12 (2x5 + 2x1) .. take back a dollar bill. "now its 11" and leave.

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well played sir. maybe next time he won't bitch when getting a tip.

[Lurker.]

one time i was in a cab and the total came to $7.50. I hand the guy a fifty, and he says, "you want change with that?"

I thought that was gutsy, but it costed him a tip.