Should You Tip A Bathroom Attendant?

Over the past weekend, I stopped into the United Club in Houston's E Terminal. As I previously wrote, I used one of my free club passes from my Chase United Visa. My goal of the visit was to kill time before my next flight, but also to take a shower.

After my shower, a question popped into my head. Should I be leaving a tip for the bathroom attendant?

The bathroom seems to be cleaned/refreshed after each customer. When I visit there were fresh towels, the shower was dry and the toilet paper folded. As many of you know, I am particular about the cleanliness of my bathrooms. This bathroom passed my test.

I decided to leave a couple of bucks as a tip. My justification was that I typically tip housekeeping in a hotel. Yes, a hotel room is bigger than just a bathroom. However, the bathroom in an airline club sees a lot more people than a hotel room in a day.  For example, a typically visit for a client is somewhere between 10-20 minutes. Add in about 10 minutes for a cleaning and each client eats 30 minutes. Assume the club is open 12 hours, around 24 clients may visit a shower. That's a lot of people using the bathroom.

Similarly, I tipped the bartender at the club bar. I ordered a beer and left her a buck. Yes, I know that cheap, but I am of the $1 tip per drink method. The bartender got a tip and all she did was pour a beer and not very well I say. What time did it take the bartender to pour the beer? 1 minute? Did she deserve a tip? Probably not, but I felt obliged to.

I go back to my question, should I have tipped the bathroom attendant? Yes! The bathroom doesn't get clean on its own. Your tip is a thank you for their hard work.
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What I Learned On My Most Recent Mileage Run

On Saturday, I took to the big blue sky for a good old fashion mileage run. My goal: Washington, DC to Omaha in one day via United. Over my 18 hours of travel, I learned a few things:

• Stop Drinking The Night Before Mileage Runs

          My past two mileage runs, I went over drinking the night beforehand. In both cases, I 

          got home at midnight and needed to wake a few hours later to leave for the airport. 

          Not a great idea.

          On this most recent trip, I was dehydrated, tired and grumpy. A great trio of things to 

          be before traveling. Typically, I sleep like a baby on the first leg of the trip, because I 

          am most likely still drunk. The next leg kicks in the hangover and by the third leg, 

          the mack truck running you over feeling kicks in.

          Maybe, I should have a movie night in before mileage runs in the future

•  Food Options Don't Open at DCA Until 5 am

         My goal was to arrive at the airport. Get a greasy sandwich and get on the plane. 

         Boarding started at 5:10am for my first flight.

         I get to the airport by 4:45. Clear through normal security by 4:55. Yes, I have 

         prechek, but the line for prechek had 25 people in it. The normal security

         line had 3 people. Went with normal, took my shoes off, took out my laptop

         etc. I then went to find my greasy sandwich: darkness. All the restaurants with 

         food were dark, the ones opened only had drinks, save McDonald's, whose line

         was 20 people deep.

         So, I waited and at 5:00 am, on the dot, the lights came on at the bagel shop

         and they started selling food. Thank goodness for carbs!

• United Needs New Commercials 

         After flying United multiple times over the past year, United needs new commercial.
         I have seen the same customer service commericals over and over again. Please
         get some new commercials and rotate them in and out. All of them have the same
         meaning.

• Omaha's Terminal B is Old

         I only spent 30 minutes in the terminal, but the place was out of 1970s. Everything 

         needs to be redone from the chairs, to monitors, to the bathrooms, etc. Yes, I only 

         was in one terminal, but its needs to be updated.

         Maybe they can get a new airport out of the passage of the Keystone Pipeline!

• Shipley's Do-Nuts Are Tasty

         

           Blog post to follow explaining more!

• I Want To Stay at IAH Marriott 

          I only saw the hotel from the tram, but it looks kinda fun to stay in:

• President George Bush Has An Awesome Statue

         Located in the C Terminal, the statue "Winds of Change" is impressive:  

                            

           Around the statue is a quick history of the President. You only need 5 minutes to 

           visit the whole monument. Perfect stop for a layover.

• Star Alliance Gold & Silver Does Not Give You Free Standbys

           Many of you might already know this, but I thought I would share anyway.

           When I got to Omaha, I noticed that the plane I just got off was headed back to

           Houston in 30 minutes. I was scheduled to leave in 2 12 hours. I thought best to 

           try to get to a bigger airport in case something happened along the way. So, I

           asked about stand bye on the earlier flight to IAH. He asked if I had status on

           United and I said no. He said typically it would cost $75, but today he would 

           do it for free.

           I mixed up the benefit of Star Alliance Silver. Its priority on the standby list,

           not free standbys. Learn something new everyday!

         

 

• Club Passes Come In Handy

        With a five hour+ layover at IAH, I needed something to do. Lucikly, I put a free 

        United Club pass, from my Chase United Card, in my wallet.

       United has at least 3 clubs at the IAH airport. After asking twitter, people highly

       recommended the one in the "E" concourse or international concourse. 

       Check-in was easy. The agent even saw that I had Star Alliance Silver status 

       and mentioned that a few more trips, they might be seeing me more often. That

       was a nice touch.

       My first item was to take a shower. I was feeling shitty and I hoped a shower

       would make me feel better. I climbed the stairs to the third floor and inquired 

       about a shower.

       A quick 15 minute shower made all the difference.

• The Third Floor Of the United Club Is Less Crowded

          I had heard this from other bloggers/travelers, but never been to a three floor
          United club. The second floor was packed, but the third floor only 1/2 full.
         
          Maybe the reason is there is no escalator up to the third floor and you have to
          walk. Also, maybe the bar is on the second floor.

          Either way, go up to the third floor.

• Finally, Its Only Polite to Hand A Women an Unfolded Boarding Pass

   

          When I checked in for a shower, the attendant asked for my boarding pass.

           I handed over my boarding pass, which was folded up and got scolded.

           She said, "Sir, its only polite to hand a women an unfolded boarding pass."

          Wait, what?

          Since she was at least 30+ years my senior, I did what she told me to do.

          So remember guys, open a car door for a lady, pull out her seat for her and

          always hand unfolded boarding passes to them!

      

Overall, a long, but exciting trip.

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