Is Anyone Else Getting Sick-And-Tired Of Having To Tip For Everything These Days?

A popular hotel chain is joining forces with a celebrity to encourage you to show your hotel maid some "monetary gratitude."

The program is called "The Envelope Please," and Marriott Hotels is hoping you'll be encouraged at the end of your stay to leave a tip for your maid.

It all started when research from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration showed that 30 percent of people "stiff the maid on a tip" when they check out of a hotel.

As a result, celebrity Maria Shriver has started up a nationwide campaign to get travelers to tip their maid.

"Most travelers don't realize that tipping hotel room attendants is customary."

But not everyone is a fan of the campaign. Barbara Ehrenreich who worked as a hotel maid for her book "Nickel and Dimed" argues that hotels should instead pay their workers enough so that tips aren't necessary.

I'd have to agree.  When did it become "customary" (as Maria Shriver puts it) to tip for anything and everything?

If I'm not mistaken, the tip was originally intended to be given only when someone went out-of-their-way to serve the customer.

Today, you find tip jars everywhere.  There's even one sitting on the counter of the local coffee shop I stop at - you poured me a cup of regular, black coffee, I'm not tipping you for that!!!

Here's an idea - how about businesses instead pay their employees a living wage so they don't have to rely on tips!

Having had close friends who've worked in the service industry over the years, I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard one of them tell me they were told by a potential employer, "they can make up the difference in tips."

As I'm standing in line, waiting for my coffee, I often times wonder what it's going to take to turn things around - or is it too late?  Has that train already left the station?

Sadly, I'm afraid the "tip for everything" business model may be here to stay.