Cashless System

I'm pretty sure anyone in a server position is getting a server wage. If you look at the menu price for the item you redeemed the dining plan to get, calculate the tip based on that.

Jeff said:

Valets are not paid server wages...So, no I don't tip them.

Oh oh - we have entered the "who do I tip?" zone.

I figure that the shuttle drivers at airports and hotels are not paid server wages but we still tip them. The dolphin cruise captain is not paid server wages but we still tipped her. I guess we don't use the "server wage" as a hard line in regards to who we tip.

yeah, figured it was a risky question just to ask. With the whole cashless thing, and the upgrades to the non-server restaurants this year, it's easier just to skip those places if it's unclear or I forget to bring a few dollar bills with me. Haven't been in them yet this year, did they get any improvements or new menu items?

Shades said:

...we still tip them...

Why? What social contract dictates this and who decided it? You realize than the US is the only place where this phenomenon occurs, right? You ask where to draw the line yet you don't have the answer either.

Why do you care who I tip and who I don't? It is my money after all.

Expanding on the dolphin cruise example, it ended up just being my wife and I on the boat. The captain was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable about the 10,000 island area in Florida and her energy was incredible. She really helped make it a fantastic cruise. Did we owe her the $100 tip that we gave her? I suppose not. But we felt like she deserved something besides the wage that she was going to get paid.

Does that make me a bad person?

I tipped pretty heavy during the pandemic because I knew servers and others in hospitality were struggling. I am dialing it back.

Most hated "tip/no tip" situation: a men's room. I mean, I have pity for someone who is hanging out in the bathroom all night but I don't feel compelled to tip that person whether or not they hand me a towel and I take a mint. Where did THAT start...and why is it still a thing?

Tipping by country charts more than 50% have tipping-

https://munknee.com/cheap-or-generous-what-to-tip-in-other-countries/

I like to leave tips in the same situations that Shades mentioned. I know I don't have to, but the staff sure appreciate it, and they definitely remember those who tip, and those who don't.

May 17th and the discussion is Reservoir Dogs, and not about the cashless system at the park. Guess the sky isn't falling in Sandusky.

Shades said:

Why do you care who I tip and who I don't? It is my money after all.

Then why are you questioning my judgment about when tipping is appropriate? It is my money after all.

I don't think that I did. I just said what we do. It happens to be different from what you do. But I don't see that I judged anything.

On a quick trip to CP yesterday, we snagged a couple brewskies from the outdoor "Cold Beer" stand just outside the new Farmhouse grill were we met a fun bartender named Zach from down-under. He had a little fish bowl for cash tips, so I asked him what he would prefer (we had a few ones tucked away for the turnpike). He just said it was all the same to him, he gets it either way. E-tip it was.

If you can't trust Zach from Aussie-land, who can you trust?

Kevinj said:

...we had a few ones tucked away for the turnpike...

Just make sure that you stay out of the ez-pass only lanes! Drives me nuts when people ignore the signs.

Did Zach say anything about future park plans? Maybe he is looking to supplant the Lemon Chill guy as the fount of Cedar Point knowledge.

I promised I wouldn't tell.

^^^I'm intrigued about tolls now... Does Ohio offer toll discounts if you have the EZ Pass transponder? I live in Illinois, and I'm always amazed that anyone still pays cash for tolls. In Illinois you pay double the toll price without an IPass transponder, but there's no longer even an option to pay cash. Everything is online now. Does Ohio have online payment options?

I think I recall my friend telling me that EZ Pass has a yearly fee for use, which I guess I could see as a reason to not go that route if you don't use the turnpike much. But in that case, just get an Illinois IPass. No yearly fees, and the transponder is just a $10 deposit (refunded upon return). And it works in many states, including Ohio.

Ez-Pass by state:

http://www.jd4x4.net/EZPass/

Ohio has $9 annual fee. Convenience of it alone is worth it to me (even though I don't use it every month). Driving to Wisconsin it was always worth it not to have to pull over every other mile in Illinois to pay a toll. And now its easier than going online to pay.

Ohio says it saves on average 33% on Ohio Turnpike tolls:

https://www.ohioturnpike.org/e-zpass/e-zpass-hub

Before you get an EZ Pass, Google "EZ Pass complaints".

I don't know if it happens in Ohio, but the EZ Pass system in New York/New Jersey is a nightmare. Apparently the transponder is linked to your checking account and MUST have a minimum of $25 in its account at all times. EZPass will pull money out of your account without notifying you to keep the balance at $25.

There are a LOT of complaints from users about EZPass either charging them for tolls on roads they didn't travel, or not 'going off' when they went through and then charging them the toll plus penalties. Users aren't notified until weeks later and by that time the penalties are in the hundreds of dollars.

The kicker? You can't call EZPass to straighten the matter out. You can ONLY correspond with EZPass through LETTER. So if you're charged unfairly you have to send them a letter with the complaint, and while you're waiting to get the matter resolved the penalties continue to add up. There are stories of people who paid fines of thousands of dollars they didn't owe, just to keep from having their license suspended, which EZPass can do if you don't pay up.

Of course, doing everything through the mail takes a LONG time and many times EZPass will claim they didn't receive the complaint. So you have to send ANOTHER letter.

As I said, if Ohio's EZPass system isn't like this, that's good, but after reading all the complaints I decided to take my chances with regular tolls.

GoBucks89 said:

Did Zach say anything about future park plans? Maybe he is looking to supplant the Lemon Chill guy as the fount of Cedar Point knowledge.

Speaking of Lemon Chill, I have not seen a frozen lemonade stand in the park in a long time. Does anybody have an idea where they sell frozen lemonades other than the cart that is never staffed by the railroad crossing between Rougarou and Millennium?

The pretzel place by Magnum still has frozen lemonade, haven't noticed it anywhere else yet this year.