Tipping Your Dresser?- Page 3

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 7:10pm

Funniest thing?

I walked into Ihop last weekend and a homeless man offered me a dollar.

I guess he was mad at the resturaunt because they weren't going to charge him for a cup of water. I think he was trying to say, 'I can pay for water, and I don't need no hand outs!"

[Mythus]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 7:20pm

I didn't know that dressers did so much more than, well, dress!

We do a WHOLE lot more than dress. I didn't even know how much dressers do until I got into it. During my first real job as a dresser I was pulling 14-hour work days. Updated On: 12/30/08 at 07:20 PM

[Craww]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 7:55pm

How is that not the same? YES, it is a dresser's job to dress, just as it is a waiter's job to wait on you. When you feel a waiter is doing a good job, you tip them well. If you feel your dresser is doing a good job, you tip them well. It IS the exact same thing.

That's absolutely absurd. It's not the same thing at all. In areas where a waiter is paid only 3.00 per hour they absolutely rely on tips, and a waiter being tipped is essentially compulsory. Any other job where you're paid a legitimate salary, then tipping is honestly just a gesture for work well done. I know a lot of people resent this system, but that's just how it is.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 8:08pm

I think if I ever had a dresser I would request that they just do what's in their contract and in their job description with an understanding that anything else would make me uncomfortable having to feel like I owe them something more than what they're being paid to do. It's just weird to me. So I guess the solution would be not to make friends with this person and not have them getting me coffee or handling my mail. It would just make me feel uncomfortable.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 8:33pm

"So I guess the solution would be not to make friends with this person"

How does that help anything.

Besides, contracts don't have a job statement.

The situations I'm talking about are lead performers. It's to make them comfortable. Chorus members just get one or two people to a room and they don't do the personal stuff.

If you ever do get your own dresser, enjoy it.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 8:35pm

Paulo Szot also thanked his dresser in his Tony acceptance speech.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 8:47pm

It just blurs the lines, for me, if I'm friends with someone I'm tipping. It's so strange to me. If I was actually paying for a personal assistant and the money was coming out of my pocket and we were cool and liked each other and had a clear understanding of what their job was, that would be different, but it's just bizarre to me when the production company has hired this person to do a specific job and then I'm paying them on the side for perks. I can't really wrap my mind around that and I can't really put into words how it makes me feel other than uncomfortable.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 9:59pm

All righty, then.

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 10:06pm

If i tip well enough, does that mean I can expect hand release at some point during the evening?

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 10:07pm

Foster, as did Norbert Leo Butz.

TheatreDiva, maybe you can answer me this:

Do you think the size of the tip should be dependent on how much stress the job causes you? So, for something like the Edna and Tracy mad changes in HAIRSPRAY or the changes that Freddy undergoes in SCOUNDRELS, it would be very proper to tip the dresser for so much work. However, if it's a relatively small load, like you mentioned about just handing a jacket or what not, it wouldn't be as large a tip? That's what I'm reading from this.

[je veux te voir2]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 10:21pm

This is a very interesting topic. After reading the in depth descriptions Theatrediva said of his job, I think its pretty necessary for dressers to get tipped. And yes, as he said...if you are a chorus member then clearly you won't tip the dresser because they aren't helping you the way the would a star, who would have their own dresser. If the dissenters are thinking of chorus members tipping....they shouldn't. lol. I completely understand that the dresser goes above and beyond the job description when separately working with the star. Regardless of someone feeling "uncomfortable" with tipping...tipping is a social custom in this country and if you are going to tip a waiter, or your bellhop....then it wold be an insult to not tip the person who's job description is to dress you, yet they do so many special jobs and they are your own personal dresser.

Theatrediva, your job kinda fascinates me. It sounds great.
Updated On: 12/30/08 at 10:21 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 10:45pm

He.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 10:48pm

If I go to a restaurant where a friend is the waiter, I tip him. Or her, as the case may be.

I thought about this and realized that Margo MUST have tipped Birdie, so I'm all for it now.

I still think having to get the mailman and the newspaper deliverer Christmas gifts is weird. Jesus Christ.

[brandontwin2]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 11:02pm

How much do you tip them and is it every performance?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 11:28pm

Tipping is normally done once a week, or sometimes once a month.

I've known dressers who've gotten paid vacations before.

It all depends on the show, the actor and the amount of work involved.

I like to spoil my actors.

Back when Eden Espinoza was working at Universal Studios, I set up one of her quick changes, and when I first started I asked her how she liked it to be set up. She said, 'You must know what you are doing!' (It was a theme park and they weren't known for having the smartest of dressers...) She told me and then, pretending to pretend to be a DIVA, said she wanted "a bowl of M&M's with all of the brown ones taken out, a bottle of Evian water' and something else silly.

I had the time between shows so I set her quick change up and put out a small bowl of M&M's with out the brown ones, a bottle of water that I made a fake Evian label for. I was around the corner changing someone and I heard her go to her station and scream, “I can’t believe you did this!” and started to howl.

At another performance, I was helping to quick change the actor into the Goblin suit when the whole zipper blew out, and it went from his heel to his neck. The other dresser just stood there with a look of horror, and the stage manager is screaming into the headset "We have a problem and may have to hold the show."

Before they could even finish the sentence, I was RUNNING full out into costume storage, (which was on the other side of the building) grabbed another goblin costume, ran back and put him into in with enough time for him to make his entrance.

Both the dresser and stage manager had their mouths hanging open.

I just said, “Well, we couldn’t stop the show, or send him out in his underwear, right?”

Or the time the prop guy forgot the phone on Hairspray and Edna has a whole scene with it.

I have TONS of stories…

I love my job.


I figure if I only have one or two people to take care of, I’m going to spoil them.

[elphaba.scares.me]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 11:30pm

It may not be necessary, but it is a custom on Broadway.

On film sets, tipping a dresser is also a custom...but a star may give their dresser thousands of dollars when the film wraps.

On Broadway, you might tip your dresser five or ten bucks a week if you're in the ensemble, or twenty to fifty if you're a supporting player. If you're a star, it's not unusual to supplement their salary more significantly, because they function as more of a personal assistant--they escort your guests to your dressing room after the show, steam your personal clothes for going out afterward, organize your mail, etc.

Sometimes you also tip your wig person, although those tips are often smaller (it's especially nice to give them something if you get your wig prep done too). And the maid that cleans your room, especially if she does your dishes, folds your personal clothes, etc, might get five or ten bucks a week.

In regional theater, it's generally good to give somebody a bottle of wine or fifty bucks in a card when it's all done with.

[Ladyofthe Lake]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 11:32pm

TheatreDiva, I just want to let you know how much I'm enjoying your posts in this thread. They're absolutely fascinating. If you have any other anecdotes you want to share, I'll be thrilled to read them!

[jennamajig]

Posted: 12/30/08 at 11:45pm

^^I agree. TheatreDiva, your stories are awesome! All of my quick changes/dressing help experiences come from college theater. The best story I had was spending three scenes washing tomato out of a stark white dress and blowing it dry to be won again later in the show (low, low budget that didn't give us enough $$ to purchase two identical dresses).

While I'm sure there are few people that can give you a hassle, your job sounds like so much fun! And never boring in the world of live theater :).

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:00am

Theater Diva your stories are wonderful. Share more.

I had a dresser for when I was in Bat Boy and she punched another cast member in the face... more because she didnt know what she was doing when I told her what was I needed help with more than others.

Oh well... she tried, but who punches someone in the face during a show. It was Bat Boy so it didn't really matter.

Note: she punched my friend in the face because she would always neglect the shoes and another cast member saw there was no way I would make an entrance.

Updated On: 12/31/08 at 12:00 AM

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:05am

Diva, WHAT is that picture from? It's HOTT.

[dreamz]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:06am

As a cleaning lady in the theaters for 16 years I can say that they don't tip like they used to. But it also depends on the show the older actors are more aware of leaving tips. The younger ones I don't think they realize that they should tip. And believe me some of them are slobs but they don't care because when they come in everything is nice and clean. Me personally I don't care about a tip it would be nice but I am already getting paid. A thank you every now and then would be nice.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:07am

Are dressers also responsible for laundering the costumes or is that someone else's job?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:11am

It's from Tannhäuser at the LA Opera. The first 20 minutes was an orgy scene, I swear to God.


Theatredude,

WHAT!? Punched them in the face?! Wow.

Every now and then I believe a good bitch slap to the back of the head is needed, but punching someone in the face?! Good googly moogly.

They usually hire one person on the crew to just do laundry. And they get tipped from the other dressers.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:14am

Oh, wow. So actors tip dressers and dressers tip the laundry guy? And does anyone usually tip the cleaning staff? I never tip the cleaning staff at our theatre. They steal stuff. To the point where new cast members are always briefed during tech not to leave any valuables in the dressing rooms. What's up with that? Do they steal out of spite because no one tips?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:19am

It sounds like the cleaning crew is tipping themselves.