Day camp tips | Imamother

amother

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 2:45 am

I know the camp season is very much over but this is still bothering me. In your day camp, do specialty staff get tips?

We were in the Catskills and sent to one of the larger day camps. DD was an arts n crafts assistant. She didn't get tipped at all. Her friends who were bunk counselors got $20 per camper. That means around $300 a month on top of their salary. They all got the same salary. I don't know if the counselors who have bunks work harder but I'm livid that DD got NOTHING. It was my first year sending to this camp but in other camps I definitely gave tips to the arts n crafts and baking counselors and any other specialties there were. This year the tips were managed by the camp so I didn't even know how they were given out.

I spoke to the director and they said "this is what the other camps do." It's not what my camp last year did. Which one is actually the norm?

I'm mostly upset for DD but as a parent I'm annoyed too. If the people who worked with my kids weren't tipped, then where did the money go? We were charged $100 per kid for one half. So two counselors is $40. I'm not sure how many lifeguards there were but let's say another $20? Where are the other $40 going? The director did not answer this question either. I never heard of such a thing. $100 didn't seem outrageous compared to what I paid in personal tips other years, but like I said those included the art girl, baking, some years drama, whatever. Something like $15-20 to be split by the camp among the lifeguards, $20 each for two counselors, and $5-10 each for specialties depending what they did. So maybe $80 per kid total, 100 didn't seem so out of whack. But if they're not even giving that out to everyone who worked in the camp I feel scammed. It's not like I didn't pay enough to send my kids in the first place.

OK I needed to vent. How do tips work by you?

amother

Yellow

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 6:22 am

I've never heard of specialty staff getting
Tipped, but in the camp I work in they make more base salary than counselors their age to make up for that.

fleetwood

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 7:14 am

My daughter is baking morah and didn't get tips. It stinks. She made 400$ for an entire summer. When I sent to a different camp the specialties got 5$ per kid....which I didn't mind giving.

Ruchel

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 7:46 am

Nah/

amother

Royalblue

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 8:06 am

We didn’t tip for specialties- nor were we asked to.

amother

Olive

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 8:08 am

My dd did speciality knowing that she wouldn't get tips. She preferred that over being on top of the kids all day.

amother

Oak

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 9:59 am

Thank the good l-rd we don't do tipping at all where I live. I pay the camp weekly price and zeh hu.

amother

Aubergine

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 10:06 am

Or you could have been me where I was promised by head staff before I agreed that I would get tips- they would "split the pot" with specialty, waitresses, counselors. And at the end of the summer I got nothing. And was waived off when I asked.

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 10:57 am

My DD was also Art. She did not get tips (not true-one person tipped her very generously) and she did not expect to make tips. It is typically well understood that specialty (with the exception of Rebbi/Morahs and lifeguard (lifeguards inconsistently)) do not get tips.
Her friend who did Photography and her friend who was a sports coach also did not get tipped and none of them expected to. They knew this coming in and will tell you 1000 times over that it was their choice as it is a much cushier job than counselor.
The kids don't whine to them the same way and they have the onus of planning, they have by far less physical work and responsible in regard to chasing the children/bathroom and girl drama.

amother

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 2:12 pm

OK, I'm glad I asked here because I really didn't know this was normal, we did a few other camps and tips were for all staff - specialties got less than counselors but not nothing. I'm still upset for DD and I think this was not made clear at the beginning.

And I still wonder where my $300 went if it didn't include specialties! How much did you spend on tips? I'm thinking $20 each for two counselors and $20 divided between the lifeguards and that's 60 per kid not 100.

amother

Taupe

Wed, Sep 02 2020, 2:16 pm

I spent many summers working in day camps. I never got tips when did specialties, but I knew that from the start. It really is much easier doing specialty-youre not dealing with the kids as much, you can usually come a little later/leave earlier cuz you don't need to be there for arrival/dismissal, you have a quiet lunch and you don't have to be serving kids or cheering your head off, you don't have to deal with all the social issues and behavioral issues and kvetches etc...

Usually what I did is I spent one half as a counselor and one half as a specialty. So one half I made more money and one half I had an easier job