Tipping Divemasters

[TMHeimer]

KK, I of course know what kind of work day you have, though I only assist with courses and don't do charters myself. I can't help but agree however with the posts that followed. My question is what would you as a customer pay in tips to cover an unpaid DM's day? I would figure that if your boat takes up to 18 out regularly, DM pay should come from the employer--and even so if it's not such a thriving business. If the boat only took 4-6 divers, as many in the U.S. do, a customer would have to tip a lot more than if there are 18--in order for the DM to receive at least minimum wage. Of course, the DM's workload would also decrease. But that's old SB stuff that has been discussed to death I guess. I like your username--appropriate for a 68.50 cent dollar.

 

[rivers]

if the DM is also an owner or the partner (married or not) of the owner I generally still tip but less. Owners that I've been out with have turned down tips. Those are the ops I return to.

Let me describe my day as a DM. I'm an unpaid volunteer who works only for tips. I need to arrive to the boat 2 hours before you do. I help the captain get the boat ready. I may have to stop at the shop to bring tanks, rental gear, snacks, etc. I load all the stuff you need and check our safety equipment while the captain does the engine and electronics checks. When you show up I greet you with a smile, and carry all your gear from your car to the boat. We don't like our customers to carry anything except for light, personal stuff. I have to do that 18 times or so if we have a full boat.
Once we have you loaded we get you settled in and get underway. After the captain introduces the crew, I release the lines and help get us moving. Then I give the boat briefings on USCG regs and safety followed by amenities and how to get on and off the boat. I then bring you drink, snacks, help with gear, setup and answer any questions. Once our dive site is known, I give a dive site briefing. Some of you need extra help so we get that settled out.
We get to our site and I drop in first with the dive flag. Sometimes I have to bounce dive a site to check conditions.
I stay to the max of my NDL and surface with the last few divers. The other DM helps you all back on the boat taking cameras, spearguns, fins, markers from you as you climb up. the captain does a roll call and we take our surface interval. Again, we cater to your needs and get ready for dive #2. The other DM and I swap and I play deckhand. I help you all get in the water and repeat the steps of getting you out at the end.
After our dives, we head home keeping you all happy. We secure the boat and then unload all your gear and bring it back to your cars. As you leave, you slip us a few dollars as a "thank you" for our exceptional service. When you leave we clean up, secure everything, load rental gear into whatever vehicle goes back to the shop. We count the tip money and split it evenly. We have to take care of our own gear and then fill tanks back at the shop and get rental gear ready for tomorrow.

is all this worth $10 or $20 to you? I'd like to think so. If something happens, we have very advanced training that hopefully you will never see in use. How much is that worth to you? We had to pay for it. Our gear takes a huge beating and we need to stick with quality gear. Yes, we tend to get a nice discount but we still pay for gear that most divers don't need. We keep spare parts in our own bags because we know a customer will need an o-ring, mouthpiece, snorkel, mask, a hose or a reg sooner or later. We paid for that too.

This all makes for a long hard day. But it is HUGE fun and we get to share our passion and experience with all of you!

And that, I'm sorry to say, is your own fault for accepting no pay as part of the terms and conditions of your employment.
I too, am a DM, albeit for an inland dive site and not for a boat. I also get to the site first thing in the morning, get all of the kit out for students, make sure cylinders are full, grab cups of tea for everyone, give site briefings, help students get kitted up, etc. At the end of the day, we refill cylinders, make sure student kit is sorted for the next day, put all the hire kit away, straighten out the kit room, help clean dishes in the burger van, etc. But, I also get paid for my time. It is not a mass amount of money, and the site I work for wish they could pay us more because they realise we are worth it. But I make enough to cover my fun diving, and have several other perks of the job (free gas, trimix at half price, free entry, reduced price on kit to name a few).
If people refused to work for tips only, I bet the atmosphere would change quite quickly

 

[WrmBluH2O]

if the DM is also an owner or the partner (married or not) of the owner I generally still tip but less. Owners that I've been out with have turned down tips. Those are the ops I return to.

Let me describe my day as a DM. I'm an unpaid volunteer who works only for tips. I need to arrive to the boat 2 hours before you do. I help the captain get the boat ready. I may have to stop at the shop to bring tanks, rental gear, snacks, etc. I load all the stuff you need and check our safety equipment while the captain does the engine and electronics checks. When you show up I greet you with a smile, and carry all your gear from your car to the boat. We don't like our customers to carry anything except for light, personal stuff. I have to do that 18 times or so if we have a full boat.
Once we have you loaded we get you settled in and get underway. After the captain introduces the crew, I release the lines and help get us moving. Then I give the boat briefings on USCG regs and safety followed by amenities and how to get on and off the boat. I then bring you drink, snacks, help with gear, setup and answer any questions. Once our dive site is known, I give a dive site briefing. Some of you need extra help so we get that settled out.
We get to our site and I drop in first with the dive flag. Sometimes I have to bounce dive a site to check conditions.
I stay to the max of my NDL and surface with the last few divers. The other DM helps you all back on the boat taking cameras, spearguns, fins, markers from you as you climb up. the captain does a roll call and we take our surface interval. Again, we cater to your needs and get ready for dive #2. The other DM and I swap and I play deckhand. I help you all get in the water and repeat the steps of getting you out at the end.
After our dives, we head home keeping you all happy. We secure the boat and then unload all your gear and bring it back to your cars. As you leave, you slip us a few dollars as a "thank you" for our exceptional service. When you leave we clean up, secure everything, load rental gear into whatever vehicle goes back to the shop. We count the tip money and split it evenly. We have to take care of our own gear and then fill tanks back at the shop and get rental gear ready for tomorrow.

is all this worth $10 or $20 to you? I'd like to think so. If something happens, we have very advanced training that hopefully you will never see in use. How much is that worth to you? We had to pay for it. Our gear takes a huge beating and we need to stick with quality gear. Yes, we tend to get a nice discount but we still pay for gear that most divers don't need. We keep spare parts in our own bags because we know a customer will need an o-ring, mouthpiece, snorkel, mask, a hose or a reg sooner or later. We paid for that too.

This all makes for a long hard day. But it is HUGE fun and we get to share our passion and experience with all of you!

Is this worth $10 or $20 to me, absolutely. Both your attitude and work ethic are great, thank you! Thanks for sharing your passion and experience with the divers.

 

[TMHeimer]

And that, I'm sorry to say, is your own fault for accepting no pay as part of the terms and conditions of your employment.
I too, am a DM, albeit for an inland dive site and not for a boat. I also get to the site first thing in the morning, get all of the kit out for students, make sure cylinders are full, grab cups of tea for everyone, give site briefings, help students get kitted up, etc. At the end of the day, we refill cylinders, make sure student kit is sorted for the next day, put all the hire kit away, straighten out the kit room, help clean dishes in the burger van, etc. But, I also get paid for my time. It is not a mass amount of money, and the site I work for wish they could pay us more because they realise we are worth it. But I make enough to cover my fun diving, and have several other perks of the job (free gas, trimix at half price, free entry, reduced price on kit to name a few).
If people refused to work for tips only, I bet the atmosphere would change quite quickly

I would think so. The change would have to be one of the following:
--The owner pays the DM directly.
--The fee for the charter/course is increased, so in fact the customer is paying the DM. I wouldn't want to pay any more that the average $100US fee for 4 hours and 2 dives (plus DM tip)--when I can take a fishing charter for less than half of that.
--The agencies would have to slacken off on the ratios of Instructor to students for courses so there wouldn't have to be the same number of (or any) CIs.
--fewer or no DMs on charter boats.

Any of these may reduce the number of dive ops/courses because all DMs now had to be paid. If so, so be it. As a DM who does it very infrequently (3-4 courses a year), I personally wouldn't be concerned with any of this.

Just because like with DMs, there are maybe 100,000 (?) clarinetists who would play band or symphony gigs for free because if they didn't, someone else would anyway--because they love what they do. You're cutting your own throat.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Okay let me interject.

I respect the choices DM's have made. As an example when I dive locally there are 20 of us. We all load our own kit - 8 tanks each mostly steels, dive kit, coolers, stages and scooters etc. At the end of the trip we all take it off and help each other load our vehicles. In the summer it can be in the high 40's and we've been out in this for 2 days. We choose to do this and we all muck in because we're a club and that's the way we do thing. If the boat crew help we tip them because we haven't paid them for that service.

If I'm on a charter yes I expect my tanks on board because I've hired them thus paid money. I'm more than happy to put my gear on the boat and set it up myself. If you insist that you do it - well that's your choice. I didn't ask so I'm not paying.

With DM's in the water again it's part of the hire. I don't need a guide, if I wanted one for myself I'll pay. If its a legal requirement or a procedural one by the boat then I'll assume its build in to the cost

I went on a liveaboard last year where they sent a letter and envelope to each cabin (with the cabin no marked on the envelope) listing all that had been done with a "suggested tip" frankly it felt like a demand and dirty. all of the stuff listed I would have expected to be included in the (high) price we'd paid for the trip before hand.

Now all that said I can't help myself offering to help unload the boat on a charter. I expect to wash my own kit. Not that I'm precious but because I used it I'll wash it. On a recent course I wanted to help unload the boat etc, and was told no. The DMTs were doing it as part of their course AND I'd paid for that service. I had to stand aside reluctantly.

I appreciate some nationalities expect full service. A trip a couple of years back on day 1 a small group didn't bother to show, with no forewarning which meant we were late leaving. On day 2 they sat by watching all the kit get loaded without lifting a hand - if they had departure would have been quicker. At the end again they sat down and watched. This time they bitched that they needed to get back to the hotel to check out. Err why don't you help and it'll be faster was my comment. Yes they were American (sorry to say)