Tipping your OW instructor?

[Jim Lapenta]

I have gotten tips but not in the form of cash except once. Usually they are in the form of being bought lunch, dinner, or I once got a gift card for a restaurant with instructions to take my wife out to dinner in appreciation of her allowing me to spend so much time away from her teaching. The one cash tip I got was after an OW class where I took one person into the pool for a 2 hour private session to work on specific skills. And that one came in the mail a couple weeks after the class ended. A bit hard to say no. But no they are not expected. And it depends on where you are as well. In some cultures if you do a job really well and the student decides to tip you refusing it can be construed as an insult. But to be honest the greatest tip is when someone calls and said so in so referred me to you. Can you teach me?

 

[offthewall1]

As an Instructor, I never expect a tip. Most professional educators never expect tips.

Do you tip your high school teacher? Do you tip your college professor? Do you tip your driving instructor? Do you tip your dance instructor? Do you tip your kids baseball coaches? Do you tip your aerobics instructor? Yada Yada... you get the idea...

So I really don't think tipping a dive instructor is appropriate... however... a dive instructor who doubles as a dive master is a different story.

In other words, you take your OW or advanced class somewhere and then spend a couple days diving with your Instructor as he shows you around the area and the reef systems or wrecks. Then he is more than an Instructor. Now if he's charging you for the service I don't think he needs a tip... but if he/she is a cool guy or girl and is just taking you around and showing you cool stuff for the fun of it... then I think a tip is appropriate and would be greatly appreciated.

The responsibilities of scuba instructors vary from being simply that... a person who teaches diving... all the way to the person who runs all aspects of a resort dive operation and everything in between. With the lines blurred, it is hard to know what they're being paid for and what they're volunteering etc...

In many resorts, the dive master is an instructor... and so he may teach you class in the morning that he is being paid for... and he may be dive mastering on the boat in the afternoon. He deserves a tip for the boating part... but not for the teaching part.

These are of course just opinions... but I think most professional scuba instructors do not expect or desire tips... but like anyone else... they certainly appreciate the thought.

As Jim said... the best tip you can give is a good referral...

Happy Diving

 

[Kingpatzer]

I've been doing the assistant instructor thing for a bit, and I've only had it happen once. I politely said "no, but if you want to show your appreciation, call me up sometime to go out on one of the lakes and dive." And handed them my card.

Still waiting for the call . ..

 

[oly5050user]

Luckily, I rarely have to certify cyber divers like y'all. Do you tip the hotel bellman or bartender? You do realize that most hotel bellmen or bartenders make at least twice as much money as neighboring dive instructors, along with having health insurance and retirement that most instructors don't have.

If the price was higher to pay the instructor better you would have gone somewhere else! Even my Canadian students tip!

Exactly as Halemano says..this is a SERVICE BASED industry..If an instructor/dm provides exceptional or even good service, insures the clients have a good time and are comfortable, he/she should have no problem getting/accepting a tip..Mine have usually ranged from $20. to $100, more often the higher end than the lower.- to a expense paid trip to Grand Cayman or expense paid trip to Star Island Florida for clients associated with Forbes family. For those of you who do not get a tip,are you really taking the extra step to provide a service to these people or just going through the motions? Nothing wrong with accepting a tip.In fact it may be considered an insult to clients in refusing to accept one.