I don’t know what to do with the valet guys at studios when I go in for meetings. Do I tip them? How much?
— Van
I follow the keys rule: If at any point they are touching my car keys, I tip them a buck or two at the end. But I never know whether they expect it.
When you’re valet parking at a restaurant or an office building, you tip. You’re paying for parking, so it seems natural to tip the guy who brings your car back. It’s a pretty thankless job, so a small monetary acknowledgement of their efforts feels right.
But it’s more ambiguous when you’re on a studio lot. You’re not paying to park there. Generally, the only reason studio lots have valets is because they’re trying to fit more cars than the parking lot can really accommodate.
Yes, they’re providing a service, but so is the executive’s assistant who is bringing me water, and it would be weird to tip her.
I guess I tip studio valets because it’s the same job no matter where they’re doing it. The guy parking cars on a studio lot is functionally the same guy doing it for a restaurant. I would hope he’s getting paid better, but I don’t know. So I tip him.
To my recollection, Sony used to have a sign saying tips were not accepted — but then the sign went away. And at times, even fancy screenwriters get banished to the dungeon of self-parking across the street at the plaza, so I’m feeling flush and happy any time I can drive through the Madison gate.
At Warners, I follow the keys rule. The valets at the executive building will often point you to a spot rather than take your car, particularly later in the afternoon.
Dreamworks has a tiny parking lot, but the guys in charge feel like security rather than valets, so it would be odd to tip them.
As far as agencies, I tip at UTA. If I can help it, I never park at CAA. It’s the most expensive garage in Los Angeles. When parking costs more than lunch, something’s wrong.