New York City’s building superintendents are banking on tips this holiday season, and many are eager to advise tenants — especially younger ones — on how much they should give.
“ Fifty bucks is fine,” said Dominick Romeo, a veteran super who maintains buildings in Manhattan. “A hundred bucks will keep them smiling for a few weeks after Jan. 1.”
The tips may sound steep to cash-strapped New Yorkers who already pay sky-high rent prices. Romeo noted many supers don’t make much, and that many rake in $2,000 to $5,000 a year in gratuities. He pointed out supers also pass along the tips to other building staff, as well as postal workers.
Mike Rivera, another longtime building super, said a nice tip during the holidays might lead supers to be more responsive to tenants’ needs.
“ You would definitely go the extra mile for them, and you would go even more of an extra mile for them if they were a good tipper and a nice person,” Rivera said.
Still, Romeo said, some New Yorkers who give out hefty tips sometimes believe they’re owed extreme attention from their supers.