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Chloe Tse loves it when customers smile and compliment her on a superb dining experience.

But she loathes when the grins are meant to compensate for a measly tip - an age-old cheapskate manoeuvre that's been making a comeback since the economy went into freefall.

"It's garbage," she says. "We're basically working twice as hard for half the amount of money."

Ms. Tse has worked as a server for three years at a restaurant steps from the sports arenas and the CN Tower in downtown Toronto. She's never seen her tips drop to such levels, she says.

"Leafs crowds are usually pretty good, they usually give about a 20-per-cent gratuity," she says. "Lately, the servers have found it's been about 10 and 15 per cent on a good night."

Ms. Tse's not alone. Servers, bartenders, coat checkers, doormen, cab drivers and hairstylists are saying that since the stock markets plummeted and Canadians started feeling the pinch in the pocketbook, they've experience an increasing ripple effect themselves.

The hurting economy is slicing into their income as customers get haircuts every six weeks instead of four, skip on the bottle service or tip 5 per cent less after a business lunch.

Janet Holyk, 39, is seeing fewer tips while working at the Cattle Baron, a casual fine dining restaurant in Calgary.

"A lot of the 'suits' - the oil and gas businessmen - used to come in and be quite generous. They're scaling back now," she says. "Before they would give 15 to 20 and now it's between 12 and 15 per cent."

Tips in the service industry are often among the first casualties in an economic downturn, says David Martin, director of Ryerson University's school of hospitality and tourism management.

"If your sales go down, your tip pools are going down, too," he says. "I'm sure [tippers] are moving back to the 10 or 15 mark rather than the 20."

For Claire Banerd, a server and bartender at the Rhino in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood, tips have dropped to the point that she has had to scale back her own spending. The 24-year-old says she's "in denial" about making at least 5 per cent less in overall tips compared with mere months ago.

Even upscale restaurants have suffered a decline.

Paul Quinn, general manager of Lumière, a four-star restaurant in Vancouver, says the amount staff earn through tips has dropped - because business is slower in general.

"Over all, it's gone down because people aren't spending quite as much," he says. "[Staff are] feeling the pinch the same as everybody else."

Some in the service industry have resorted to desperate measures. In an effort to make up for the shortfall, Ms. Tse and her co-workers have tried to automatically charge gratuities. Often they get argued down because, well, the customer is always right.

"It could be a vicious circle," says Gabor Forgacs, an assistant professor in Ryerson's hospitality and management program. An overworked and undertipped worker may not be as friendly and attentive to customers, resulting in poorer tips. Then they have less money to spend on other items and services in the broader economy.

Often people don't mean to be stingy in a downturn, Prof. Forgacs says. In fact, some even try to tip well because they tend to space out indulgences.

"In a tough economy, people have less opportunity to be generous. They're saying, 'At least I can afford this dinner out,' " he says. "You look at the bad news, you look at the portfolio taking a hit, your job is uncertain and you have choices to make. Once you make that decision to get a haircut, you go out and get it and you leave a nice tip. That couple of bucks isn't going to save you your job."

But those in the service industry say they haven't seen that phenomenon yet.

Though gas prices have fallen since Toronto taxi drivers were permitted a $1 boost to their starting rate, cab driver Tahir Mahmood says that in this uncertain economy, the price increase is doing more harm than good.

"[Fares] are not paying as much money or giving as much tip as they used to. Before it was the short trips, people would use the cabs and pay a couple of dollars extra. But these days, they're not doing the short trips" because they opt to walk, he says.

Spa employees and hairstylists say they are feeling the hit as people space out their haircuts and massages or skip highlights and manicures.

"If you're paying $50 for a haircut as opposed to $150 for a hair treatment, that's $10 of tips you're not getting," says Jessica Whitbread, a hairstylist at Shampoo Hair Studio in Toronto's Kensington Market.

However, Ms. Whitbread says, the percentage of the tip from the customer hasn't really dropped - perhaps because getting a haircut or a pedicure is more intimate and personally meaningful than a bartender pulling a cold one out of the fridge.

For others in the service industry, the dismal economy is yet another bad break.

Ottawa server Andrea Senyk, 24, says the downturn hasn't just meant fewer tips, it's also meant fewer shifts - and she's not sure whether to blame the economy or the transit strike that has been dragging on for more than a month.

"It's been dead. Really dead," she says of the foot traffic at Kinki, an upscale sushi restaurant in Ottawa's Byward Market. "Last weekend, I didn't even start one shift. I ended up making $40 in a weekend and I usually make at least $300. [Tips are] about 70, 80 per cent of my income. It's hurting."