Tipping practices in different cities/countries
By sanelaze
@sanelaze (167)
Philippines
April 16, 2011 11:48pm CST
It's very confusing, and sometimes embarrassing to tip when your not suppose to and not tip (enough) when you are. I've lived in the Philippines but I've worked for a hotel and a restaurant in US. In the Philippines, tipping is practiced but not everywhere.
In restaurant, some already charge an automatic gratuity while some dont. I think the mentality is, the bigger the check, the less likely the guest will give a bigger tip. Cab drivers are tipped especially if the trip is quite long and 'inconvenient' due to traffic congestion. (unfortunately, ive encountered rude drivers who actually demand for it). Ive seen most cities in The Philippines (esp Davao) that returns your change up to the last change and I like to tip them more. In the US, there is the usual 15 to 20% voluntary gratuity that guests give their servers. Even if they eat buffet and servers only give them drinks and clear out plates. The practice is, the higher the tab, the bigger the tips. For a group of 6 and up, automatic gratuities are added.Hotel restaurants tips should usually be 18 to 20%.
Embarrassing as it is, servers tend to profile people by nationalities if they are good tippers or not. It has mostly something to do with the fact that maybe, in their countries, tipping is not required or is practiced differently.
These countries have different norms when it comes to tipping. What are the norms when it comes to tipping (restaurant servers, hotel employees, cab drivers, doorman, etc) in your cities/countries?
2 responses
@kukueye (1759)
• Malaysia
17 Apr 11
My locality does not promote tipping,because generally the server service in my country is not that good, however, we do paid service tax and governent tax upto 12% both combine.Even in high class restraurant and such , there is not tipping custome here , however for cab drivers sometime we forgo the few cents as tips like around 50cent or more.
@sanelaze (167)
• Philippines
18 Apr 11
Where are you from? wow the tax is quite high.So even in hotels, they dont tip? But i guess that means the servers have fixed rate salary which is why they dont care whether they give great service or if they connected well with their customer. Just a thought. maybe that's the advantage of having tips. they might be more motivated to improve their service if they know the customer will tip them if they're good. I wish my home country's service becomes better especially with food handling and common courtesy.
@dreamy1 (3811)
• United States
17 Apr 11
I hate the practice of tipping because I think it has gotten way out of hand. I used to live in Taiwan and I loved it because tipping isn't customary. I hated going back to the states because I feel I am forced to do it. I think a tip should be for service above and beyond. Here you tip just because it's expected no matter what.
Like the example of the buffett. People tip when like you said you get your own food. The waitress only brings drinks and maybe checks to see if everything is ok but most often they don't do much other than take the empty plates away which is their job.
Why should I tip someone for just doing the job they are hired to do? If they provide excellent service and wowed me and exceeded my expectations a tip should be extra and it should not be expected for minimum job performance. Then the amount has been increasing every year. It used to be 10 percent now 15-20 is the standard.
@sanelaze (167)
• Philippines
18 Apr 11
I understand what you mean. Sometimes those people who give you service forget that tips is voluntary. it has to be earned and not demanded. It's not their right to get it.
Unfortunately, since a lot of people (in the US) give tips, esp to restaurant servers, companies (or whoever) decided to lower the per hour pay rate so that servers wont earn more than their boss'. i never really knew why they do this. i mean, the pay rate is not even half the minimum wage for tipped servers. And having been a server before, even if there was an all-buffet shift, which seemingly, we don't really do anything, there was so much work to be done especially at the back of the restaurant.and the pay hour rate, honestly is not justified.
With that knowledge in mind, i usually give them at least 10% (if their service is so-so) of my check but if they exceeded my expectations, I give them more.
