Old Hippie Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 shygye said: [color:"green"] ... You don't need to be familiar with tiping, you dont need to be aware of local customs. ... [/color] Wrong! In Japan tipping may be taken as an insult to the service person. Exactly, I am going by local custome here, or anywhere...The trouble with tipping here is it is expected for nothing, and starts at 15%, which is considered a cheap tip...places in New York and SFO etc...want 20+% it gets rediculis... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 I personally think tipping sucks if the owners just lower the wages and exspect tipping to make up the difference. I do not get offered 15-20% extra at my job because I just did my job ! Pay the employees what they are worth, put that in the price of the meal etc, But do not make the customer look like an ass because the boss is paying low wages and he does not tip enough. I know , wishful thinking , at least here in the USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Hi, "But do not make the customer look like an ass because the boss is paying low wages and he does not tip enough." My thoughts exactly. And I can't imagine companies are getting away with this. They are effectively cutting their costs and getting customers to directly pay for their service staff. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pom Michael Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 KS: It is just cultural differences. What is your VAT? I would not accept to pay sales taxes as high as the Europeans pay, but that is just because I grew up with sales taxes in the range of 4%. Prices for service industries (specifically food) are all relative. A 10 dollar meal in the USA, with tip and tax would be about 12.00. The same meal in parts of Europe could average about 20 dollars. So whose system is better? Neither, just different I would say. I do like the Thai (and I assume European) way to price items, they must normally be inclusive of all taxes, etc... So what you see is what you get. Doesn't seem to apply to hotels (nett, +++) but items in fixed price stores normally include the VAT where as in the USA the prices do not normally include any tax. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pom_Jao_Choo Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Exactly, in fact I would expect that if they did up the wages to cover the difference the prices would swing a lot wider. If you up the wages and push the workers into the next tax bracket then you will have to up them considerably to make the work worthwhile. You might not be happy with the quality of service staff you see in the US, but it could be worse if it was not financially rewarding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 shygye said: Wrong! In Japan tipping may be taken as an insult to the service person. Man, I remember that when I first came here that was ther case here as well! Oh well... Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayjann Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 try Iceland........ huge insult if a tip is left. funnily enough a subject of a commercial on UK TV at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegasdave49 Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 I recently had a meal in a fairly nice place in San Francisco. When we recieved our bill there was an extra charge of $1 for each meal on the bill. When we asked what that was for, we where told that because the restraunt now had to pay min wage they were allowed by law to add a dollar per meal wage surcharge. It seems that most places just buried it the prices but not this cheap bastard. Seemed to want to make the point that he was pissed he had to pay a barley liveable wage. I also used to work at a club where the owner once expressed his displeasure at having to pay min wage to his employees. His quote. "Do I have to pay them, they make tips that should be enough". He later hatched a sceam where he insisted on collecting our tips and then kept 80% of them and then acted like he was being generous when redistibuting them back to us. All highly ilegal. If you want to enrich the owners and see higher prices in service fields and a lower level of service then go ahead and complain about tipping. Service workers are much more like independent contractors. If they do a good job they can make a good living, if not they will go to work in an office or a factory, work regular hours, and get a gold watch after 30 years. Oh you may not get a tip per se, but I am sure you and many other worker get regular raises and bonus's that make up the 10 to 15 % why should you get that for "just doing your job"? Or how about medical insurance and other benifits for just doing your job. It all comes out in the wash, but at least when it comes to tipping you personaly can choose what the person is woth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Sorry , its not MY job that his workers make a decent wage , he hired them its his job to pay them, I do not give the mechanic an extra 10-20% to tighten down my wheel nuts , that is HIS job. but tipping makes us the assholes for not "giving" enough , where the owner is not paying HIS workers enough. its just a bad set-up that will take over other countries too OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 "...Oh you may not get a tip per se, but I am sure you and many other worker get regular raises and bonus's that make up the 10 to 15 % why should you get that for "just doing your job"? Or how about medical insurance and other benifits for just doing your job..." VD49, Dude, you couldn't be more wrong here. I work for the airlines. Many of the positions in this industry pay very low, yet good/excellent service is expected, and people bitch when they don't receive it, even though no tips are given/allowed. Next off, my base salary has declined over $23,000 a year, so have all my benifit, just for doing my job. No tips to off set it. Waiting tables is an unskilled job, period. It should pay accordingly. But hey, nice if they can get it. True, some places, the better 5 star type places, do require them to actually know some protocal, manners, ettuquette and stuff like that. But 99%don't. Many jobs pay low wages, and the people don't receive tips. "... It all comes out in the wash, but at least when it comes to tipping you personaly can choose what the person is woth..." Wrong again. many places say on the menu or on a sign that "Gratuities of 15% + are appreciated. Some places just add it on the bill for parties of 4 or more, no no say/control. I was once confronted in New york for leaving 15% tip in a crappy dinner/cafe. The waitress informed me that 20% or $4.00 (I left $3 on a $18 lunch bill, pre tax ) which ever was more, was the acceptable standard...I told her she could always give it back if not wanted...the problem is these people expect it for doing nothing. Also, most of their tips don't get counted for taxes, not even the amount required...so well, they make out also...no gold watch, no benifits, but not exactly a career job for anyone with any ambition/motivation...and yes, I have done this job before... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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