tipping protocol

[steveinbsas]

There is an onus on us expats to pay the value for the service as per the locals, maid services for example, lest we pay them 30 pesos an hour because we can and then sow discontent in the local market if locals can´t. Of course it is too simplistic to think that the odd over the top tipper drives up prices but we expats from all nations need to adapt to local conditions rather than imposing our own native standards just to make ourselves feel good about ourselves.

Apparently, some of the local electricians, plumbers, painters, and locksmiths don't feel any "onus" to charge the foreigners the "local" rate. I know this from experience. When expats are charged double or triple the local rate does that mean that we are driving the prices up for the locals in these fields, too?

I seriously doubt it.

Being overcharged is not a "local condition" to which I am willing to adapt and it happens a lot more often than many expats realize. Far more foreigners pay too much here because they are taken as suckers than those who overpay out of kindness (with no intention of "imposing their native standards").

 

[Nossyd]

Do unto others as they would unto you..
Werent you in church mode earlier Steve?

 

[steveinbsas]

Do unto others as they would unto you..

How does this apply to not imposing our standards on the locals, as you so eloquently put it?

Or do you mean we should charge them double if we can?

When in Rome...

Werent you in church mode earlier Steve?

Actually, the last time I was in church (in body or spirit) I was actually in Rome.

 

[perry]

On this topic I tend to sway more to the side of Sergio as waiters in Argentina are paid very well especially in better restaurants . This automatic tipping culture creates a expectation that is not justified for average service.

I do pay 10 to 15% if the service is very good and make sure that the waiter gets it and is not a pooled tip as this is not what I am paying for.

 

[marksoc]

I tell you why Lee. Because tipping is an American thing that should not even exist. It exists to cover for extremely low wages for services that fellow Americans consider degradating, only done by "losers". I prefer acceptable wages and no tipping, and professional waiters and not those student girls that don´t know nothing abouth the kitchen or wine. I am in Thailand right now, people gave me back the tips (the fewtimes I tried to give them) with a polite smile and the sensation that I agravated them somehow.

 

[Nossyd]

I am in Thailand right now, people gave me back the tips (the fewtimes I tried to give them) with a polite smile and the sensation that I agravated them somehow.[/quote]


This is a pleasing image..the sheer act of handing it backs says "thanks but you can´t buy me your capitalist b****rd." Makes me think of a quote from that deep and meaningful movie Maid in Mahnattan..something along the lines of "To serve with pleasure is not to say you are a servant.." I need to get out more...

 

[citygirl]

There are quite a few waiters/waitresses in the US that earn a lot of money - being a server at at upscale restaurant can pay quite well. Back in the dark ages when I was a bartender/cocktail waitress, I was making more than a lot of my friends who were working in office jobs.

FWIW, I tip 10% as a standard. If I feel like tipping more for whatever reason, I will. If the service was bad or non-existent, I don't feel compelled to tip anything.

And no, cubierta doesn't go to the waiters, it goes to the management.

 

[BA Barrio Busquador]

I do think being from the USA influences your choice to tip. Tipping is an integral part of so many transactions there - it apears to be expected in all cases. A friend was verbally abused leaving a restaurant in Washington for not tipping, which made it seem obligatory rather than a "tip". Being an Aussie, he had thought a tip was discretionary...

Whenever I go to the US (being from Oz) I begin the trip stressed about the tipping because it is not the same process in Australia. Here we tip if we have received good service (but only if you want to tip), but it is definitely an "extra". And it is only in restaurants (rather than for room service, for example). You get your head around the process fairly quickly in the US but it is different to any country I have been in (Europe, Asia, Oz). It is certainly not expected in Oz - particularly if someone brings something to your room in a hotel for example.

So I think being brought up in a country where tipping is so much the norm, it's something you feel justified doing elsewhere. You get good service and so you tip. I do know that in Oz you would be considered to be under the influence and a bit crazy to tip 20%. I imagine it must seem strange to the Argentineans as well... Even though it seems a nice thing to do, and you would do it in the US, is it culturally appropriate to do it in Argentina, or does it underline that you are from the US, country historically of the big buck-laden?

What do the Argentineans do? Do any of them tip, or tip as a matter of course? Is it normal not to tip?