Gratuities (Tipping) And The Expat

[scott h]

I was referring to how that charge originated

 

Let me take a stab at this one Dave.

 

If you want a best guess, some owner of a restaurant was traveling to the States (which when I left 3 years ago was moving towards service charges in a lot of restaurants) looked at his bill saw a 12% added (and if your wife is anything like mine scrutinizes almost every bill) asked WTF is this? Was told, "well sir, a lot of customers do not tip, so we add this on the bill, its on the bottom of your menu".

 

The traveling restaurant owner had a large light bulb go off. Boy oh boy, I have found away to increase my profits by 12%!! Yippee :nudie: .

[Jack Peterson]

Yesterday, I said Accountancy is a nightmare, with VAT it is most certainly. Now I was going to go into this more fully but I would only Bore you all so I will keep it Simple. Most Restaurants are  VAT registered and they can do it 2 ways. charge on the Meal price or on total Cost. Meal charging can vary and makes hard work for the Owner so mostly they do a sub Total charge. now this where they Score and the customer losses on Service Charge 

 

OK so what they do and if the POS (Point of sale Till) has a menu it is easy to do. They Introduce what we (Accountants) term the SST& ST (  Sub. Sub Total & Sub Total) Now in the main it is Not strictly illegal if done properly but it is not Liked by the Authorities  Why? I will tell you.

If the Service charge is added before the VAT that's OK because it is charged on the ST & becomes a Total But in many, many cases it is added after the VAT which gives an SST then they add the VAT and you get a,Total including the VAT which My friends means you are paying the % Service Charge on the Whole Lot including the VAT. Clearly Wrong. 

So what I am explaining is that if you see the Service Charge added after the VAT You and the VAT man are being Robbed.

Simply Put, VAT should only be Charged after all incidentals including Service Charge and any Corkage are shown as a Sub Total + the VAT and there is the Total Charge. Nothing should be added after this.

 

As I said it can be a nightmare but be aware that Service charges can be and usually are, a Tax Fiddle, Any Tax, VAT or BIR as if done the Bad way the Service charge does not show up in the Accounts and is the easy Money for the Owner/s

 

Jack :thumbsup:

(just my little bit to say things about stuff)

 

A Day without an Edit, Oh Come guys Please

Edited December 22, 2015 by Jack Peterson

[jpbago]

so unless they have a special key they only press when we are there,

 

Vikings does have that key. 20% senior's discount for kanos and 50% senior's discount for Filipinos. I saw it. 12% service charge and you are the waiter as it is self serve buffet.

[Jack Peterson]

 

so unless they have a special key they only press when we are there,

 

Vikings does have that key. 20% senior's discount for kanos and 50% senior's discount for Filipinos. I saw it. 12% service charge and you are the waiter as it is self serve buffet.

 

As I said, if the till has a menu they can do whatever they want, the list is long of ways to get the cash from your Pocket.

[manofthecoldland]

   To each his own, when it comes to parting with your well and often hard,  earned money. 

    I personally defer to my savvy Filipina asawa on most of these matters. She has never been abroad, and as a middle aged woman with much business experience as well as dealing with both wealthy and dirt-poor relatives, knows her culture far better than I can ever aspire to. 

    She tells me that my barber gets P20 of the P60 we pay for my haircut. The other P40 goes to the shop owner for rent, electricity (AC), etc., various shop overhead. She usually tips my barber P50, or now at Xmas P100.

    When we rarely eat out, its P20 or 30 at most, and often 10-15.. She used to waitress in P. Galera long ago, and when I first courted her, she would often take back some of what I intended to leave for a tip. LOL... "That's too much."

   Lest you think she's 'koriput'.... she tipping our service trike driver and his wife each P500 for Xmas, as well as assisting various co-madres w/children, etc. , and the deserving needy, while stiffing the greedy and bad people when associate with. 

   I don't think much of the 'service charge' gambit/gimmick and don't patronize places that employ it here in the PI. I had an American ex-pat acquaintance blow up on the issue when he attended a new locla  restaurant once. They tried slapping it on his party's bill. They couldn't explain why they did it and he interpreted it as a 'Kano' or 'foreigner-tax' based on race. He refused to pay it and he posted his extreme displeasure on his facebook page, urging other local ex-pats to boycott the place until they dropped it.

   Merry Xmas to all

[afathertobe]

 

I have noticed the locals not big tippers

 

Now here is a point I can contribute to.  I pay VERY close attention when I see a local person tipping.  Not the poor folk but the people who have "similar to expat" income levels or higher.  I watch what they do and try to do similar.  No point arguing how much that is but watch close, they make no secret of how much they are tipping if you watch close.  And I would venture to say all (or almost all) of the locals in that income level do tip.

 

 

That's an interesting observation, can anyone confirm? I don't come from a tipping culture and often don't tip in the Philippines, assuming that's the local culture as well. I may add a little in the taxi, or a service guy, tire repairs... but in restaurants I usually don't tip. 

[chris49]

 

 

I have noticed the locals not big tippers

 

Now here is a point I can contribute to.  I pay VERY close attention when I see a local person tipping.  Not the poor folk but the people who have "similar to expat" income levels or higher.  I watch what they do and try to do similar.  No point arguing how much that is but watch close, they make no secret of how much they are tipping if you watch close.  And I would venture to say all (or almost all) of the locals in that income level do tip.

 

 

That's an interesting observation, can anyone confirm? I don't come from a tipping culture and often don't tip in the Philippines, assuming that's the local culture as well. I may add a little in the taxi, or a service guy, tire repairs... but in restaurants I usually don't tip. 

 

 

 

I have not noticed that one. 

 

Since most bills are come in a folder, the custom is to show the edge of the money so the server knows there is something inside.

 

I tip small, 20-30-50....50 would be big by our local standard.

 

Now on a higher level place or franchise like Chili's or Italiani's, Yabu, mid range that level. I like that kind of place but we are careful not to run up the bills on extras like soups, drinks deserts. If 12% (or if 15%), on a bill of 1200-1500, that would be around 150, A bit high but fair enough it would be much higher in USA, the bill or the tip. But I don't begrudge the tip ka si I sometimes ask the staff if they get it and the reply is affirmative, split up between all staff.

 

It's nasty, but it's caveat emptor if you run up the bill and end up tipping 400-500...OUCH.

[Jack Peterson]

Well I have just come back from Lunch and my Bill was 340 peso, I gave 350 and the Girls was over the moon at this 10 p for her. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

Thanks Jack.  I feel better now.  I gave 20 pesos on a 200 peso bill and all I got was a crooked grin.  Then I went to my motorcycle and saw one of those dirty badjao beggar woman with a kid on her hip and her hand out saying something about "200 pesos only" and I gave her what for.  They must live well if they are getting idiots to hand over 200 pesos at a time, and they must be getting that much to have any idea to ask for that much.

[Jack Peterson]

After you had Gone the Beggars came in Droves. Seems the top table was buying and giving through Drink (Being Drunk That Is) and it must have spread fast I felt sorry for Little Security guy as he was on a Loser Today.

As to the Tipping I reckon that Gysele got about 150 piso in tips within 1.5 hours from what I saw, with your 20 and my 10 that's about 180 piso and she only came on Duty not long before you arrived.  She goes off at 7.30 so to me not a bad Shift on her tables. That was 4 in Total