Is Tipping 20% Too Much in the Philippines?

[Jack Peterson]

 FFS it is discretionary  

[Jollygoodfellow]

2 hours ago, bows00 said:

So when you engage your sons/daughters in a soccer league, do you also believe that everyone deserves trophy?   Regardless of results?  Generosity, if affordable, should have its benefits.  It is a natural human reaction.

To run a business customers come first regardless of their fat wallet or thin one. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, bows00 said:

Generosity, if affordable, should have its benefits.

Then it is not generosity, it is payment in expectation of, or in reward to, service given.  Suddenly you are paying to have the waitress work for you while the boss is paying her to work for him (and serve all the other customers).  It puts her in a conflict of interest situation and waitresses can get fired for ignoring the other customers to give the big tipper his "benefits".  This may be why they are required to share the tips equally, it gives the boss more control over the employees he is paying for.  I wonder how the boss feels when a customer tips his waitress more than he pays her in a day.  In the end it is the boss of the business who is ultimately responsible to see that you have a pleasant experience.

[Dave Hounddriver]

24 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

To run a business customers come first regardless of their fat wallet or thin one.

I have seen problems with that approach when the thin wallet students take up a table with only one drink so they can use the free wifi and the fat wallet customers walk in/walk out because there are no tables available.  Thus we have to admit that money talks.  But "money" should speak to the boss, not his hired help.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I have seen problems with that approach when the thin wallet students take up a table with only one drink so they can use the free wifi and the fat wallet customers walk in/walk out because there are no tables available.  Thus we have to admit that money talks.  But "money" should speak to the boss, not his hired help.

I have seen the students too... and seen them get moved (crammed) to another table with other students, to make room for paying customers (me). 

[bows00]

3 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Then it is not generosity, it is payment in expectation of, or in reward to, service given.  Suddenly you are paying to have the waitress work for you ...

And in return, she would naturally be motivated to provide even better service.  So why would the boss be pissed with this?  To me, it is a win win situation, unless the boss wants the money for himself.  

[Jollygoodfellow]

32 minutes ago, bows00 said:

And in return, she would naturally be motivated to provide even better service.  So why would the boss be pissed with this?  To me, it is a win win situation, unless the boss wants the money for himself.  

I got to say going back to your original question. Now let's look at this if we can, 4 USD or even one dollar is nothing compared to your lifestyle now. So you move to the Philippines all cashed up and with financial plans in place for the future and there is a BUT! or what if !.. It's only a dollar or so but now its not, your investments went sour, your gf ran off with money or your goverment stuffed your pension or even you were a victim of fraud here in the Philippines so now the story has changed. 

So you have now "hypothetically" being living here awhile and you start to see your bank account is not in a great shape as expected but since you have now been here awhile you start to see things in peso, not dollars ( you think in peso) even if life has been good  so by now you think to yourself, WTF, how could an imported steak cost me 1000 peso. No way im paying that etc etc or gee I wasted 700 peso tonight which now feels a high amount when before it was just a few dollars. 

Anyway let me tell you, no matter how rich you feel now or how good your plans are and even if you stay well cashed up for the rest of your life you will after time think in Peso not dollars so why should you tip a waiter a days pay when you did not do it before in your own country? 

Tipping topics run right along with the right to carry a gun and religion or politics. No one will ever agree.  

[OnMyWay]

33 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

so why should you tip a waiter a days pay when you did not do it before in your own country? 

That is a good way to put it and I also am guilty of forgetting this.  The wife is in charge of tipping.

To put some numbers to it, what if you tipped a waiter in your home country a days wage?  For instance, you spend $50 for a decent steak dinner.  The waiter makes salary + tips of $25 an hour X 8 hours a day.  $200 a day.  So, a $200 tip is appropriate.

[hk blues]

Trying to agree on what to tip is like trying to agree on how much to spend on a meal. Everyone has their own budget and attitude towards food and tipping, and that's 100% ok. Just because bloke A overtips it doesn't mean the staff expect all blokes to overtip - they're not stupid. Some look upon a tip as an investment, some a reward - it's whatever you want it to be in your own mind.

[bows00]

11 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

since you have now been here awhile you start to see things in peso, not dollars ( you think in peso)...

I respect this comment, only because I have not lived there long term yet.  I hope you are right.  I will save a lot more money living there.