More Discussion On Tipping

[Mike J]

I filled my scooter this week and it came to exactly 100 peso.  One of the attendants suggested I pay 150 peso since it was Christmas season.     Nice try, but I just smiled and laughed like he was not serious and had made a good joke. 

But so far I have given Christmas bonus/gift to the guy who delivers our drinking water, my barber, my mother in laws care takers.  The wife says we are supposed to give one to the folks who pick up the garbage once a week.  Of course they don't pick up in a week when Friday is a holiday so instead of 52 picks a year, it is maybe 35 picks per year.  Only in da Philippines.

[JDDavao II]

18 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

We haven't talked about Christmas tipping the security guards in the subdivision.  How much do you give them and do you give individually or to the guard captain?  And what about the garbagemen.  I mean they pick up my trash 5 days a week all year so what should I tip them at Christmas? 

Or are we only tipping pretty girls who bring food to the table and are not our wives or girlfriends?  I forget, how are they so special compared to all these others?

Edit:  I forgot, what if I am in hospital and not allowed to eat anything?  Do I tip the girl who brings me the IV?  If so how much?

We had a very nice binman with a tricycle who took our garbage from our house to the dump. He had a number of children to support and seemed to work very hard so we rewarded him quite often with extra cash for extra trash, langka and rambutan from our trees, gifts of food at Christmas, etc.

One day a few months ago, my wife had a visitor from the barangay who talked about fining us for littering. It turned out that Mr. Wonderful Binman was no longer taking trash to the dump but dumping it on the side of the road to avoid the dump's fees. The barangay people found a letter addressed to us at the bottom of one pile (have you ever listened to "Alice's Restaurant"?) and came calling about our "litter".

I'm right at the edge of stopping any tipping or even caring about locals.

Except the Savemore taxi lady. She takes your cart, hails a cab, and loads it. She works all day. She wears a jacket backwards to protect her arms from the sun and she's already as brown as a chestnut. We tip her well and give her a bottle of sparkling wine at the holidays. She works hard in all kinds of weather and always with a smile.

[davewe]

On 12/13/2018 at 9:10 AM, JJReyes said:

As foreigners in the Philippines, you are expected to follow the international practice of tipping even if many locals don't.  When a local doesn't, that's just normal.  When a foreigner forgets, they will glare at him/her for being a tightwad.  It's a double standard.  But should you complain, I will just say, "Westerners introduced the practice."  Aside from restaurant workers and bartenders, who else deserves a hand out?

 

I have to disagree a bit here. We go to restaurants a lot and while I don't examine every Filipino around to know what the percentages are, I do see many Filipinos tip. As to my own tipping, no one has ever glared at me because I didn't tip or didn't tip enough. When I tip at restaurants everyone seems very appreciative. Of course it's possible that old age means I don't notice the glaring :)

[Arizona Kid]

On 12/16/2018 at 11:57 AM, JDDavao said:

Except the Savemore taxi lady

I've tried to tip the Savemore guys that bring the groceries to our car and they refuse to except. Must be some kind of policy.

[JDDavao II]

7 minutes ago, Arizona Kid said:

I've tried to tip the Savemore guys that bring the groceries to our car and they refuse to except. Must be some kind of policy.

Yeah the Savemore workers can't accept tips. They're going to be frisked when they go back inside so they can't have anything in their pockets. If you're set on it, you can try dropping a bill in the trunk. They might pick it up and drop to "tie their shoe". 

[Dave Hounddriver]

9 hours ago, davewe said:

Of course it's possible that old age means I don't notice the glaring :)

Some of the trike drivers I rode with have actually called me "kuripot" for not tipping.  Others have given me money back when I tried to give 20 pesos instead of 10 because they say " its too much". Waitresses have given me money back on occasion for the same reason so I'd say it has to be each individual recipient who decides if the one tipping is a cheap bugger, a "mark", or just an average guy.

More to the story:  Has anyone else had this happen?  On occasion, I would give a 1,000 peso note in dim light because it looks like a 100 to my old eyes.  Some people give back the correct change from 1,000 and others stick it in their pocket real quick and figure its a tip.  Note there is no "thank you for the tip" when that happens.  They just figure I'm a blind old bat and they will take me for what they can get.  I am sure some of the people making a living off the huge tips from some of the big spenders here figure the same. 

[Mike J]

14 hours ago, JDDavao said:

 If you're set on it, you can try dropping a bill in the trunk. They might pick it up and drop to "tie their shoe". 

I would respectfully disagree because you are encouraging the worker to violate company rules.  If they get caught, they get fired, they will probably blame the foreigner for tempting them.  If they do not get caught and they realize they can increase their income if they can just find a way to keep from getting caught.  I do not see a long term positive outcome either way.

[sonjack2847]

59 minutes ago, Mike J said:

I would respectfully disagree because you are encouraging the worker to violate company rules.  If they get caught, they get fired, they will probably blame the foreigner for tempting them.  If they do not get caught and they realize they can increase their income if they can just find a way to keep from getting caught.  I do not see a long term positive outcome either way.

I tried to tip the porter at Lee Plaza in Dumaguete. He refused,t is company policy so we should not try to encourage the workers to break it and get fired from a job which is hard to come by.

[JDDavao II]

It's probably hard to tip from astride a white horse anyway.

Edited December 21, 2018 by JDDavao

[hk blues]

Seems like there are a lot of people desperate to tip and give their money away even when companies have policies in place to prohibit such things - these policies are there for a reason so why are people trying to defeat them?  It makes no sense to me t.b.h.