Tipping and giving

[Arizona Kid]

21 hours ago, hk blues said:

I'll do your light bulbs for 400php plus lunch and an afternoon beer or two.  Oh, and my trike fair home.  

I'll do the lunch and the beer. Find your own way home.

[Mike J]

How much to tip seems to appear here on a somewhat regular basis and the responses usually break down into three, sometimes four categories,

1.  I tip based on Philippine custom - often this is a flat sum of 20 peso or perhaps 10%.  More than that creates false expectations and gives the impression that all expats are rich.

2.  I tip generously - the tip will sometimes even equal the cost of meal.  They live on tips and I can afford it.  They feel good and it makes me feel good.

3.  I tip based on the level of service.  Not so good maybe none or 10%, great service means a larger tip.  I want to encourage good service, hard work, and attentive staff.

4.  My wife decides the amount of the tip and I stay out of it.  

There is no "right" amount to tip.  It is a personal decision and all have merit.

 

 

[Gary D]

The very first thing we do is look to see if there is a service charge, if there is no tip.

[Dave Hounddriver]

3 hours ago, Mike J said:

It is a personal decision and all have merit.

Not all, IMHO.

Picture this:  Its early 1900s USA and some rich guy sits down to get his shoes shined by some young black lad.  When done, the rich guy pays him the dime fee then flips him and extra dime and says "Nice job boy".  Try that in the US today and people would be up in arms.  But here, some want to be that rich guy, flipping the dime to that "nice boy", or so it seems to me.

[Mike J]

33 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Not all, IMHO.

Picture this:  Its early 1900s USA and some rich guy sits down to get his shoes shined by some young black lad.  When done, the rich guy pays him the dime fee then flips him and extra dime and says "Nice job boy".  Try that in the US today and people would be up in arms.  But here, some want to be that rich guy, flipping the dime to that "nice boy", or so it seems to me.

But I did not include arrogant and/or self superior behaviour as being okay or having merit. 

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, Mike J said:

How much to tip seems to appear here on a somewhat regular basis and the responses usually break down into three, sometimes four categories,

1.  I tip based on Philippine custom - often this is a flat sum of 20 peso or perhaps 10%.  More than that creates false expectations and gives the impression that all expats are rich.

2.  I tip generously - the tip will sometimes even equal the cost of meal.  They live on tips and I can afford it.  They feel good and it makes me feel good.

3.  I tip based on the level of service.  Not so good maybe none or 10%, great service means a larger tip.  I want to encourage good service, hard work, and attentive staff.

4.  My wife decides the amount of the tip and I stay out of it.  

There is no "right" amount to tip.  It is a personal decision and all have merit.

 

 

I'm not sure anything other than option 1 is the right way.  

[stevewool]

I understand everyone’s idea of tips and I leave tipping when here to Ems, I feel embarrassed leaving so little in my eyes , but the tip I gave the builders was what I thought they earned over the period working for us, they came with good advice saving us some cash on the build , plus some good news the lads have been given another job from someone in the street who saw them working .

[Jack Peterson]

5 hours ago, Gary D said:

The very first thing we do is look to see if there is a service charge, if there is no tip.

 Service Charges are to me an affront to Staff. We all have to pay the Service charge if there is one But We can never be sure what % the staff get if any, so as it is the Staff that do the Front of House Job, they get a Tip, and I might Add it is usually only 30 peso Max, anymore can get silly, say 20 tables served at Lunch with tips coming is a good boost to whatever meagre salary they get    

[Dave Hounddriver]

43 minutes ago, Mike J said:

But I did not include arrogant and/or self superior behaviour as being okay or having merit. 

You did not specify that. If you took it personal then I apologize.  However I was replying to your comment that "all have merit" and I took that to mean all methods of tipping (not just your own) have merit.

 Having been the "victim" of someone who thought their arrogant and self superior tipping behaviour was a good thing I felt the need to point out that it is not.  Those who tip based on the belief that they have lots and the person they are judging (by appearances only) does not, could be concieved as just arrogant.

 

[davewe]

Based on Mike J's list above I am usually a #1 style tipper. But I recently had an experience on the other side of the fence.

You see I build and work on guitars and other instruments. When I moved to Dumaguete it sort of happened organically. People would see me on FB and send me a message asking if I could set up or fix their instrument. Eventually I started charging a small amount: a fraction of what comparable work in the US would cost. I wanted to have fees that Filipinos and retired expats could afford. Currently my clientele is 60-40 foreigners to Filipinos.

Anyway, recently I had a Filipino customer. He was very happy with what I did for his instrument and gave me an extra 50P. I was flattered - honoured really. Generally we assume the tipping dynamic in a restaurant is: we the customers have the money and the waiter/waitress does not. Yet in this case I was tipped despite being (probably) better off financially than the customer. I have no great conclusion but it was a nice experience.