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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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| Have you ever tipped in Korea (other than the mandatory 10% service charge) |
| Yes |
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41% |
[ 14 ] |
| No |
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58% |
[ 20 ] |
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| Total Votes : 34 |
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Message |
Gwangjuboy
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Location: England
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 Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Real Reality wrote: |
kangnamdragon wrote:
"That has never happened to me. Just learn how to say: There is no tipping in Korean culture."
I have tried. I have told them in English and Korean. However, they seem to point out my nationality in response. The taxi drivers respond usually in Korean,
"Where you come from, they tip taxi drivers."
or
"You are a foreigner. You tip taxi drivers."
or
"Service"
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"Bonus" |
"When in Rome do as Romans do" would be an appropriate retort at this stage. Especially considering how often Koreans throw that particular expression at us when we do something we would normally do back home that they don't like. |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Real Reality wrote: |
kangnamdragon wrote:
"That has never happened to me. Just learn how to say: There is no tipping in Korean culture."
I have tried. I have told them in English and Korean. However, they seem to point out my nationality in response. The taxi drivers respond usually in Korean,
"Where you come from, they tip taxi drivers."
or
"You are a foreigner. You tip taxi drivers."
or
"Service"
or
"Bonus" |
Strange....that has never happened to me. Has it happened a lot? If that happened, I'd just tell them in Korean that I have lived here a long time and I follow Korean culture now. (It gets me into nightclubs for the "Korean price" too.) |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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| osangrl wrote: |
depending, i tip the taxi driver, but its rare i take taxi's.
And i know there is VAT added but i always tip at way guk restaurants like outback, TGIfridays and bennigans. |
VAT is not a service charge. But why tip at a foreign restaurant? The employees are still Korean. |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 12:29 am Post subject: |
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| I stopped tipping after the third or fourth time an employee chased me out of the restaurant and practically forced my money back into my hand. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 4:32 am Post subject: |
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| Real Reality wrote: |
kangnamdragon wrote:
"That has never happened to me. Just learn how to say: There is no tipping in Korean culture."
I have tried. I have told them in English and Korean. However, they seem to point out my nationality in response. The taxi drivers respond usually in Korean,
"Where you come from, they tip taxi drivers."
or
"You are a foreigner. You tip taxi drivers."
or
"Service"
or
"Bonus" |
I had an experience with something along these lines in New York City of all places.
I was at this nifty Japanese bar just off of St. Mark's Place with some friends. The prices were already insane($6 per glass of sake) but I was footing the bill here. I ended up paying $76 for it, no complaints. Now, with my friends back home, if one person pays the bill, everyone else scrounges up a good, solid tip.
In this particular case, it had slipped my friends' minds, and they didn't leave a tip. They left and I was putting on my jacket when the waiter dude, this 5' nothing 100 pound little Japanese guy, starts telling me that I didn't tip. I pulled out $5 (half of what was in my wallet) and he ASKED FOR MORE. At that point I lost it. I told him to bug my friends or something and leave me the *beep* alone, and he promptly ran upstairs and started hassling them! So I went up there and asked him why he's being such a dick about a damn tip, and he starts getting in my face. I had had a lot to drink and knew exactly what sort of scene we were making, so I walked off to cool down and let my friends sort everything out.
What these tip-hungry twits don't seem to understand is that a tip is for good service. If you get bad service, you reserve the right to tip more modestly; the 15% recommendation is only if you want to be fair to someone who worked for it. As the paying customer, you fully reserve the right to not tip. The server might hate you for it and spit in your food next time, but you still reserve that right. |
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blah
Joined: 08 May 2003
Location: Ulsan, Korea
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 5:33 am Post subject: |
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| Anyone remember the scene in Reservoir Dogs where they discuss tipping? I��m with Mr. Pink all the way. |
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sadsac
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: Gwangwang
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 7:50 am Post subject: |
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Tried it once, was refused in a very embarrassed manner. Never bothered since.  |
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chinook
Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Location: canada
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 8:46 am Post subject: |
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| Zyzyfer wrote: |
What these tip-hungry twits don't seem to understand is that a tip is for good service. If you get bad service, you reserve the right to tip more modestly; the 15% recommendation is only if you want to be fair to someone who worked for it. As the paying customer, you fully reserve the right to not tip. The server might hate you for it and spit in your food next time, but you still reserve that right. |
My understanding of the history of the tip was that service positions like waitressing used to pay considerably less, notable when places have minimum wages for most people, and then a lesser minimum wage for waitresses and waiters. So, in tipping you were making up that difference.
However, in BC the minimum wage is the same for everyone. A waiter in a restaurant is making no less necessarily than the guy who works at a till in a grocery store, so why tip? I spent two years in Scotland, so lost the habbit of tipping. I do add 15% here in Canada because it's what is expected, but I don't particularly see why it's done. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 8:59 am Post subject: |
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| chinook wrote: |
| My understanding of the history of the tip was that service positions like waitressing used to pay considerably less, notable when places have minimum wages for most people, and then a lesser minimum wage for waitresses and waiters. So, in tipping you were making up that difference. |
And why would the customer make up that difference? Why not just increase the price of the food, and pay the waitress proper minimum wage? Math practice?
Tips give a person a chance to either make a hoard of money, or walk home with near-empty pockets. How do you get money from someone? You do something for them. How do you get more money from someone? You do it well.
If the waitress made no money at all except for tips, I'd have pity. And really, I do try to tip well. I've tipped $5 for an $8 meal before. But for someone to expect it? Demand it? Nuh uh.
Think about it like this:
You go into this fancy restaurant. The waiter spends 15 minutes talking to someone while repeatedly looking over at your table and then back at the person again. When he finally comes over, he acts like it's a big bother. He asks you for something to drink, and it takes 10 minutes for you to even see water on the table. Another 15 pass by and you get your wine. The waiter then walks past your table again and again, never offering any sort of apology for the delay. After 30 minutes, he comes by and takes your order. The food comes quickly, to your surprise, but your steak is rare when you wanted it done, and your friend's soup has a hair in it. You wait 15 minutes for the waiter, who promptly tells you in his friendliest tone, "Tough shit".
Do you tip the guy? |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Zyzfer wrote: |
| Do you tip the guy? |
Speaking as an englishman, I would tip him the bare minimum so as not to cause a scene, and then complain to all my friends.
I'm curious as to why loads of people are saying they don't tip, but loads are still voting "Yes". |
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rudyflyer
Joined: 26 Feb 2003
Location: pacing the cage
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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I tip taxi drivers to the next 1000 won if they get me there in a reasonable time (traffic conditions excepted) or if they are taking me out to the sticks. Used to tip all the time when a taxi would take me from downtown Gwangju to my univ out in the sticks
I have tipped waitresses here especially when they have done something nice for me. There are a few waitresses who are students at my univ here in Seoul (though not in my classes) they usually give me a free desert or appetizer to be nice. That I definitely tip the price of the item. |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Zyzyfer wrote: |
| , this 5' nothing 100 pound little Japanese guy, starts telling me that I didn't tip. I pulled out $5 (half of what was in my wallet) and he ASKED FOR MORE. At that point I lost it. I told him to bug my friends or something and leave me the *beep* alone, and he promptly ran upstairs and started hassling them! |
That was very tacky of him. It is not proper to ask for a tip. He should have asked if anything were wrong with his service. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I still tip cabbies. Hope to add some good will to that crusty lot. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| kangnamdragon wrote: |
| That was very tacky of him. It is not proper to ask for a tip. He should have asked if anything were wrong with his service. |
Exactly! |
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CanadaCommando
Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Location: People's Republic of C.C.
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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On the subject of tipping back home...
A substantial number of restaraunts require the waiters and waitress to "tip out" at the end of the day; that is to pay out a percentage of how much you have sold back to the restaraunt. This tip-out then goes towards the cooks, hostess', bussers, ect.
Normally the tip out is something like 2 or 3%, but it can be quite high. The last restaraunt I worked at was fine dining, and had a 5.5% tip out. Essentially, it means that I keep whatever percent of the tip after 5.5%, so usually around 10-15% of the bill still.
However, if you give decent service, and then get stiffed by some twit not because the service bad, but because the food was expensive, it could actually cost you a fair bit. I had a buddy of mine who gave excellent service to this couple; sold them wine, joked with them, chatted them up...
They left happy with thank-yous and smiling....and no tip. the bill was $280, so serving that table COST my buddy $18.
Like I say, tip as is due by the service. I regularly tip 20% for good service because service really does make the meal often. I have also tipped 5% because the waiter blew and the service was attrocious.
AGAIN, this is a note about tipping back home, not Korea.... |
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