| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
kangnamdragon

Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
|
Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 10:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Major hotels charge a 10% service fee already. Some porters may receive tips in some of the fancy hotels. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Swiss James

Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Location: Shanghai
|
Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 11:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yeah I know, and I think it's a joke that you can go to a buffet meal at one of these places and they charge for service, but the ajumma in the kalbi restaurant who's been fetching side dishes and drinks to my table for 30 minutes gets nothing.
Do you ever tip taxi drivers though? It's a genuine question, I don't want to be ripping people off and if they earn as little as some people are saying. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
kangnamdragon

Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
|
Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 11:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Swiss James wrote: |
Do you ever tip taxi drivers though? It's a genuine question, I don't want to be ripping people off and if they earn as little as some people are saying. |
No, I have never tipped a taxi driver. You could tip for a massage. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul
|
Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 8:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Korea is the leading country among the members of the OECD in the number of traffic deaths involving children. On Tuesday, a five-year-old child died in a traffic accident when she was hit by a bus from which she had just disembarked. How many more victims do we need to bring about a real change in our legal system? According to the police, last year there were 19,266 traffic accidents involving elementary school or preschool children. That was an increase of 13 percent over last year, when 338 children died.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200405/21/200405212247447109900090109013.html |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 5:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
When the ride was 2,800 (or 3,700 etc) I would tell the driver to keep the change. that's the closest thing to a tip I ever gave in Korea.
Personally I don't think the taxi drivers in Korea are that bad. I've had crazier ones in 3rd world countries. The city bus drivers here in Sanaa are especially crazy, partially due to qat. The taxi drivers in Dubai were the most reckless I've been in in a developed country. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Ilsanman

Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Bucheon, Korea
|
Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 8:42 am Post subject: yes |
|
|
| I round up as a tip. The won't accept more, in my experience. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Derrek
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 3:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Real Reality wrote: |
A Taxi Driver's Soliloquy
An ordinary driver earns less than 1 million won ($830) a month for their 12 hours on average of stressful labor at the wheel a day?
There are a total of 70,000 taxis in Seoul at present. Of them, about 46,000 are "individual" taxis, each owned by one licensed driver, and the remaining 24,000 are "company" taxis. In Seoul 55,000 taxis hit the streets of the capital city every day, carrying estimated about 2 million passengers, and about 6 million nationwide. My house is about a 10-minute taxi ride from my workplace. The fare ranges from 3,000 won to 3,200 won, depending on traffic signals.
"What's more serious is that there is no sign of things getting better at all for the days to come. What shall I do?" he asked. I could not just nod. What could I say in response to the depressed driver? He went on: "You must know better than me for I think you work at a newspaper company. You see...what the politicians are doing all the way is to fight for a bigger slice of the pie for themselves. They do not care about the hard lives of low-income people like me at all.
To the eyes of the driver and most other cabbies I met recently, the national economy is at its worst, worse than the days of the 1997-1998 currency crisis.
The traffic conditions for the taxi business is bad due to the restoration work of Chonggyechon Stream in the heart of the capital city. But basically, the number of taxi passengers is decreasing. This shows the economy is not in good shape.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200402/kt2004020317130211330.htm |
What???? A Real Reality thread where SOMEONE in Korea actually makes LESS than a Foreign English Teacher????  |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
|