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A funny thing happened on the way to leaving a tip
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crazykiwi



Joined: 07 Jun 2003
Location: new zealand via daejeon

PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2004 8:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I sometimes leave the change with my cabbie, but i dont go overboard. Its just that i dont want a pocket full of shrapnel jingli9n around. As for it being mandatory, that just bites a$$. Im glad im form nz where the waitresses are paid a good enough wage, where they dont judge a customer on how much he/she can spare. I think its a bogus custom made by bosses of lowly waitresses/waiters/service station dudes too tight a$$ed to fork over a decent wage. I say a big fat "NO" to forkin over a tip. laterz
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CanadaCommando



Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Location: People's Republic of C.C.

PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2004 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mindmetoo wrote:
Tips are not there to subsidize a person's career choice.


Though I agree with almost everything else ya said there, I have to argue against that. There is the reason that some very talented people work as servers, or maitre-des...and that is because tips for the excellent service subsidize their wage. Not always of course...some people deserve no tip and that is the option we are left with...in incense, giving them a poor wage for poor service.

In Canada, servers make minimum wage. Don't think they deserve more? Try doing it for a few weeks, then try again.

Quote:
I think its a bogus custom made by bosses of lowly waitresses/waiters/service station dudes too tight a$$ed to fork over a decent wage.

In a way yes, but the you upped the wage of the staff, you would have to charge more money for the food. Still gonna get ya in the end.
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CanadaCommando wrote:
mindmetoo wrote:
Tips are not there to subsidize a person's career choice.


Though I agree with almost everything else ya said there, I have to argue against that. There is the reason that some very talented people work as servers, or maitre-des...and that is because tips for the excellent service subsidize their wage. Not always of course...some people deserve no tip and that is the option we are left with...in incense, giving them a poor wage for poor service.

In Canada, servers make minimum wage. Don't think they deserve more? Try doing it for a few weeks, then try again.


I have, of course. We've all been to university and most of us have, one time or another, served the public. All I'm suggesting is the idea that a 15% tip is standard for even poor service is bunk. I know you aren't suggesting that. And I'm not suggesting wait staff deserve no tip. I'm more than happy to leave a 15% tip if they bring the food on time, get the orders right, and actually bring me a glass of water when I ask for water. However, if the food is late, the orders are wrong, and I have to keep reminding them "say, could I get that water?" Their 15% drops in a dramatic fashion.

What I am suggesting is in the scenario I outlined above, there are actually a large body of wait staff who believe a 15% tip should be left regardless. The argument is always "I make below minimum." You make below minimum if you do a below minimum job.
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Zyzyfer



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?

PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tips are not mandatory back in the West. So, to say that tipping is part of the culture sounds silly.
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weatherman



Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: Korea

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
But foreign english teachers are well paid here, cost of living is cheap,


Ah, NO! Unless you have some golden job, which I will say a few can be found, English teachers are NOT well paid. I am now in the process of saving for marriage and all the rights and privileges of it, and I can tell you the cost of living here isn't cheap.

I guess if you are only here for a year or two and want to have fun with your pay, then yeah... I hear you but building roots isn't cheap in Korean society.
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mudguts



Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Location: Toronto

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hellofaniceguy wrote:
That's fine and dandy that you want to be goody two shoes and leave a tip, but why start a precedent?
These taxi drivers, waiters, waitresses, hotel workers and hundreds of other positions are doing these jobs on their own free will. No one is forcing them to work for cheap wages.
If they want to make more money, change vocation. Learn a new skill or trade. Go back to school.
Every job is the same all over the world, the CEO is being paid millions of dollars while the lowery worker makes peanuts. Well, it's about time the peanut workers protest and stop giving these CEO's and business raises and bonuses. Same with the president of a taxi company! They are making big bucks and the drivers don't. Why stand for it? Change jobs!
But don't expect tips for doing what you're already being paid to do. People who leave tips, most I think, also are struggling to make ends meet and I think most resent it.
I of course never leave a tip in America or Canada. My friends cringe when it's time to leave a restaurant or other business! Cause they know I don't tip. I'm cheap Charlie!


dumb... buddy.. it's guys like you that don't have a clue. do you think that you can just hop out of school and become a pilot or a 'businessman' ?? - NO- you need to get your hands dirty. and you do that by working your way up.. if people don't tip then the servers don't have to do things that aren't in their job requirement.. like smiling. or washing their hands after they goto the bathroom. If I was a waiter and saw you coming.. I'd pee in your soup.
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Ilsanman



Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:23 am    Post subject: yes Reply with quote

Back at home, I always tipped. 5-10% for reasonable service, more than 10% for excellent service, and 5 cents for bad service. It sends them a message.
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So when one takes a cAB... giving an extra bit is ....?

That extra few 100 won now and then, It must have killed me.

Referred to "cheap thread"
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Swiss James



Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got into the habit of not tipping taxi drivers when I read that it's considered insulting to some koreans- as in, you don't make as much money as me, here let me help you out.

Maybe I need to change my ways.
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jaganath69



Joined: 17 Jul 2003

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:04 pm    Post subject: Re: A funny thing happened on the way to leaving a tip Reply with quote

mindmetoo wrote:
Tipping, as wel all know, is not a custom in Korea. However, there are instances when I still do leave (or try to leave) a tip. I don't take many cab rides and the few that I do are usually under 2,000 won. Most are the default 1,600 fare. If I have two 1,000 won notes I give it to the cabbie and bid him a good day.

My Korean friends think I'm utterly crazy. But foreign english teachers are well paid here, cost of living is cheap, cab rides are cheap compared any North American city, and sometimes I feel in a culture where they're highly suspicious of any and all foreigners, creating a culture among cab drivers that "foreigner = tip" makes it a bit easier for all of us.

Another time I was at a bar with a friend and our tab came to about 50,000 won. Again, you don't tip. However, I left 7,000 won on the table. We were heading out of the bar, going down the stairs, when the waitress came screaming out of the bar with the money. In Korean she was shouting that we left money on the table. My co-worker, whose Korean is better, had to explain leaving money for waitresses was "waegook style".

Now when I leave tips in bars, I make sure the waitress has gone into the back and I can slip out in time to disappear into the busy Seoul streets without her tackling me trying to give me the money I "forgot" on the table.


Err,

Fine, its your right to leave a tip, but I am just a bit worried that if enough people keep doing it, we will all be expected to. I come from a country where it is not custom and don't necissarily want to see it exported around the world. Remember, North America isn't the whole universe.

Cheers

Jaga
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Korea Newfie



Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mindmetoo wrote:
But foreign english teachers are well paid here.

Yes, we are. But I don't see the connection between making decent money and being bound to give it away. Many of us have debts, and may be no better off then the people we're giving the money to.

When I was in high school, I worked in the kitchen at McDonald's, but nobody ever ran back there to give us tips. But because of our tipping culture, I could leave my minimum-wage job, and eat at a restaurant where I would be expected to tip the staff who presumably made more than I did.

I also worked for my town for two summers, but nobody ever gave me tips then either. I don't see how our society can be so anal about tipping, but only apply it to a few occupations. Therefore, I don't tip. And I think it's inappropriate for some foreigners to be implying to Korean service staff that they should expect it from all of us.

Mr. Pink (the real one, from Reservoir Dogs, not the dude on here) wrote:
...working at McDonalds (is a hard job), but you don't feel the need to tip them. They're servin' ya food, you should tip 'em. But no, society says tip these guys over here, but not those guys over there. That's bull"poop".


They've got it right here. They don't tip their McDonald's staff or anybody else. We're messing it up for them.
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paperbag princess



Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Location: veggie hell

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

service staff in canada make lower than minimum wage, so if you work at mcdonald's you make more money per hour (base) than a server does. working as a server in a resturant is much more difficult than taking orders at mcdonald's and should be rewarded as such.

the other thing i'd like to mention, is that when you work at a cocktail waitress, you make a lot of money, but it is increcdibly stressful. not only must you look impeccable, but you have to deal with slimey, gross guys oogling your "assets", and quite often people treat you like a stupid bimbo b/c you're doing what you're doing.

when i'm at home at start out at 20% and everytime the server screws up deduct 5%.

i tip here if the service warrants it. i tips cabbies if they get me where i'm going quickly.
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Zyzyfer



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mudguts wrote:
and you do that by working your way up.. if people don't tip then the servers don't have to do things that aren't in their job requirement.. like smiling. or washing their hands after they goto the bathroom.


Employees are required to wash their hands when they use the restroom.

You're right about the general point, though, in that someone who doesn't tip deserves mediocre service; however, vindictive actions on your part just perpetuate the circle.

Good service = tip
Bad service = shove off

Tips are not a requirement.

paperbag princess wrote:
service staff in canada make lower than minimum wage, so if you work at mcdonald's you make more money per hour (base) than a server does. working as a server in a resturant is much more difficult than taking orders at mcdonald's and should be rewarded as such.


By the customer? Why doesn't the management pay better? I won't deny that working as waitstaff isn't easy work, but why is the burden placed on the customer to add more money to an already expensive meal?

There's a reason for this set-up.

Good service = tip
Bad service = shove off
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Zyzyfer"]By the customer? Why doesn't the management pay better?/quote]

If they paid better, there would be a 15% increase in the price of food. I don't mind having my food cost 15% less and having that 15% as my lever of control, ideally ensuring a respectable level of service.
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Swiss James



Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
If they paid better, there would be a 15% increase in the price of food. I don't mind having my food cost 15% less and having that 15% as my lever of control, ideally ensuring a respectable level of service.


Using this reasoning then, and the fact that most/all koreans don't tip, korean food is already 15% highter than it 'should' be.
So people here who are tipping on top of that, are really giving an extra bonus for service above and beyond what they get back home. Right?
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