Korean Job Discussion Forums

[laogaiguk]

This came up in another thread, and I didn't want to hijack it, so I started this poll instead. What do you think of tipping back home?

[mole]

My folks were always fairly generous tippers, so I think the habit was passed on.
I'll forget to tip for haircuts and stuff though. Just out of the habit.

Hmm.. Suddenly I'm reminded of Mr. Pink's philosophical rant against tipping in Reservoir Dogs.
Maybe I'll pop it in. Haven't seen it in a couple of years.

[mindmetoo]

My theory on tipping is if we did away with tipping, restaurants would then just tack on a service charge. Waitering isn't the easiest job on the planet and the only reason most people do the job is for the tips, certainly not for the lucrative hourly wage. So if restaurants just added a straight 15% tip, what lever of control would we have over the service? In fact, what other service profession does the customer have majority control over the service person's take home pay?

That said, there are some people who believe waiters are charity cases and should be tipped 15% even if the restaurant and service sucks. Yes, I know it's a hard job but if my order is wrong, the food is late, I need more water and you only come around to drop off the check... well you're going to get less than 15%. Sure, maybe the chef is incompetent or the manager has the whole place woefully understaffed or the bus boy is lazy.

However, a miserly tip for bad service along the whole dining experience sends the message to the waiter "if you want your tip, you've got to get your support staff on the ball... it's cost you a tip. I'm not going to come back and you'll collect some mercy tips but none of those people are going to come back either. So by tipping you and letting you think everything is just peachy with the restaurant, I'm tipping you out of a job."

[coffeeman]

Tipping should be for "service". For me, service means a welcoming, doing the phsyical labor, checking to see that I'm satisfied and then thanking me for my business.

Only when all these actions have been completed should anybody tip. Judged by this criteria, bartenders don't deserve tips. Why should I toss the bartender a dollar for handing me a beer? Geee, that was hard! Bar waitresses earn their tips because they often have the unpleasant task of walking through crowds of drunk people to bring your drink to you. Even after the hazardous journey to your table, she often smiles. That deserves something.

On restaurants, I often hear the complaint from Asian students how in my country, that $6.95 meal eventually costs $10 in the end because of taxes and tip. Yeah, I gotta agree. It's quite deceptive to see those low menu prices only to realize it's not a real bargain in the end. I'd love to see restaurants advertise the menu items priced with tax and tip included.

[Jensen]

If it's a place I go to regularly, I tip at least 30%. Money well-spent.


Story about tipping, one time at a big chinese restaurant in Portland, OR with the whole family. Food wasn't bad but the service was terrible. Spent about $50 on the dinner. I looked in my wallet, only had a buck so I set it down and walked over to my wife to get a couple more dollars... FOB waitress passes by and thinks I'm leaving a one-dollar tip. Wonderful tantrum. Didn't dare go back 'cause I'm sure the food would have something...bad...in it.

[coffeeman]

Tipping must have been invented by some smart businessman. It works in their favor. Pay the employee a "beep" wage and then pull a guilt trip on the customers to pay out even more money. In theory, tipping is supposed to keep prices in restaurants down (because of the lack of a service charge), but I can't see that being true in practise. Get as high as a price that people will pay is generally the strategy of most businesses.

[Zyzyfer]

Tipping is fine, but tipping being a requirement or there being a certain minimum to it is some of the most retarded crap I've ever heard of. I tip because someone did something that made me say, "Wow, thanks," or because I'm a regular and they know it.

[crazykiwi]

stupid americans and their stupid culture!

haha, cant wait to go to america and feign ignorance. why cant they really, just pay a wage like the rest of us normal countries. tipping the taxi driver? mcdonalds guy? bag handler? i can carry my own bags.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

I worked as a bartender in Newfoundland. Good job, but horrible pay. The clientele was more European (doesn't tip) but the pay was American (awful). I had the worst of both worlds. I would have preferred either England, where bar staff are relatively well paid, or the US system, where tipping is done enough to make the job worthwhile. As it was, I made about six dollars a day from tips, in addition to $5 an hour wage!

Maybe this is why service is often so poor in Canada-- the wage is peanuts, which keeps away ambitious people, and the tipping is so poor that there's little motivation to work hard. I have mixed feelings about the US tradition. On one hand, because tips are higher, I find the service snappier whenever I travel to Montana or elsewhere.

The downside is that it never seems to end. First it's waiters, and then pizza deliverers and barbers, and now everybody wants a tip. First it's 10, then, 15, then 20, and when does this percentage go up? Did anyone vote on this, or did someone just decide that this is what you have to give? I'm shocked when I hear about staff verbally abusing someone who didn't tip--is it that much your right to get a gratuity when you didn't do your job?

But as a customer, I like the Asian system. You pour your own glass of water, but there's no false niceness and no being guilted into giving more.

Ken:>

[laogaiguk]

[capebretoncanadian]

It's the businesses that should have the onus put on them for a fair wage. Speaking from experience...I was a pizza delivery driver in my university days. The boss paid me a paltry $1.50 out of his pocket each delivery. A surchage was tacked on for the customer as well...anywhere from $1.50 to $8 depending on the distance. Most people threw in a tip...usually at least a buck....more commonly 2 bucks...and sometimes up to $10 bucks...although that was rare and almost made me feel guilty taking that kind of scratch. Bottom line in a night where I worked a 7 or 8 hour shift I would generally do about 20 deliveries....without tips that would work out to about 65-70 bucks....take 15 bucks for gas and another 5 or 10 for wear and tear to my rig and you're looking at about a profit of about 50 bucks.....peanuts....not to mention insurance costs!! Throw in tips given by generous folk and that number would be at or near 100 dollars....A FAIR WAGE! God bless you people that tip for fast and friendly service. Without you I would have starved!

[laogaiguk]

[Zyzyfer]

[itaewonguy]

for me you tip becuase you got good service!!
seems here now alot of bars where foreigners go they have little buckets that say TIPS!!
do koreans tip? why doesnt it say in korean tip!! ?

also bars in ITAEWON like seoulpub etc.. mr jung takes a share of the tips and still only pays his workers 2500-3000 an hour! becuase that bar makes so much tips! and his workers are koreans! he feels like well if you worked in kangnam or anywhere else you wouldnt expect tips! this is my bar so the tips are mine!!
so I NEVER TIP THERE!!
other bars where know the girls get the tips I do..
but some of the new tip buckets springing up on HONGDAE now..
its bogus man!! its just another way to make more money off foreigners!
like charging foreigners different prices to enter bars is not enough!

[SPINOZA]