News Forum - Hot tip – Don’t pay hot tips!

[Thaiger]

To tip or not tip is becoming a hot issue among Thailand’s restaurant goers and wait staff. For foreigners, tipping can be problematic in this part of Asia with expectations ranging from Chinese-style (no tips ever, anywhere, for anything) to the Filipino (tips with everything). No matter what your situation though, according to the law, 10% is enough. On Tuesday, Pol Col Prateep Charoengul, deputy secretary-general and spokesman of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board responded to a question over whether a customer actually needs to pay a service charge. “Restaurants are able to collect a 10% service charge […]

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[Shade_Wilder]

This has been a tricky issue for me for years; I am curious as to what members think.

I tip in my native country as I know salaries are structured around getting tips, so it is a no-brainer.

However, in Asia generally (not posh, exclusively foreign places; I never go to them) tipping is not part of the salary or culture. Yes, for what it is worth, I am okay with a service charge added to the bill when it is advertised prominently, but a higher wage is a better solution.

The best option in my view is pay people who rely on tips better. If there is a waiter/waitress, a food delivery guy, etc. doing a job, pay them a living wage and ban tipping. It does get a wee bit more complicated these days as in Asia as the 'tip' phenomena has been getting out of hand; I was at my dentist last week and there was a tip jar for the receptionist. It was not filled.

My general rule is this; in a Thai place, I don't tip properly, but I round up to the nearest 20/50 Baht and only accept paper money as change. In all these other places with brand new tip jars, like my dentist, I don't bother. If I went to posh, Western/Rich people orientated places, I'd tip, but I never go.

What say you?

 

[Cabra]

I typically do what my girlfriend suggest... Let them keep the coins, but we take away the bank notes. On occasion maybe leaving behind a 20 baht note. 

[Noble_Design]

14 minutes ago, Cabra said:

I typically do what my girlfriend suggest... Let them keep the coins, but we take away the bank notes. On occasion maybe leaving behind a 20 baht note. 

I also do that and usually will be bringing loads of these as tip:

[Grumpish]

Leaving the coins seems to be a popular option, and it is the one that i generally go for, unless they have given me a pile of coins so that I have plenty of options for how much I am going to tip them - no tip then. I will tip I feel that I have had very good service, but directly to them so that they get the whole tip, not just a share of it.

[TheDirtyDurian]

Just leave the shrapnel and the odd 20, but not if they give you all your change in shrapnel, then I take every baht. 

[DoUKnowWhoIAm]

6 hours ago, Thaiger said:

In a restaurant, there are no special services other than serving food to customers, he said.

I went to restaurant in Ratchada that offered other services, after dinner. Very special services indeed.

[palooka]

2 hours ago, Noble_Design said:

I also do that and usually will be bringing loads of these as tip:

You win the "cheap charlie" award

[palooka]

Thankfully I live in a rural area.

Tipping here is non existant, the staff are paid appropiately and a tip is something they don't really understand, they think you're nuts for forgetting to take your change and will chase you to your car with the money.

[DoUKnowWhoIAm]

20 minutes ago, palooka said:

Thankfully I live in a rural area.

Tipping here is non existant, the staff are paid appropiately and a tip is something they don't really understand, they think you're nuts for forgetting to take your change and will chase you to your car with the money.

In Phuket, they'll chase you if you forgot to pay tips.

[ChrisS]

I never pay service charge as I have known too many places over a 40 year career in hospitality where the business keeps this and does not pass it on to the staff. I will tip a member of staff directly if the service has been good and that tip is straight into their hand NOT left on the table, they can then decide to either keep it or share it with their co workers.

[palooka]

18 minutes ago, DoUKnowWhoIAm said:

In Phuket, they'll chase you if you forgot to pay tips.

One of the reasons I don't live in Phuket.

[Guest1]

 

after former senator Jermsak Pinthong questioned the need for a customer to pay a service charge in a restaurant.

In a Facebook post, he said that after a discussion with legal experts, he found that customers can refuse to pay the charge. Restaurants, he said, have no right to force customers to pay. 

Funny, and now a police officer feels the urge, to tell

"Yes, they can" (in case they announce it prominently)

 

I got told, once, from a waiter of a restaurant with "bill is subject of 10% service charge": That is going mostly into the owners pocket, compensation for the salary of all the waiters and other staff.

Another one, other restaurant, said that is tips for everyone, even the managers, put all in a pot with the "real" tips. Managers , of course, get fixed percentage, the staff their shares by count of people. 

What I do is: If there is a service charge, I don't tip extra.

If there is none, 20 baht up to 10%

 

 

[BigHewer]

1 hour ago, palooka said:

Thankfully I live in a rural area.

Tipping here is non existant, the staff are paid appropiately and a tip is something they don't really understand, they think you're nuts for forgetting to take your change and will chase you to your car with the money.

Up until 2004, I’d only ever been to Bangkok and Phuket.

Spent a week in Udon Thani and left a tip after I ate at a restaurant. The staff simply thought I had misunderstood how much the bill was. 

[Marc26]

I am a generous tipper

 

But it is exactly that, a tip

If someone else doesn't want to tip, it's their right not to and they shouldn't be expected to or hassled.....

 

In the village areas I will tip if they went above and beyond and especially if it's a younger kid