I'm not tipping them!

[Jasper]

555 is Thai version of “ LOL” or ‘hahaha’ as Thai pronunciation of number 5 sounds ‘Ha’

 

You see many ‘555’ on Thai people’s LINE, FB and other SNS.

[Guest]

As to Christian's statement.  I hope it's just to get a rise out of people, otherwise it's one of the most sad things I've ever read on this forum.  Withholding the tip because you think the manager should pay the waiter more is of course just a nonsense cover for not wanting to part with the money.      

 

Christian's statement is perfectly logical.     

 

Also, there is no ethical reason why you should tip a waiter who has just served a 400 baht drink but not tip a waiter who has served a free drink on a plane or someone who has served a 2 Euro drink on Ryan Air.

At 400 baht, the bar has already taken enough off me to pay the waiter the entire legal minimum daily wage.

 

If your argument is more about spreading your money around, well do you go around tipping street cleaners, who work harder and most likely get paid less than the waiters ?      How about tipping the staff in a 7-eleven ?      

The selection of professions to tip seems almost random, virtually some kind of shibboleth.

 

The line you guys are taking is highly arbitrary and is mainly an interpretation of the customs in the community in which you come from and perhaps you expect to export your customs to Thailand ?

If you came from Japan, where the custom is the staff are paid to do the job and a tip is almost an insult, you may have a different arbitrary set of customs.   

 

If you think your set of customs are any better than those in Japan, you probably need to think about it until you do see the other side of the argument.

[paulsf]

In Thailand they expect to be tipped. Boys talk all the time about the customers that don’t tip and it will be reflected in service the next night if customer comes back.

[paborn]

" If you came from Japan, where the custom is the staff are paid to do the job and a tip is almost an insult, you may have a different arbitrary set of customs"

 

I think you have it backwards. You tip in accordance with the customs of the country you are IN not the country you are FROM. I have never tipped in Japan. But I have remonstrated with an Aussie friend who would not tip in Thailand because, " I'm Australian and we don't"  Fine, don't tip in Australia but as long as the custom of a country is to tip you are obligated to follow local customs.

 

I can assure you with total confidence that if Thai's begin to tip 7 Eleven workers I fill do so as well and generously to boot.  There is nothing arbitrary in this.

 

As to tipping on a plane. Again, I was in that industry for 30 years - 25 as a consultant with clients from Canada to Israel and I still have never heard of airlines that allow their staffs to accept a tip. Those who push wheelchairs are not working for the airline but for a service company at airports and are always tipped.  I saw one anecdotal story of seeing it - I have never heard or read a hint of it with a lifetime of travel trade shows and negotiations.

[reader]

  

The line you guys are taking is highly arbitrary and is mainly an interpretation of the customs in the community in which you come from and perhaps you expect to export your customs to Thailand ?

 

If you came from Japan, where the custom is the staff are paid to do the job and a tip is almost an insult, you may have a different arbitrary set of customs.   

 

 

Comparing wage standard of waiters in Japan and the wage standard paid to waiters in bars in Thailand is comparing apples to oranges.

 

The waiters live off their tips, not the 300 minimum wage (if they even get that).  Some send a good chunk of their earnings home. If practicing my western custom ends up helping these guys out a bit, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

And I've never had a Thai or other Asian return a tip because he was offended.

 

I'm retired and travel nearly 11,000 miles to get to Bangkok. If I couldn't afford it, I wouldn't be making the trip. But I come because I like Asians and they don't treat me like roadkill. I don't have children or other dependents so I distribute some disposable income this way and feel that I'm more than adequately compensated.

 

Others may disagree and that's fine, too.

[paborn]

Reader, you said it better than I did. I echo everything you wrote it mirrors my feelings and life exactly.

[DivineMadman]

Well, first of all to knock off the suggestion that airline flight attendants bring you food therefore they are the same, so gee, shouldn't you tip them, and if you're not tipping them, well, oh my, aren't you being ridiculously inconsistent.  No.  They're not the same.  It's not a huge mental stretch to see differences.  It's really not a stretch at all.  Among other things, there is no expectation of tipping, which is why everyone says it's silly (and probably a satirical bit of chain-yanking in the first place).  Conde Nast Traveler reports that the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) is quite opposed to tipping.  Any self-respecting flight attendant will tell you that they view their job as much more than food service. 

 

Similarly, it's within all our mental capacities to realize that customers don't tip at 7-11.  And it seems weak, in every sense of the word, to try to argue that because we don't tip at 7-11 we shouldn't tip at a gogo bar or beer bar.

 

So now we're in Bangkok at the gay bars and the gay restaurants and the gay gogo bars, where tipping is customary.  If someone is suggesting that tipping is not customary at those establishments, all I can I say is that I believe you are mistaken.  And that's not the premise of Christian's logic, which was refreshingly explicit (`1) yes, the waiter deserves more, and (2) I know he's currently not getting it, but (3) I have paid so much for my drink I don't want to pay the waiter anything more, and (4) but the boss should.  (Even though I know at this time the boss isn't.)  So the person getting the short end is the waiter is undeniably the waiter.  And, as I pointed out, not tipping is not doing anything to change the situation.  It's not standing on principle.  The sole focus is how much "I" paid for the drink and "my" subjective conclusion that it is so high that "I" am freed from any obligation - customary at that bar - to tip. 

 

Now of course if the boss raised the drink prices and paid the waiter more, that would lead to a chorus of complaints I am sure.  So really, the argument is, the drink is so expensive the bar should just make less profit.  Even though I have no clue of the profits.  And that's why it's ok for me to stiff the waiter, even though other customers are tipping.  

 

Finally, at the places where the drinks are the most expensive, with the 400 baht drinks that z909 thinks is so outrageous that not tipping is apparently justified (!!!) - the point has been made so many times in the past, including by the great but sadly departed author of the BangkokBois website (RIP), that 400 for the drink is for more than the drink.  It's the cover charge for the show.  It's the opportunity to sit and flirt with young hotties in their underwear.   It's for operating a brothel.  So you pay more.  A lot more.  That's not a hard concept to grasp.  The waiter is not just bringing you a 400 baht drink.  He's bringing you 200 baht drink and you're paying a 200 cover charge/show fee/brothel fee.   What - you want to see the show, grope a bit, stare at the line up of guys all for free???  That's nonsense.  Stay outside in the beer bars where the drinks are cheaper -- and I certainly hope you tip the guys out there.  

[bucknaway]

Tipping in Thailand seems to mainly happen in tourist areas.  I can't count how often tips have been returned to me.  Now when I go out with my Thai friends, I take direction from them on when to tip.  If the place serves tourist then we tip the server.  If it's mainly a Thai eatery then no tip is given.

 

Disco bars where you try to find a table to claim for the night that comes with a dedicated server....  I don't know what is expected there at all...  It boggles the mind!  

[DivineMadman]

Tipping in Thailand seems to mainly happen in tourist areas.  I can't count how often tips have been returned to me.  Now when I go out with my Thai friends, I take direction from them on when to tip.  If the place serves tourist then we tip the server.  If it's mainly a Thai eatery then no tip is given.

 

Disco bars where you try to find a table to claim for the night that comes with a dedicated server....  I don't know what is expected there at all...  It boggles the mind!  

I thought it was customary in the "local" places to leave the small coins change, if any.  That's what I do "up country" and at my local street places.

 

When I've gone to Fake Club or old App Arena, I am pretty sure we tipped the waiter, how much I would have deferred to my local friends -- and at the end of those escapades I'm certainly too drunk to remember.

[paborn]

 I can't count how often tips have been returned to me. 

 

 

Well, God bless your heart......... tips returned! You are a most fortunate man.

[bucknaway]

 I can't count how often tips have been returned to me. 

 

 

Well, God bless your heart......... tips returned! You are a most fortunate man.

 

Thank you.  God has truly favored me my whole life.  I'm surprised you noticed.  

[biguyby]

This argument could go on forever and there is no right or wrong. A gratuity is usually given as reward for good service and is not compulsory.

 

I personally leave a modest tip wherever I receive

good service.

 

In most of the budget restaurants that I use the staff pool their tips to share at the end of their shift.

 

I tip in the bars when I pay my bin and I usually tip the boy sitting with me by stuffing a 100 baht note in his undies.

 

But at the end of the day it's up to the individual whether or not they tip.

[reader]

 

Others may disagree and that's fine, too.

 

This has always been a subject sure to raise the hackles of those with opposing views. So to those who do see things differently, I offer this olive branch.

 

To Bucknaway: A tip of the hat for posting a controversial topic with a very clever title.

 

To z909: We agree on a hell of a lot more than we disagree.

 

To Christianpfc; You're one of the most consistent posters on the board and we all love 'ya (how could we think otherwise about a Madrid enthusiast?)

[bucknaway]

I see 3 in the thread with STRONG opinions, but the majority are just talking about their tip practices.  Does that make it a controversial topic?  Only for those that hate to see others live their life as they choose.  

 

Does my tipping change related to the circumstances at hand?  You bet your bippy it does.  When we write our opinion on a message board, that is what we are doing.  We are not chiseling it in stone or vowing to live the remainder of our days as if a post on a message board was our blood sworn vow.

 

If I were to hang out with Christian, I am sure I would cringe with his tipping methods, but would that stop me from hanging out with him or being mad at him?  Nope.  If it bothered me that much I would add to his tip to put a smile on the face of the server, but if his tip was closer to my tip then...  Oh well.....

 

And just for the record, I created this topic in the hope that it would lead to a discussion on odd tipping habits to people that you would not ordinarily tip.  Like the lady pushing the mop between your legs as you stand at the urinal.  The mini bus driver that takes you to the airport or the big bus driver that takes you to Pattaya from Bangkok.

 

Maybe you give a tip or spare change to the 7-11 staff?  I know have giving money and bought food and drinks for the 7-11 staff.  It just happened and I did it. Maybe you have done something so random?  I bet we all have.

 

Maybe someone got pushed into tipping a tout that promised to take them to a gogo bar and was being ignored till both of you arrived at the bar you were going to and him demanding a tip for "escorting" you to the bar.

 

Tipping is not a controversial topic.  Hot heads in a post that can't sway opinion...  They are what makes  a topic controversial.

[reader]

Does that make it a controversial topic?  Only for those that hate to see others live their life as they choose.  

 

 

I can only say that I would not choose to live me life as you choose to do. Is that sufficiently controversial?

 

 

And just for the record, I created this topic in the hope that it would lead to a discussion on odd tipping habits to people that you would not ordinarily tip.  Like the lady pushing the mop between your legs as you stand at the urinal.  The mini bus driver that takes you to the airport or the big bus driver that takes you to Pattaya from Bangkok.

 

 

Then you failed. But I know that's not a new experience for you..

[bucknaway]

I can only say that I would not choose to live me life as you choose to do. Is that sufficiently controversial?

 

 

 

Then you failed. But I know that's not a new experience for you..

 

Ouch!  You wound me sir!  LOL

 

So snippy about such things...  Who threw sand his lube?

[reader]

Well, Bucky, at least I use lube in stead of spit. You do use spit, don't you?

[Jasper]

A generous tip?

[bucknaway]

Is that how the police are conducting the pee test? 

[Jasper]

I have a feeling that straight guys at girlie gogo bars are far better tippers than gay farangs at boys bar.

Or perhaps bar girls are much more manipulative than boys and know how to squeeze money out of customers.

[bucknaway]

Hold on there Jasper!  Lets put on our detective hat and inspect the picture.  Notice how there are no other drinks or coasters on the bar?  Nothice how the bar shows no reflections of people and no shadows of people?  Notice the wastebasket turned upside down in the top left of the photo?  The bright morning sun shining in at the top right of the photo.  I submit to you that the photo is STAGED!  Once the photo was taken, the notes were collected and the drinks funneled back into the bottle and the sealing tape re-applied to the bottle to make it look new and unopened! 

 

We Queer folk are still the better tippers!  Yes, even Christian...  Well.... Maybe not Christian....  

 

Anyway, this solves the case of the Shot to the Baht caper!

 

Elementary my dear Jasper.

[reader]

Maybe someone got pushed into tipping a tout that promised to take them to a gogo bar and was being ignored till both of you arrived at the bar you were going to and him demanding a tip for "escorting" you to the bar.

 

 

Does this type of thing happen to you often, you poor thing?

[bucknaway]

Reader, please stop trying to push this thread off topic...

[reader]

I'm not the one who just posted about a wastebasket.

 

But in all sincerity, don't tip those touts who pester you. They're only after your money.

 

There is no need to thank me.

[bucknaway]

This is a post I'd written about a tout I met and tipped on my final night in bkk.

 

https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showthread.php?16155-Ever-let-a-Tout-lead-the-way&highlight=Tout

 

Oops, that is not the right thread. I think my original post may be lost. I'll try to find it tomorrow. Sleep now...