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-   -   How do you manage tipping in India? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/265581-how-do-you-manage-tipping-india.html)

Scenario 1:

On a holiday trip to the mountains during summer vacation, me and my family decide to stop at a well known restaurant for lunch break. The waiter is eager to serve food (even though there is a self service counter), and at the end of a satisfactory meal as we are about to leave the restaurant, he shouts, "Thank you sir, Thank you sir" - in anticipation of a tip. And when I refuse, he murmurs cuss words.

Scenario 2:

Couple of years back we were getting our house moved. Even though the cost of movers and packers service was pre agreed with the owner of the movers company and myself, his laborors asked for "Chai paani" as soon as they are done with the moving. And it happens quite frequently with a lot of people.

Scenario 3:

After a long and tiring flight we arrive at the India International Airport in New Delhi and with 3 big luggage bags with me and my family. As soon as we book our cab and are about to help the driver load the luggage, a group of 3-4 unknown men come from nowhere to pick up our luggage and load it to the cab, even after our insistence that we don't need any such service. And at the end of it, you know what they asked for.

And there are many such real life scenarios. At railway stations, at restaurants, at parking lots and so on.

Personally, I absolutely abhor tipping, especially when someone "asks" for a tip. A tip by definition has to be voluntary, and not for a service that you didn't ask for. But in India, the scam in the name of tipping is prevalent everywhere. I have experienced it the same in South and in the North.

How do BHPians cope with such situations? Tips (Pun intended) and suggestions welcome.

Personally, i have faced #1 and #2 pretty often.

The people in these businesses ( i mean the laborers). These are not big business men earning in lakhs. These people work on wages. If a small tip helps them, then why not. In most cases i'm eager to tip them. In order for progress as a society, "money" is an important factor. People with money should invest in the society for the society to progress. This is my view and my small way of contributing to the society and in both cases #1 and #2 i usually tip even if not asked.

#3 sounds like a scam. Apart from that, if the service is not good, i do take it personally and ensure that i don't tip. I tip as long as a regular job is done and tip better for an exceptionally well done job.

Another point, There are lot of countries where tipping is expected and some where its taken offensively. There is another thread which you can look for, lot of discussion on those as well. Just to broaden one's perspective.

Many people doing menial jobs work really hard for a living.
Loaders, cleaners, garbage pickers to name a few.

Personally, I don't wait for them to ask for a tip. Especially in restaurants whether I tip the waiter or not I make sure to tip the cleaners without fail for the thankless job they are doing.

The gas delivery guys are a notorious lot here. I can understand if you have to carry the cylinder one or two floors where there are no elevators. But they demand even for ground floor deliveries. Also, where these people deliver in slum areas they have a field day and even demand 100 to 150. People pay, as otherwise they don't get the cylinder.

I don't want to dwell too much on deciding who deserves a tip and who doesn't. One can easily get tangled up in moral dilemmas. Just do what makes sense and move on - erring on the generous side when you can. My general philosophy is that if someone is keeping an honest job (waiting tables, valet parking, taxi driver, carrying your bags and so on) instead of being a crook of some sort, that itself deserves a kind gesture from the fortunate ones.

These days with UPI payment tipping at restaurants have become a thing of past with waiter looking for loose change. I tend to tip on services involving physical labor like packer & movers, spa & salon. There are some services which rely heavily on tips though, like the famous dance bars in big cities lol:

In restaurants I check the bill, if service charge is added, I do not tip the waiter. If it's not added in the bill, I pay something depending on their service & attitude.

During the Check-in/check-out from a hotel, I generally carry my own luggage, but in case there are big suitcases, I let the waiters carry them in the trolley. And when a trolley is not available, I do not give all my luggage on their shoulder. I myself carry few of my bags. At the end, again it will depend on the way they handled my belongings. If they take care of it, I definitely tip them, if not, I do not.

If any heavy item like a refrigerator, TV, AC or something is delivered, and they place it at the desired place I asked for, I do tip them.

I do not give my car for valet parking.

In airport and railway stations, I always carry my own luggage.

In the car/bike service centers, if the job is satisfactory, I do tip them, specially the washing guys and the mechanics who made their hand dirty.

In nutshell there is no hard and fast rule, if I get good service, I do give tips, but lip service won't work with me.

I generally make it a point to tip waiters at restaurants. In the end, I realise the fact that I have had a meal (on an average) worth 500-600 bucks, which might not be a huge amount to me, but the 50-70 bucks I pay the guy even though it's a very small amount in my opinion might mean he goes home a bit happier. 50-70 rupees for someone's happiness isn't a huge amount IMO.

I do the above for almost all waiters who dispense their duty honestly. Of course, those who don't do it (don't care to respond, rude even though you converse politely) generally don't get a tip but that's an extremely rare occurrence. As Androdev rightly said, coming across people who do their job honestly is in itself a rarity these days. Tipping is a gesture to encourage this IMO.

All of this stems from the fact that I know most of these chaps are underpaid to the limit of exploitation, especially in smaller resturants. The same applies to Swiggy and Zomato delivery guys. They are also victim to variable pay, and God knows what sort of base salary they make.

Though the amount of service charges I see infuriate me to no end, I have come to the realisation that it's not exactly their fault. They are just a part of the system that is exploiting them and overcharging me.

It's the same in most countries barring a few where culturally it's considered rude, Japan comes to my mind.

Well said :thumbs up

If we can afford that lunch for Rs 100, there is no harm in paying another Rs 10-20 to the server. He might use it on his daily quota in the evening or to pay school fees for his kids or medicines of ailing parents.

My two paisa worth :-

IMHO tipping is neither a scam nor a menace. The fact that in a country with about 400 million in dire or near poverty, with the highest number {absolute numbers, not as a percentage any more} of infant mortalities and crores upon crores of kids who don't have enough to eat we the well off, which includes all of us on Team BHP, should think that partaking off a small tip of a few tens of rupees towards the less well off is a menace or a scam - that IMHO is the real scam. I firmly believe and practice that in India we, the well off, should tip appropriately and generously on every occasion. I love tipping cos I ain't taking it with me when the God Lord above rings my bell. Over tipping can be as harmful to that recipients' future expectations from others as under tipping is to his sense of self-worth. Tipping is doing our two bits to make the receiving community feel that they have a stake in a fair society. When the bottom 66% believe they have no stake left to improve themselves then revolutions take place - whether they succeed or not is a different matter. It is our way of doing our tiny bit towards a more equitable society. For the bottom 50% of our society - which is about the same as the population of country nos 3, 4 and 5 put together - the fact that many of us earn in a day what they earn in a month is the real scam. We may not agree but that is hwo the other 700 million see us!!!

I tip generously, I consider it my personal socialism. But I do it for people who are in jobs that are hard, boring, and require standing all day. They are doing a thankless job that has some value, so this is my way of thanking them. That means I will tip the waiter as well as the security guard in the parking lot, after having my meal.

But I never ever pay a beggar in a traffic junction, because they are not generating any value.

Firstly one needs to appreciate the income distribution of India. Please refer to this chart.



With around 600 million people living below $3.65 per day as income, the income disparity is huge. I tend to be generous when tipping and usually encourage family and friends also to do the same. While a 50 or 100 rupees may not be much, it matters a lot for this 600 million people.

Now imagine that we move 100 million of these people to above $10 a day! What will that do to our economy and what will it do to us as a country? I treat this as a tax for education, or some subsidy, but with a direct transfer to the beneficiary. There is no govt machinery to take a cut out of this.

The last point mentioned by the OP of people muscling in and doing unwanted work, that does not come under tipping, but under bribe/harassment. It needs to be dealt with severly.

Regards,
Lsjey

I am a big tipper, especially to those who are:

- Daily wage labourers

- Living a hand-to-mouth existence

- Offer exceptional service

I actually keep change in my wallet only for the valet drivers (good parking guaranteed), my salon guy, carpenters & plumbers working in my house, delivery guys etc.

That being said, I do NOT tip when:

- The service quality was mediocre

- At restaurants, where service charge is compulsory

On a related note, we went to Olive Bar & Kitchen last week and I was shocked to see none of that 10% mandatory service charge. Don't remember the last time I went to a higher-end restaurant without a compulsory service charge. The lady serving us was so exceptional with her recommendations, service & attitude that we willingly gave her about 12% of the bill amount as a tip. You could tell she was stressed & busy, but with a smile on her face.

I am a big tipper too. Criteria as mentioned above. Do not forget the guys outside the restaurants on highways waving flags and blowing their whistles all day long.

I tend to tip where I see the person is putting in long hours (wait staff), physical effort (labor) or just an increased work load (wait staff/bus boys etc). High end establishments pay quite well and I see no reason to tip heavily. All I expect from wait staff at restaurants is attentive service. Fill the water periodically, check on any additional orders and handle customizations well.

I will pay a little bit more for services that I use infrequently (alterations/shoe shine) since I believe those people don't get high level of business and is a low transaction cost setup.

As long as I can justify my actions to myself - all is good.

I tip, very happily. Especially on holidays and to hotel staff. Restaurants, if there is a service charge, no tips. But cleaners, water boys, YES.

I have often tipped at car service stations, but discretely.

We even tip the rail coach cleaners, servers, Swiggy/Zomato guys in cash, and in many cases, Uber drivers too. Fortunately, me and my wife, we have grown up watching our parents also being too generous, given, earnings 30 years back wasn't meant to leave a lot of disposable cash unlike these days, especially in a communist regime :D.

So both me and the wife, we try to be generous even to our domestic helps, "tips" are often in kind, a portion of the delicacy for the weekend, or a few chicken pieces, medicines. It has always paid back, not that we were expecting anything out of it.