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When a fellow-columnist and former colleague said I should write a guide on tipping standards, I thought it a wonderful idea, and the piece appeared in BS Weekend a couple of weeks ago. For my research, I spoke to lots of people (and many friends) in the trade, and almost uniformly their view was that though tipping should be voluntary, it is a gesture that is appreciated since a lot of salaries for service staff in hotels and restaurants is calculated keeping in mind the gratuities that will accrue to them.
The other day, looking for information on the Net, I was surprised to find, on rediff.com, a storm of protest against the piece. I was accused of being born with a silver spoon in my mouth (alas!), of being the president of a waiters’ union and so on. Every single commentator thought the suggested tipping standards way too high.
I was taken aback by the hostility as well as the niggardliness of spirit. Were we so stone-hearted that we couldn’t think to tip the lad who runs errands from the local kirana store, a measly Rs 20-30 every fortnight so that we could continue to sit in our air-conditioned lounges to watch the latest DVDs while he kept us supplied with everything from bread and eggs to soda and shampoo, no matter what the weather outside?
Were we so miserly that we could ask for a couple of bottles of wine at a smart bar, each bottle costing over Rs 1,500 on the menu, but not spare Rs 100 for every bottle opened for the waiter? That we didn’t mind paying Rs 60 as car parking charges at the airport but baulked at giving the valet attendant Rs 20 for parking, then bringing us back the car at a hotel porch? Were we so nasty that a kitty party of women shimmering in diamonds and making a mess of, first, the lunch order, then shouting at waiters, while never once acknowledging them as humans, could ignore paying them a decent gratuity, instead leaving behind, say, Rs 130-odd as change on a bill of Rs 8,870.
Was it so wrong to recommend Rs 200 per service staff in a luxury hotel (think two or three people at most) when the room rate was likely to be upwards of Rs 10,000? Didn’t we have the heart to give the attendant at the regular petrol vend Rs 50/month, so he would greet us with a smile (and certainly provide us better service) even as he sweated it out in the sun and we sat listening to ther FM in an air-conditioned car?
I was accused of pandering to waiters’s whims, and at least one protestor commented he could live with a bit of frostiness from them but wasn’t about to part with gratuities any time soon. Oh, well.
The article was written with the Business Standard reader in mind, and it probably got the wrong audience profile on rediff.com. Even so, the reaction was shocking, and seemed to suggest we treat service staff as lesser human beings unworthy even of our attention, leave alone our gratitude.
Maybe that’s why some service organisations levy a compulsory service charge. Maybe it was because of the niggardliness of a few that all of us have been penalised with a compulsory valet parking charge of Rs 100 at the Hyatt Regency Delhi. If others follow suit, you have only yourselves to blame!
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(5 votes, average: 4.8 out of 5)
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August 29th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
A few years ago, an Indian friend in Hong Kong suprised me by telling me that the `Asian’ tipping standard is 5%. I’ve kept that in mind whilst in premium hotels with more premium bills. Though I do go upto 10% or sometimes even more back home.
I also discovered from a local dinner companion in China recently that tipping is not seen as a good thing there because its a communist country !!! Of course, I didn’t believe that…
August 31st, 2006 at 5:41 pm
I find the topic highly arguable…. I may tip on an occasion if I feel like doing so and it shall wary depending on the service quality experienced… expecting people to tip each time isn’t totally fair. Besides both waiters and drivers are to be paid by the organisations that hire them not people who eat at the restaurant. They are paid for their jobs tipping is to acknowledge a job well done and hence i believe it depends on the quality of service rendered and can’t be judged byone yardstrick. Your commenst please….
August 31st, 2006 at 6:51 pm
You are absolutely right. One can’t be expected to tip everytime. I mean what if the service is not upto mark, or the food is terrible !
September 1st, 2006 at 11:06 am
A hotel bill is inclusive of all costs. Why the nshould tipping be an extra? Will the hotel reudce the price of the bill if the service is bad?
The idea of tips is to give extra if you feel the person has done a better tha nexpected service and you feel inclined to give it. IT IS BY NO MEANS MANDATORY.
September 1st, 2006 at 4:10 pm
A premium service deserves a premium price, correct? I am a huge tipper, but ONLY when the service quality has been better than acceptable. If the service rendered is pathetic, I have no qualms in walking away without leaving a single rupee of a tip (even in a 5 star hotel).
But everyone from my car wash guy to the cigarette delivery boy to the waiter at a roadside food stall is tipped well. Provided they do their job well.
Good writeup Mr. Singh
September 12th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Tipping is situational . Its very important to tip when the quality of service offered to u is gud. It is an appreciation to the waiter & helps him stay motivated and perform better. At the same time dont tip when the person does not give u gud service. A reason for him to know that he needs to improve. The tip should be 10% of the bill & why not if u can spend more elsewhere.
September 16th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Y on earth r v bng so bloody self-centered. Waz a tip after all ? A token of appreciation for services rendered by an individual who is waiting tables from morning till evening and who perhaps, in most of the cases, cannot afford the luxury of taking his family to a decent eating joint, not to mention the star hotels. In a place where v Indians can easily spend a 100 to 200 bucks on cigs and gutkas (that precisely how the industry has registered a phenomenal growth in the recent past), shelling out a fifty or hundred rupee Gandhi should not create a hole in the pocket. Remember, the waiter is not begging and u r not giving alms. Its just how u percieve things.
Damn good writeup Mr Singh.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:45 am
You’re suffering from inferiority complex. Period.
If a waiter is doing his job properly, big deal! That he’s paid to do so.
Why should you bribe him for the service rendered?
And, most of all, why those who’re not satisfied with the service or the quality of goods or just don’t want to pay should be made to feel guilty?
October 5th, 2006 at 3:30 am
Here is another point of view on tipping:
Tipping is selfish. Tip a waiter well and you get better service the next time.
This has worked for me time and again. With Indians leaving measly tips in general, the regular 10% tips gets me “exceptional” service.
That said, this is not the only reason I tip. I do believe that tipping is a more “concrete” way of saying “thank you” than merely saying it. One could argue that just saying “thank you” should be enough. But saying is so easy to fake that one can never tell. Tipping, then, reaffirms that you do care.
Reiterating, even if I didn’t think tipping is needed, I would have tipped because I am selfish.
If you don’t care enough to want to say sorry, you at least got to be a selfish creature. Neither? Nevermind, you will eventually get the bad service that you deserve.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
I am a bachelor and have all my meals outside. Now, I can’t tip 10% everytime - the waiters can go take a walk