| tip? | |
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| Nov 17, 2004 10:57 |   |
 | I am planing to Beijing. I am looking forward to it, and so exciting about it!! And also need any tips from you. Can anyone tell me what the protocol is for tipping restaurant staff, taxi drivers etc? Is it an accepted practice now or would it cause offence to leave one? Many thanks. |
| Nov 17, 2004 11:28 | #1 |
| NOrmaly, you don't have to tip. But tipping is not offensive at all if you are satisfied with their works. |
| Nov 17, 2004 15:17 | #2 |
| Tipping is not the custom for service. I did tip when someone really gave good service or went out of their way for me. Sometimes they took it eagerly and others were embarassed. Personally I see no reason not to tip when someone exceeds the expectations of their job. This is the incentive system. Hopefully though China will not become like the United States where it is regarded as required with a set percentage. There is no incentive in that and it results in poor service. |
| Nov 18, 2004 10:37 | #3 |
| Some restaurants, but very few, do add like 10% service charge to your bill. Many restaurants do not know about tip at all. When I leave some bucks on the table and the busgirl may run out and catch me to return them. They think I forgot it there. For hotel, when I leave a few bucks there everyday, in some hotels they will take it when they service the room and in some hotels they won't. The better the hotel is, the better chance they will take it since they know it's tip for them. No tip for taxi in China either. For me, I hate to keep the singles, so I always give them a number like 20 or 25 and let them keep the change if there is any. Most of them will be very happy since very very few people give them tip in China. Actually in some cases, people argues with them to pay less, when the meter shows 21, some people may give them only 20. I know it's no easy to be a taxi driver in China, I do recommend to give them a little. |
| Nov 18, 2004 11:02 | #4 |
| Tipping is discouraged by authorities and isn't required in china--even at upscale restaurants and hotels. It is also not expected that you tip taxi drivers. However, if you have received exceptional service, you may consider offering something extra. |
| Nov 19, 2004 11:17 | #5 |
| Tipping is a dilemma in China. The kind of people who would get tipped are low paid, but the quality of service is generally low. I have never felt the desire to tip a taxi driver anywhere in the world, least of all in China. Why pay extra for poor driving and a fairly disgusting vehicle? However, taxi drivers are particularly disadvantaged in Beijing and most taxi-drivers struggle to make ends meet. (A lot of recent press on this). I don't tip in China because I detest what tipping has become in many countries in the world, especially in the US. Why should a person's decent lving wage depend upon the generosity of a customer? If I do receive good service in China, I make a point of taking a business card from a taxi-driver and I use him again (happened only about ten times so far, but these drivers get a lot of my rides!). In restaurants I make a point of telling the manager that I have received good service from certain individuals. Just a personal decision all this. |
| Nov 22, 2004 10:30 | #6 |
| I'd recommend not tipping because (i) it's not customary, and no one is providing you good service because of an expected tip; conversely, in China you cannot express your displeasure with poor service by not tipping or leaving a small tip. (ii) in the past year or so, I've been suprised and irritated by the proportion of taxi drivers (esp. in Beijing) expecting me to round the fair up, one even getting nasy and calling me "cheap" when I said "please just go by the metered fair." I think this happens to me occasionally because those cabbies had the idea that foreigners round up based on experience. This reinforces double-standard treatment in China, which is the single most difficult hurdle for long-term foreign residents in China. |
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