Do you tip (in Thailand)?

[Foexie]

Sure me tip.

 

Mostly 10% with food, around 100bht/day in hotel to the housekeeper.

 

Often also tip the waitresses in the hotel rest when they do extra efforts like the one time in Hua Hin. If they have, me like to eat those little bananas and the hotel sometimes had but one morning they run out or so. So i asked the waitress if they have, she said no but then after 15 min she come running up with a bunch. Did she go buy or whatever but that made me happy and she got a big tip the last breakfast. And on the look at her face it make me understand this was rare for her.

 

 

[bje2000]

From what I have been told, for a bar, for instance, if you leave the tip on the tray/folder/table etc then this is 'for the house' and everyone is supposed to share. If you want to tip the service staff, hand the money to them directly. Eg, say you get 45 baht change which you would leave as a tip, give the B20/40 to the staff and leave the remainder on the tray for the house

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 12/7/2021 at 3:18 PM, FruitPudding said:

Australia it isn't normal to tip in a restaurant or anywhere 

 

Certainly, in Thailand: Thais don't tip - there simply isn't a tipping culture here.

Yes, you are correct, we don't generally tip in Australia, hairdressers etc yes a tip. 

 

Our wages are high enough for people to live survive, live comfortably. 

 

In some countries wages are very low, the staff can only survive on tips. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by SAFETY FIRST

[Peterw42]

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Yes, you are correct, we don't generally tip in Australia, hairdressers etc yes a tip. 

We tip hairdressers in Australia ? 

The pizza delivery guy yes, but never knew people tip hairdressers.

[SAFETY FIRST]

43 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

We tip hairdressers in Australia ? 

The pizza delivery guy yes, but never knew people tip hairdressers.

I've tipped after a hair cut 

[SAFETY FIRST]

I reckon the discussion should be around FORCED tipping. 

 

This is rediculous, venues like Hard Rock etc, American businesses adding a tip on your bill. 

 

I was working in Malaysia many years ago and the Hard Rock in KL was my local, Friday, Saturday nights service was poor but still had to pay tips. 

 

Bloody rude 

[SAFETY FIRST]

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

2 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

We tip hairdressers in Australia ? 

The pizza delivery guy yes, but never knew people tip hairdressers.

I've tipped after a hair cut

I've probably been americanized. 

Working for American companies for decades it's probably got me tipping unnecessarily. 

[EVENKEEL]

I was recently in the US, at a fast food type Mexican joint I paid with credit card and was asked if I wanted to include tip. It took me a second to process the request and said "no". It would never occur to me to tip at this kind of joint.

 

Here in TL I tip barber, 20 tbh to bar regardless of bill, restaurants get maybe coins or 20 tbh, guys setting up furniture and large jobs at my place I tip.

[StayinThailand2much]

Yes, for good service (barber, taxi), or where rounding up is 'expected' (taxi). Less and less at restaurants. - With declines in quality of service and 'sour faces', I tip less, and less frequently than I used to in the past.

Edited December 10, 2021 by StayinThailand2much

[georgegeorgia]

last time i tipped 2018 was at a genuine thai massage shop in day night area in pattaya behind Tukcom.

I think a foot massage was 150 b ,out came a feminine ladyboy type who done a regular foot massage.

 

After the massage i tipped 100b in which he/she didnt even acknowledge before screeching aloud to the farang owner who gave me a dirty look.

How much i was supposed to tip ? i thought 100 was ok,never again i went there

 

Same a few years ago in Simons jomtien fish n chip shop,a waitress said to me BEFORE she took my order, "how much you can tip me ???

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by georgegeorgia

[Happy Howard]

Yes in Australia they don't generally tip unless the meal/service in particularly good.

Here in Thailand my Thai wife insists upon tipping everyone from the food delivery person to the staff at a restaurant to the house maid in a hotel, etc.

[FruitPudding]

I had a funny experience the other night actually at my local Sukhumvit Soi 4 bar (I won't say which one, but it has been there a long time and the bar staff get smashed drunk regularly).

 

So the barmaids were absolutely drunk and I paid with a 500, the bill was 460 or something. And she was like, "I keep the change, hahaha!" And she did! 

 

I think she thought she was being cute, lol. This is a bar I usually tip in anyway because the staff are a lot of fun and service is good, so I didn't mind. But her attitude on the topic was certainly interesting.

Edited December 12, 2021 by FruitPudding

[FruitPudding]

On 12/8/2021 at 5:02 PM, Fairynuff said:

You’re just trying to justify yourself saying that. Tipping is needed in any country. Staff rely on the generosity of customers because employers pay low salaries in Thailand the same as any other country. If you don’t get good service then don’t tip, I wouldn’t either. But showing appreciation should make you and someone else feel good.

It's a cultural thing, actually. So, it depends where you are.

 

From my experience, at least, Thais don't tip.

 

The problem I have with tipping (in Thailand) is that my family have worked as waitresses in restaurants where the customers are almost only Thai (proper restaurants, like Thai steak houses where you get waited on....I don't mean streetfood) and they have never received an actual tip from a Thai customer, like virtually nothing (maybe 1 or 2 baht change sometimes.....no joke).

 

So, when I tip a Thai waitress I wonder would she also tip when she goes to the Thai steak restaurant my daughter works at, for example? If she ordered a Thai pork steak and a drink and it came to 200, would she even leave 10 baht tip? I don't think so. 5 baht? probably not. It'll be the usual: nothing at all, or maybe 1 or 2 baht coins. At least this is my experience.

 

So, I do kinda have a problem tipping a Thai waitress because I am sure she won't tip anyone else. Why tip someone in a country where they don't tip? It doesn't make sense. It could be your own kid waiting on them and they wouldn't give anything.

[FruitPudding]

On 12/9/2021 at 11:17 PM, Foexie said:

around 100bht/day in hotel to the housekeeper.

Super generous, man.

 

Now I know why Thailand doesn't allows us farang to do anything other than teach, lol. 

 

I'd be making 50k a month tax free on tips at that rate.

[Eaglekott]

I tip often unless they have service charge. If they do I sometimes leave the coins smaller than 10 baht coins. 

I many times give tip to Live bands and directly to staff, and mostly early in our visit, Usually get a much better service if we do.

I often tip the guy helping you park the car at arrival. I get a feeling they keep an extra eye on your car if you give them 100 baht.

If they split my change in smaller notes or coins I give less tip and usually take what they did split. If they split a 20 in 2x10coins i take the coins and leave a 20note. If they split a 100 in smaller notes and some times 50+20+20+10 i take the split and might leave a 100 baht note if it was a "costly" visit otherwise nothing.

[Fairynuff]

On 12/12/2021 at 6:43 AM, FruitPudding said:

It's a cultural thing, actually. So, it depends where you are.

 

From my experience, at least, Thais don't tip.

 

The problem I have with tipping (in Thailand) is that my family have worked as waitresses in restaurants where the customers are almost only Thai (proper restaurants, like Thai steak houses where you get waited on....I don't mean streetfood) and they have never received an actual tip from a Thai customer, like virtually nothing (maybe 1 or 2 baht change sometimes.....no joke).

 

So, when I tip a Thai waitress I wonder would she also tip when she goes to the Thai steak restaurant my daughter works at, for example? If she ordered a Thai pork steak and a drink and it came to 200, would she even leave 10 baht tip? I don't think so. 5 baht? probably not. It'll be the usual: nothing at all, or maybe 1 or 2 baht coins. At least this is my experience.

 

So, I do kinda have a problem tipping a Thai waitress because I am sure she won't tip anyone else. Why tip someone in a country where they don't tip? It doesn't make sense. It could be your own kid waiting on them and they wouldn't give anything.

I have a very different experience from you then. None of my Thai friends are people who wouldn’t tip. For me I like to think I can help improve someone’s life, even in the smallest way.

Street food, of course not, the very local types of places, no. But my local noodle shop where I’m a very regular customer, no I don’t tip but at Songkran and NY I always take something like tins of biscuits, enough for all the staff to share.

I find it really odd that you wonder whether that waitress would tip if she went to a steak restaurant, she probably couldn’t afford to because people like you don’t tip.