I eat a fair amount at Marine Plaza, as I find the food good and reasonably priced. I usually eat shrimp with spring onions and haxe a small bottle of Heineken. Until recently the bill came to 175 baht, so I would usually give 200 baht and leave the other 25 baht as a tip.

However, they have now decided to add a 5% service charge to the bill, which means my bill now comes to 184 baht. As the tip is now included in the bill, I wait for my change, and take it all. So the staff are losing 16 baht every time I eat there. I don't mind as I am saving 16 baht, but what a crazy business decision!

OK, I don't fault anyone's tipping style, but that isn't all that logical. If I see only 5 percent added, that is a small percentage (depends on the size of the bill though) so I usually add some more to make it an adequate tip.

OK, I don't fault anyone's tipping style, but that isn't all that logical. If I see only 5 percent added, that is a small percentage (depends on the size of the bill though) so I usually add some more to make it an adequate tip.

and people with that consumer behavior drive up prices for all the rest of us and make staff expect a tip from foreigners when Thai's would not tip in that same situation.

Please leave your Western values in the west

OK, I don't fault anyone's tipping style, but that isn't all that logical. If I see only 5 percent added, that is a small percentage (depends on the size of the bill though) so I usually add some more to make it an adequate tip.

and people with that consumer behavior drive up prices for all the rest of us and make staff expect a tip from foreigners when Thai's would not tip in that same situation.

Please leave your Western values in the west

You're barking up the wrong tree. I do think we should tip but not like in the west. I follow the Thai custom of often leaving 20 baht, and not tipping by percentage as in the west. However, 5 percent on a smaller bill is not close to 20 baht, so in the OP's case I would feel that isn't quite enough. However, I don't fault people who leave nothing either, especially with the automatic service charges, which also annoy me. I also don't fault people who massively over tip. My feeling is they do that more for themselves than the waiters, so why deny anyone some pleasure?

OK, I don't fault anyone's tipping style, but that isn't all that logical. If I see only 5 percent added, that is a small percentage (depends on the size of the bill though) so I usually add some more to make it an adequate tip.

and people with that consumer behavior drive up prices for all the rest of us and make staff expect a tip from foreigners when Thai's would not tip in that same situation.

Please leave your Western values in the west

You're barking up the wrong tree. I do think we should tip but not like in the west. I follow the Thai custom of often leaving 20 baht, and not tipping by percentage as in the west. However, 5 percent on a smaller bill is not close to 20 baht, so in the OP's case I would feel that isn't quite enough. However, I don't fault people who leave nothing either, especially with the automatic service charges, which also annoy me. I also don't fault people who massively over tip. My feeling is they do that more for themselves than the waiters, so why deny anyone some pleasure?

ok, sorry about that mate.

What about in the case of a restaurant like Bruno's, recently i went there and the service charge was something like B300,made we wonder if the staff actually receive that, and i felt guilty later for not leaving a cash tip.