Do You Tip At 7-Eleven?

[canuckamuck]

For regular service in restaurants I try not to tip.

In the restaurant trade, tips are essentially part of the salary. So that makes you a tightwad, innit?

But it is voluntary correct? In which case the wait staff have become a type of charity, and as there are so many good causes about, I hardly would consider to donate money to person with a steady job.

If the business needs more money than they advertise to keep staff and reamain profitable, than they are the fools for having their prices too low.

[Lancelot]

From the OP: First of all I sometimes hear from people for whom anything smaller than 20 baht, less than $1 is simply not worth carrying around; so that could be easily deposited in the tip box.

Little wonder the locals hold us in low regard...

[trainman34014]

A bit late but Wifey has just read this thread and is laughing uncontrollably. She says any Farang stupid enough to tip in a 7-eleven, Tesco Express or whatever will be seen as a Dumbarse who is too easily parted from his money. Just the view of a Thai !

[balo]

A bit late but Wifey has just read this thread and is laughing uncontrollably. She says any Farang stupid enough to tip in a 7-eleven, Tesco Express or whatever will be seen as a Dumbarse who is too easily parted from his money. Just the view of a Thai !

Its not only a view of a Thai but most people with a working brain .

Edited October 18, 2012 by balo

[how241]

If the girls are nice and give you that great Thai smile, it's hard not to want to give them a few baht. It usually won't make much difference to you at the end of the month but it does spread goodwill.

[Lancelot]

A bit late but Wifey has just read this thread and is laughing uncontrollably. She says any Farang stupid enough to tip in a 7-eleven, Tesco Express or whatever will be seen as a Dumbarse who is too easily parted from his money. Just the view of a Thai !

Thanks for sharing this. I would venture to say that there was no double pricing or tip expectations early on but then, so many two-week millionaires started throwing money around and the locals thought: "Hmmm, why not ask for money?"

I once saw a fellow foreigner try to tip a 7-11 staff and the poor girl was totally embarassed.

But hey, when I worked as a highway toll cashier in the USA, people always tipped me

[I Like Thai]

If the girls are nice and give you that great Thai smile, it's hard not to want to give them a few baht. It usually won't make much difference to you at the end of the month but it does spread goodwill.

The next time you are in the 7/11 where you have spread some goodwill. Tell the cashier that you are 5 baht short for your purchases. See how far your goodwill has gone

Edited October 18, 2012 by I Like Thai

[IMHO]

And after dropping your spare change in their tip box... do you wai the staff ?!?

No, he wai's them as he comes in, hence the tip box.

For all of those tipping cashiers, a hearty thank you for doing your part to make all farang look like complete blithering morons.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

If the girls are nice and give you that great Thai smile, it's hard not to want to give them a few baht. It usually won't make much difference to you at the end of the month but it does spread goodwill.

The next time you are in the 7/11 where you have spread some goodwill. Tell the cashier that you are 5 baht short for your purchases. See how far your goodwill has gone

Maybe not 7-11, but I've been short by small amounts in many places (mostly bars. ) and indeed that's rarely an issue.

[Semper]

If the girls are nice and give you that great Thai smile, it's hard not to want to give them a few baht.

Oh dear. Don't get a gf, and above all, don't get married.

[Beng]

Do you tip at Tesco's ??

[ripstanley]

No tip at Tessco or 7/11 or.......

[naboo]

This thread is nuts. Seriously, stop posting, someone will actually start tipping in 7/11, then we'll all be considered Kee Niaw for not doing.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

This thread is nuts. Seriously, stop posting, someone will actually start tipping in 7/11, then we'll all be considered Kee Niaw for not doing.

It doesn't have to be monetary. You can just be nice, smile and tell her how great she looks in that innocent yet sexy white & green striped shirt.

Did I mention I know a girl who works a shift at 7-11 and then in a bar later on? In all seriousness we talked about what 7-11 staff have to put up with at downtown locations in the middle of the night. This is NOT an easy job when you get all kinds of flotsam and jetsam washing into your store in various states of intoxication.

[uptheos]

This thread is nuts. Seriously, stop posting, someone will actually start tipping in 7/11, then we'll all be considered Kee Niaw for not doing.

Don't worry, by the time this thread finishes, 7/11 will have a 15% surcharge like some restaurants!

And then we can have a thread, "Do you tip in 7/11 even if it has a 15% surcharge?"

Edited October 18, 2012 by uptheos

[mcgriffith]

You can just be nice, smile and tell her how great she looks in that innocent yet sexy white & green striped shirt.

[naboo]

All the ones in my local wear maternity aprons. Yuck. The green and white stripes are several steps up.

[mochafan]

I think it is a good idea. From my memories, 7-11 staff make about 25 baht per hour.

7-11 workers are among the best paid shop assistants in Thailand.

But they do need to have completed high school education to get the job.

And they do fulfill a valuable place in Thai society, namely forcing all the local 'Mom and Pop' stores out of business.

I have mixed feelings about this topic BUT i DONT tip at the seven or any other general shop etc, And neither does my thai g/f......

Wages, used to be up until lately 150 bht for an 8 hour shift,,,(now 200 bht),,,Please note......the normal shift is more like 10 hours a day as they make the employees hang around before shift start and keep them waiting an hour after time, to wait for the jobsworth who has to tot up the till and deduct any spillages/breakages off individual employees daily wage (yep the workers have to pay for accidents)....the breakages thing usually happens every other day.

They say you get your unifrom for free, but there is allways 500 bht a month taken off an employees wage every month until they finish their employment there..at which time that amount should be returned...

As for the tip box, that is NOT for the employees to share..........it is for charity, for the needy, providing the manager lets it get there......

So in general at the end of the month for 60+hours a week at the 150 baht rate they are lucky to get 3400 bht a month and they still have to pay tax on that..!

Draw your own conclusions of whether or not it is a higher shop wage or not...but remember it ain`t `a TIP BOX

The employees dont ask for tips as they shouldn`t, but what gets my tits up is when i go to any goverment office it is normally asked for....

How do i know about the 7-11 ? My thai g/f of 4 years has just finished working for them....on the shop floor.

NB - "namely forcing all the local 'Mom and Pop' stores out of business"....at least the 7-11 dont operate a double pricing rule when a farang walks in, as all the items are priced, not like Mom and Pop...ripping off is the norm there.

I totally agree with you....and YES the manager(maybe not all) will dip his/her hands in the pot before anybody else gets a piece. That's the Thai way. Some foreigners living here don't seem to understand that yet.

[hellodolly]

I will leave a tip any where I darn well please to.

Could care less about what other people think. I am not here to get other people to think good or bad of me. I am here because I like it here and it is a incredible source of amusement to watch people argue over the dumbest things.

[beb]

Wow, this is insanity. I'm not an expert in the Thai culture but isn't tipping not a traditional practice here? But now people want to go beyond western practices and tip everybody clever enough to put out a box?

While I'm not an expert in Thai culture, I have lived in several countries and a common practice by westerners is to toss money about freely like this. From conversations with the people in several different countries, this doesn't earn respect or gratitude as much as confirm the impression that westerners are big dopes that throw away their money if the locals just play a certain subservient role. In a lot of cases it actually breeds resentment because it's just another version of the great white father bringing fire to the natives.

[expatmakmak]

Wow, this is insanity. I'm not an expert in the Thai culture but isn't tipping not a traditional practice here? But now people want to go beyond western practices and tip everybody clever enough to put out a box?

While I'm not an expert in Thai culture, I have lived in several countries and a common practice by westerners is to toss money about freely like this. From conversations with the people in several different countries, this doesn't earn respect or gratitude as much as confirm the impression that westerners are big dopes that throw away their money if the locals just play a certain subservient role. In a lot of cases it actually breeds resentment because it's just another version of the great white father bringing fire to the natives.

Well I am pretty much an expert on Thai culture, after all I have been here a very long time.

I don't tip at 7/11, that's bloody ridiculous!

The only places I tip at are restaurants, bars and the 108 shops.