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by tripzilch
3621 days ago
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No. Bribes are part of a culture, and carry consequences into behaviour of society. It's weird (even alien) if you're not familiar. To me as well. But the US situation with tips, service staff and their separate minimum wages is just as weird and alien to me. Doesn't mean the people living that culture are not good. I understand that tips are basically mandatory in the US or I'll be screwing people out of their needed income (I got great use from the tipping % calculator app that happened to be in the burner phone I bought for the trip). The way it's often solicited is distasteful (to my Dutch cultural norms), flat-out passive-agressive messages on the receipts, occasionally pushy servers (just a few though) trying get rapport, while I'm just there to eat. But I understand these people aren't being bad either, they're just being people manoeuvring in the cultural environment they are part of. I can disagree with this, or think up improvement, fixes. But at the end, I'm still a tourist, a guest in this country. I'm there to experience the culture, not to tell them they're doin' it wrong. That would be activism, not tourism. Addition: experiencing other cultures has taught me things as well. Having to barter in Turkey, I probably got screwed but did learn a few lessons that are applicable at home (particular from watching other tourists handle it) (though sometimes they were dicks). All that tipping in the US, coupled with the fact that listed prices are never what you pay (because they're pre-tax) (this is not the case in the EU, it feels very weird not being able to calculate the final sum before checkout--a little exercise I often do in NL to keep my mental math sharp) I took home a bit more fluid idea of prices, and this makes for a lower barrier to tip in NL as well (but I still feel 20% is just crazy :p). |
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