Upon arriving at my hotel a few weeks ago, I had the unfortunate experience of having a bell boy (or whatever they are called now-a-days) grab my bags and escort me to my room. Having been a part of this scam before, I was not pleased and kindly mentioned to the young man "I'm sorry, but I haven't any Singapore dollars for a tip", for which he replied "no problem sir" (or something similar).
When I first arrive at a hotel, I do the nerdiest thing I can think of and begin to read the little booklet that includes all the information about the hotel, room service, pool hours, etc... I noticed that it said, "Tipping is not necessary". Having dealt with this sentence on my honeymoon, I thought that was just a hotel policy.
The confusion really began when I ordered my overpriced Singapore Sling at Raffles. I received the bill, and it contained the following: Price of beverage, Sales Tax, 10% service fee, room number. This confused me greatly. At this point I thought... maybe the 10% service fee is a mandatory tip. At that point, I though "10% is fine by me, the drink was overpriced anyway"
It wasn't until an awkward experience after eating Pineapple fried rice that I finally got to talk to my server about it. Instead of beating around the bush, I took the straightforward (and stupid tourist acknowledging) method of saying "So, am I supposed to tip?" The Server said, NO, and explained that the 10% service fee IS my tip. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!!
My explanation of why this is awesome
When buying a hamburger at McDonald's, you don't pay a service fee (even thought they may actually bring it to you), but if you eat a burger at an actual restaurant, they bring it to you and serve you etc... (I know this sounds stupidly obvious). SO, the service fee is simply paying for the "Service" of the person to wait on you. On the other hand, a TIP is the same thing, the servers get paid very little, and if they have customers, they get paid for their service in a very democratic way: If its good, typically more money, if its bad, less money, if the person is a jerk, no money. This seems like a good idea until we realize one thing. Service in Singapore is WAY better than the US (in certain ways, which I won't get into)
The key to good service
When service is bad in the US, guilt makes a majority of people still tip 15% (not to mention fear of getting yelled at or looked at funny). In reality, this system doesn't work, because as long as the person is employed, they will still perform bad service. How does it work in Singapore? There are a billion Chinese and Indians waiting for your job. If your service is bad, you'll be replaced... its just that simple. And there aren't too many other low skilled jobs that don't involve prostitution in the area, so there is a high incentive to be courteous. Solution for the US? Fire the rude workers and legalize immigrant labor for service industry jobs if no domestic labor is available.
Clarification: I think that most of the people I interact with in restaurants are very good and deserve a good tip, but its stinkin' crazy that 20% is now considered a normal tip. I think maybe a 15% service fee in the US would be pretty sweet, or maybe even different grades of service, like a Red Robin would be a 10% and an Olive garden would be 15% (there's a joke in there somewhere)
No comments:
Post a Comment