Tjmurray,
Welcome to DR1, your usually friendly information board for everything DR related.
It has been my experience from living here 10 years that an about average monthly income for a Dominican worker would be in the neighborhood of 4,000 pesos a month. This equates to about US$122 a month. Breaking it down further it would be 1,000 pesos a week,6 day week, (US$30) and 167 pesos a day (US$5.50). This is what they live on each month without tips and if they receive no tips they are still able to survive on this amount. Anything they receive above this amount is the proverbial icing on the cake.
Before anyone jumps on my figures remember that I am talking about an average amount and there are those jobs that pay more but at the same time there are many jobs that pay less so I chose 4,000.
If you should tip a fiver to your maid you have just doubled her daily wages. If she has 10 more clients like you she has raised her daily income by 600%. By her normal survival standards she is now on easy street and it has been my experience that the production from workers in this position deteriorates due to their determination that this is normal procedure of tourists and do not equate it to services rendered. This is just their way of thinking and I don?t think it will ever change.
The same mentality is apparent in a restaurant. Dominican law states that a 26% tax is to be added to the bill. 16% for the state and 10% for services rendered. Some restaurants obey this law and some don?t. Some restaurants give the 10% to their staff, which includes cooks, and some don?t. In some restaurants any tip you leave on the table is to be divided up among the entire staff. With this in mind then what is the possibility you will receive excellent service from your waitress if she knows that her service tip is going to be split among the entire staff verses if she knew that you where going to tip her away from the eyes of the owner or other employees.
Having rambled on with all my nonsense then let me say that I hope you enjoy yourself here in paradise and advise you not to go overboard with your tipping. If you really want to make a difference here I would suggest that you take some of your excess money and buy some pencils and notebooks of paper and hand them out to the children in the streets that you see going to or coming from school.
Rick