Do you tip if the 10% Service Fee is included in the bill?

[rubio_higuey]

What do you care how the salary is calculated and who it comers from.

Well, I do care. If it is a service charge, "I" pay the wages of restaurant staff, and the owner keeps the profit from the meal price.

If (as done in Europe and other parts of Latin America) there is no "service charge" to pay staff wages, the owners have to pay their staff's wages from "THEIR" profit.

Now, don't tell me that if there was no service charge that the prices would be actually higher to compensate for the wages.... not true. It is a difference whether you charge a 500 pesos pizza or 750 pesos pizza...the same pizza...
If the pizza place does add taxes, it might seem that in case service charge is eliminated and wages paid by the woner in full, and the tax is mandated to be included in price, that in that case a 500 pesos pizza + taxes would go up to 750 pesos under "no additional taxes/service charge scenario". But no!!. They will NOT increase the final price. Why? Because there will be new competition that opens up to sell 500 pesos pizza final rate. Why? Because there is hefty profit. Where there is a "higher than regular" profit to be made competition comes in and runs the prices down until the equilibrum is (re)established. (Economics 101).

 

[b.batista]

Well, I do care. If it is a service charge, "I" pay the wages of restaurant staff, and the owner keeps the profit from the meal price.

How can you believe that story that someone invented. The employees would have an inspector there faster than you can say bubblegum. Some tonto suggested that was how it happens and it is not true. The employees get the 10% and if the boss tries to take it he will pay 100 time the price when they take him to court.

 

[apostropheman]

I guess ignorance really IS bliss

If you chose to eat at a restaurant that charged 99 pesos for your lunch plate then added the 10% service charge and %16% tax totalling 125 pesos, mas o menos, how would that differ from the restaurant down the street offering a similar lunch for 125 pesos with the service charge and the tax hidden in the price?

Hint: it wouldn't except possibly in your perception.

It's like what happened in Ontario when the Government did away with the goods and services tax being calculated within the list price of things and started charging a sererate GST along with the provincial sales tax. People did not really understand the facts or rational and were all up in arms, basically over nothing. This smells the same...ignorance of the facts and a kneejerk reaction.

Well, I do care. If it is a service charge, "I" pay the wages of restaurant staff, and the owner keeps the profit from the meal price.

If (as done in Europe and other parts of Latin America) there is no "service charge" to pay staff wages, the owners have to pay their staff's wages from "THEIR" profit.

Now, don't tell me that if there was no service charge that the prices would be actually higher to compensate for the wages.... not true. It is a difference whether you charge a 500 pesos pizza or 750 pesos pizza...the same pizza...
If the pizza place does add taxes, it might seem that in case service charge is eliminated and wages paid by the woner in full, and the tax is mandated to be included in price, that in that case a 500 pesos pizza + taxes would go up to 750 pesos under "no additional taxes/service charge scenario". But no!!. They will NOT increase the final price. Why? Because there will be new competition that opens up to sell 500 pesos pizza final rate. Why? Because there is hefty profit. Where there is a "higher than regular" profit to be made competition comes in and runs the prices down until the equilibrum is (re)established. (Economics 101).

As for businesses charging different prices for what you perceive as the same product, competition, etc...is a totally different topic than in the OP.

 

[dv8]

i do more or less what dominicans do: in a place that serves plato del dia that costs 100 pesos i pay 100 pesos.
in a restaurant i leave the tip depending on the service and the bill. service bad = no monies. service good = tip, depending on how much change i have. i don't care about %, heck, i would not be able to calculate that even with the calculator in hand! :bunny:

 

[jrzyguy]

well...i have to admit on my first trip to the DR i didnt tip. Even tho i worked for years as a waiter/bartender...i heard that in other countries the tip is in included in the service fee.

Of course i DO tip in the DR now. But just generaly 10% (directly to the employee. My dominican friends say that is more than fine and that to over tip one looks like a fool.

One year there was a hotel worker who i didnt get the chance to tip as she had the day off when I was leaving. I made sure to give her 300 pesos right away on my next visit.

I've also noticed that if if you tip the maids daily...your room is taken much better care of. But actually...i dont need daily maid service. Its nice...but all i need are clean towels.

 

[rubio_higuey]

If you chose to eat at a restaurant that charged 99 pesos for your lunch plate then added the 10% service charge and %16% tax totalling 125 pesos, mas o menos, how would that differ from the restaurant down the street offering a similar lunch for 125 pesos with the service charge and the tax hidden in the price?

Hint: it wouldn't except possibly in your perception.

Please RE-READ carefully my post. The "similar lunch" at a restaurant down the street would not be 125 pesos, it would be 99 pesos final. Economics 101. Where there is extensive profit to be made, new competition will enter until such extensive profit is eliminated and the equilibrium (re)established.

 

[MrMike]

Having spent time as a waiter when younger I consider it an obligation to tip well, however I have also found that in the DR (outside of tourist areas) tipping well will not get you better service on the return visit, but rather brand you as a pushover who is easy to please. You will be expected to tolerate poor and/or slow service since you are now "friends" with the waiter.

Now I usually just tip whatver change is left over from paying the bill, within reason, never more than 10-15%, sometimes less or nothing if the service is especially poor.

Any more than that and you are just distinguishing yourself as someone easy to take advantage of.

 

[El Tigre]

Having spent time as a waiter when younger I consider it an obligation to tip well, however I have also found that in the DR (outside of tourist areas) tipping well will not get you better service on the return visit, but rather brand you as a pushover who is easy to please. You will be expected to tolerate poor and/or slow service since you are now "friends" with the waiter.

Now I usually just tip whatver change is left over from paying the bill, within reason, never more than 10-15%, sometimes less or nothing if the service is especially poor.

Any more than that and you are just distinguishing yourself as someone easy to take advantage of.

Couldn't have said it better.

When I started to frequently visit the island during one of my first visits I gave a waiter at the Kukaramakara rest a $500 peso tip. The guy looked and me and laughed. I knew immediately he was laughin at me for being a dumba$$. :cheeky:

 

[badpiece33]

See my previous post about most of the people posting on DR1 as being "cheap Skates"
These waiters and waitresses work for 200 pesos a day and work long hours and you guys cant find it in your heart to leave a little tip!!! Then you all go on and preach about how much you want to help the people of DR and bring school supplies etc... But God forbid you leave a 100 peso tip (3dollar) not a 30 dollar tip you would leave in the states. Do you guys also really believe the owners give their employees the service charge on the bill? I think not in most cases. Well you guys continue being cheap and I will continue to tip my waiter,waitresses and bartenders and continue to get superior service while you bitch and moan when you cant get the waiters attention.

 

[liam1]

if the owner is a punk and doesn't share the 10% i paid, why would i feel sorry for the waitress and pay the 10% again? also i used to eat in restaurants twice or sometimes 3 times a day, if i tip 100 RD every time, that's at least 6000 RD a month, which is not much, but i know people who could use it more than the waitress who already has salary, and the fact that her boss is stealing from him/her is between the 2 of them. but with me it's more about principle. it is my decision whether i want to tip or not, and i don't want it forced on me.

also shouldn't it then make more sense to tip the gas-station guy who pumps your fuel, he also makes minimum wage and they don't charge the 10% Service Fee?

 

[ExtremeR]

Couldn't have said it better.

When I started to frequently visit the island during one of my first visits I gave a waiter at the Kukaramakara rest a $500 peso tip. The guy looked and me and laughed. I knew immediately he was laughin at me for being a dumba$$. :cheeky:

Damn, that was rude and stupid of the waiter part, more if you are a Dominican that I think you are. Whenever I go to a Bar or Disco and spend more than RD$2,500 I always leave a 400 or 500 tip prompting a VIP treatment whenever I come back to the place.

Once I arrived to the place and it was full "hasta el topete" with lots of people outside and inside standing up. Then the waiter who already knows me saw me and told me to wait 5 minutes, after the minutes passed by the guy arranged a table in the middle of the bar with 4 chairs, the drinks already served and a picadera on the way.

If I just consume a couple of beers making the total no more than RD$300 I only leave 100 pesos, if you leave more than that then yes you could be confused for a fool.

 

[Ceasar Garcia]

Here is a good one. Pala Pizza charges 10 % for take out. When I have said something they say it is in the computer and, they cannot not change it.

 

[AK74]

Employees work for employer not for a customer. So employer must pay salary to employees, not customers. Customers do not have to fill for a greedy employer who wants to save on salaries to his workers.

I am employer myself. I pay salaries to my employees. I do not expect other people to do it for me.

Why three-four smart new business owners in Sosua must be exception I wonder?

Why Bayley`s charge "10%", "16%", "tips" for the same quality of food and service that other negocios just across the street do not??!