I can see we identified another that enjoys taking advantage of service people.
- Thread starter arete92
- Start date
Treatment as foreigner
We should all live according to local cultural standards and expectations.
And this is why Dominicans in Sosua and Cabarete which are areas I know, are different than Dominicans who do not have access to ex-pats.
WE ruin THEM and if there is blame to be had it is ours.
And this is why Dominicans in Sosua and Cabarete which are areas I know, are different than Dominicans who do not have access to ex-pats.
WE ruin THEM and if there is blame to be had it is ours.
could you kindly expound on "ruin them" , how is being generous to a person that goes the extra mile in being conscious of our safety, security and comfort being "ruined". I will always live by the mantra "take care of the people who take care of me".
I treat the people around me same as people around them treat them and I expect nothing less, nothing more in return.
I get treated very well in the Dominican Republic by not only Dominicans but Haitians, Venezuelans, Italians and Canadians as well.
How you are treated in the Dominican Republic as a foreigner has more to do with you than them.
I get treated very well in the Dominican Republic by not only Dominicans but Haitians, Venezuelans, Italians and Canadians as well.
How you are treated in the Dominican Republic as a foreigner has more to do with you than them.
1. As someone else already pointed out, USD is not the currency in the DR.
2. I do not set the prices with my barber, he does. The barber shop is in fact his own business. The tip, as far as I have universally understood (not just in the DR), is proportional to the service charge. Do you set the prices for the services you purchase?
3. So if 10 Dominican customers pay x price, because that's what the barber has decided to charge them, I should, as a foreigner, pay something else for the exact same service?
4. Yes, I know he even talks quite a bit "behind my back", because my FIL has gone to that barber shop for over two decades and he and my barber are friends... Ever since the pandemic, the barber has in fact missed me... It's always a good idea to assume different things without knowing other persons...
I'm a bit baffled due how this thread is going, as people always complain about "gringo prices" and this thread (or some posts rather) practically promotes those... LindseyKaufmann put it quite nicely above...
I think that I get regular Dominican prices now in most places. I don't tip big but I do give a little extra sometimes to persons that provide service over and above. The pollería guys always give my dogs chicken heads, I buy them coffee. The taxi guy waits for me at the market I get him something in the market and he never asked me for pay he says to give what I want. The empanada guys that give my dogs an empanada get a banana or 2. I don't make much so can't give much but I always say thank you and smile and do what I can.
Prices are subject all over. Even when I lived in Ana María Island Florida the doctors and other service providers charged the tourists and snow birds more. If you lived there you got a lower price.
Prices are subject all over. Even when I lived in Ana María Island Florida the doctors and other service providers charged the tourists and snow birds more. If you lived there you got a lower price.
stay committed to your values. Keep sticking it to the service workers. That 5 or 10 dollars you save will change your life for sure. When you check into a hotel and the bellman drags all your bags to your room, give him a banana. He would rather have that than a cash tip and he will most certainly keep an eye out for you.
It's also different in Santo Domingo. There aren't enough foreigners, and there are plenty of Dominicans with money but who won't over-pay or over-tip, so things are reasonable. The minute I step into a touristy area like Bavaro I'm surprised by how the chapiadoring steps up a gear. Lindsay is right, if foreigners keep going around dropping large tips, then everyone starts to expect them.
It's just the same comparison as between Europe (where you either tip or you have a % service charge added, but never both) and the US (where you are always expected to tip).
Give good service, get a good tip.
Give bad service and you get advice/ a different type of tip, next time give better service.
Give bad service and you get advice/ a different type of tip, next time give better service.
Tipping has been around long before all of us posters have been here. It is not just people from the US who tip. IMO it depends on the person not so much the nationality. Though I do understand in some cultures tipping is not as common. Being a foreigner is it more expected of me? Maybe but I do not think of it that way. I have always been of the mindset good service=good tip. Some people that travel on business may tip more because it is a company expense/write-off, I have seen this more in Santo Domingo. There are also positions/jobs where the employee/worker makes the bulk of their money in tips. Does it influence the treatment of a foreigner, possibly. Again, it is something that has been going on for years and years. I doubt it will change ever.
Look at the All-inclusives. Americans very often tip the bartenders and wait staff. Europeans are quite horrified at this, generally saying that if there's no check to pay, there's no tip. My point is that tipping in Santo Domingo is far less expected than in Bavaro, unless you're in tourist hot-spots like Jalao or Pat e Palo where the staff stress that they need a tip on top of everything.
I've been everywhere, and there's one thing that holds true no matter what: There exists nowhere in this world where giving extra cash to someone will not gain you favor.
I dunno, I used to always get pretty good service from bartenders if I gave them a nice tip on my first drink. Looong time ago..
I agree with you on tipping in Santo Domingo. Honestly at the AI's the bartenders/waitstaff IMO deserve the tips they get. They work hard, and some of the clientele demand a lot of them. We have many friends from Europe, I really have never seen them react any which way toward tipping. They always tip, at least when I have been with them. There is a lot of discussion about tipping on different travel sites, so I do see where different cultures have varying opinions on it. I have been accustomed to tipping (good service) my entire life so to me it is not a big issue. When I first started coming to the DR back in the early 80's while working for the airlines, we would stay at the Sheraton Hotel. I would always leave a tip in the room as housekeeping would provide us with water, extra towels, etc... We were always appreciative of the service.
It should be noted that this is a practice that should be done at any hotel, anywhere, no matter business or pleasure. I have also been known to leave a tip at the cabañas on the Autopista San Isidro in Santo Domingo
Fulano, I used the term in general ok..sorry. Would it have been better if I named each friends country, would that work for you...SMH
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We are in the DR. I don’t expect Americans in the DR to know many of the differences in the cultures in Europe. In some countries the minimum wage is higher than most places and it’s not very common to tip. I think in some Northern European countries it’s like that.