Indonesia questions about tipping/gratuities

[berndo]

It's disheartening. It's why I haven't been a regular forum visitor for years...I come and go, and mostly treat it as a read only resource.

Just don't take anything you read too seriously. Probably the best way to go with any blog or forum and stuff like that. This is kind of like reality TV in text form. Like the Kardashians, just more scuba and fewer big a$$es. Or more or less proverbial big a$$es.

 

[Scubagermany]

Oh dear. Will ass be censored as well?

Edit: no it will not

 

[Eyegore]

BTW - who or what is Ange?

Vexation, perhaps?

 

[Lorenzoid]

I don't disagree with you. For me it's about ethics and ensuring that someone who is providing me a service (particularly when diving) is recompensed in the manner I would recompense my own employees for similar services. You do you.

I'm not asking you to give me or anyone else here permission to do as we think is right. "Ethics" does not seem to me to be related to the idea here of customers making up the shortfall in the incomes of people whom the customer believes are not being paid enough. The ethical issue here might be for the employer, but definitely not the customer.

It is not only acceptable [for rich people to tip more than people of modest means], it is how the world turns. YEWV.

Then why in the US do we have a "customary" or "typical" figure such as 20%? It should be a sliding scale then, based on one's income. You input your income to a formula, and you're advised how much to tip. Yet the expectation is very different in reality.

That's their problem [that rich people tipping extravagantly might make it awkward for their fellow liveaboard guests].

You don't seem to have a lot of compassion for the feelings of your fellow liveaboard guests. The crew knows who tipped extravagantly and who left a modest tip, and they don't know you're some rich guy while the other guest scrimped and saved for this trip of his lifetime. Sure, the liveaboard guest who left the modest tip may never be the wiser--it's not like the crew is going to track him down--but threads like this suggest there are people out there who don't care how their fellow guests might feel.

 

[Scubagermany]

then it seems to me it would be acceptable for wealthier people to tip more,

To me that should alway be the case. If you have plenty you should not be stingy.

When I am in Egypt I tip a lot. I alvays get a few hundred Euros in 5 Euro bills and spend them all on tips. Not because I feel I have to tip but to show the people who are making me have a great time my appreciation. An Egyptian waiter earns about 200 euros per month.

 

[Scubagermany]

Then why in the US do we have a "customary" or "typical" figure such as 20%

I am getting older. When I used to be in the US it was 10%...
Sorry I wanted to edit two quotes in one reply but it did not work.

 

[Lorenzoid]

When I am in Egypt I tip a lot. I alvays get a few hundred Euros in 5 Euro bills and spend them all on tips. Not because I feel I have to tip but to show the people who are making me have a great time my appreciation. An Egyptian waiter earns about 200 euros per month.

Well, this thread is about what the cultural norm is for tipping in Indonesia, not Egypt, so I'll be brief. In Egypt, as I'm guessing you know well, it's a cultural thing to keep the machinery of commerce running smoothly by handing out small amounts of money (usually well under 5 euros--you ARE generous!) to just about everyone you deal with--baksheesh, I think they call it, correct? Is it a tip? Is it a bribe? Is it its own unique thing unlike anywhere else in the world? Who knows. But the point is, that's the cultural norm in Egypt. There are other threads in which someone asked what to do when in Egypt. In the US, there is the cultural norm of some closely fixed percent of the bill, which as you point out, has crept up over the years. But I digress. In Indonesia, the cultural norm is what several people who either live there or travel there frequently described in the first few pages of this thread.

 

[Scubagermany]

Well, this thread is about what the cultural norm is for tipping in Indonesia, not Egypt, so I'll be brief. In Egypt, as I'm guessing you know well, it's a cultural thing to keep the machinery of commerce running smoothly by handing out small amounts of money (usually well under 5 euros--you ARE generous!) to just about everyone you deal with--baksheesh, I think they call it, correct? Is it a tip? Is it a bribe? Is it its own unique thing unlike anywhere else in the world? Who knows. But the point is, that's the cultural norm in Egypt. There are other threads in which someone asked what to do when in Egypt. In the US, there is the cultural norm of some closely fixed percent of the bill, which as you point out, has crept up over the years. But I digress. In Indonesia, the cultural norm is what several people who either live there or travel there frequently described in the first few pages of this thread.

I was just answering to your post (See quote) and used Egypt as an example.
You are right about the things you Worte except that this is not unique to Egypt.
Since I have never been to Indonesia I can not relate any of my "tipping habits".
I still think that the ""haves" should alway be generous to the "have nots "

 

[Lorenzoid]

I still think that the ""haves" should alway be generous to the "have nots "

Great! I'm a "have-not." Or at least I'm a "have-less." It would be wonderful if my fellow liveaboard guests who are "haves" generously assist people like me in paying our shared crew enough to compensate for their low wages.

 

[Beth3141]

Just let me know if I'll insult my host if I forget to give thanks for the meal before breaking bread.

I was on the Damai II in 2018 and again last month. Tipping 10% of the trip price of the liveaboard may sound like a lot, but the crew is large (15 or 16) and is on the boat 24/7. On the Damai, I began to wonder when some of them slept. For an 11-night/12-day trip a $1000 tip spread over the crew doesn't amount to over-tipping in my view – about $6/day per crew member.