I don't know about dive op employees, but waiters in some places in Europe earn not only a full wage but health insurance and paid vacation. They do not expect tips.
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I have always been a person who believes in tipping for service above and beyond.
After reading Herb-alaska's Open letter to boat dive masters I started wondering about different tipping practices around the world. Coming from a basically non-tipping (except some minor tipping in restaurants) culture in Scandinavia, I still have problems adapting to the extensive tipping expected from a customer in e.g. the US, particularly WRT the "correct" size of a tip in a given situation
I'd appreciate if people could chime in with their opinions/experiences regarding tipping DMs, guides and boat captains in their part of the world, so I don't make a fool of myself if I'm diving abroad. I'm particularly interested in practice in the US and Europe, but tipping practices in other parts of the world would also be interesting.
I'll start:
Nationality: Norwegian
Dive site country: Norway
Tipping: I don't tip the DM or the boat captain.
PS: If this post is in the wrong subforum, I apologize in advance