tipping

[DandyDon]

Yeah that was a bit confusing. I get the impression that Paco is a good natured* fellow who is not fluent in English but is trying his best here.

* Why is google spelling objecting to that word? :silly:

 

[jfcl01]

Seems to me you just stated that you do what you claim is done by other shops....? I would consider it "strange" for the owner of a company to determine whether or not the captain was helping or joking enough to warrant a fair tip without the divers input. Aren't your captains your employees and know what the shop policy and expectation is about how to treat customers? In your first paragraph you warn us about giving money to the owners, then in the second paragraph you tell us how your owner handles the tips...

Sounds like the people on your boats are liked trained monkeys working for tips, rather than dive professionals that appreciate a tip for excellent service. If your captains are not employees, then I could see how you never know what kind of service you'll be getting and have to make adjustments accordingly.

If I can smell that a service provider is just goofing for tips, I am far more reluctant to tip them than I would be a competent professional sincerely going the extra mile to make my experience more enjoyable. I've been on boats where it felt like the diving safety was secondary to the floating floor show, and I didn't appreciate it at all. This is not "open mike" night on a boat.

I have given tips to the owner of the op I use every time. In every instance, I have been asked how I would like that tip divided among the crew. I find it much more convenient to charge my tips at the end of the week rather than go to the ATM repeatedly to get enough pesos to cover everybody and carry it with me on each dive day.(I usually dive with a group of 4-7, so the tips are a pretty big part of our overall cost)

Yeah that was a bit confusing. I get the impression that Paco is a good natured* fellow who is not fluent in English but is trying his best here.

* Why is google spelling objecting to that word? :silly:

True dat DD.
Read harder, JayJoans. Or slower. There's nothing about monkeys in his post.
While I have never met him, I'm pretty sure Paco was mastering his second or third language while you and I were arguing with the grade school teachers about why the crust wasn't cut off our sandwiches.

 

[jfcl01]

And he is fluent in English BTW.

 

[DandyDon]

And he is fluent in English BTW.

Well, he may well be, especially in a two way, personal conversion, but in written expressions maybe there can be some confusion.

 

[jayjoans]

True dat DD.
Read harder, JayJoans. Or slower. There's nothing about monkeys in his post.

Not sure how one is supposed to "read harder?"

I was interested in the fact that Paco included "joking" as a measurement as to whether someone received a full tip from Blanca or not.
I hope you can see that I generally understand his point, that someone on the boat has to be personable and friendly, but having had experiences while on vacation with service providers that seem to think it is incumbent on them to provide a cheesy lounge act while on the excursion, my recollection of these people were of trained monkeys only performing for tips and not for the satisfaction of the customer.

 

[ggunn]

I tip daily, immediately after the dive. That gives me the opportunity to tip more if the DM and captain did something above and beyond that day. Also, it feels a little less painful to me to pay it out a little at a time...

 

[PacoBLUEProject]

Haha! No, no, no...

I'm sorry, the word "Joking" was definitely not the good one. "Good mood" or "cool" would be a lot better.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[sharky60]

I tip daily, immediately after the dive. That gives me the opportunity to tip more if the DM and captain did something above and beyond that day. Also, it feels a little less painful to me to pay it out a little at a time...

Same with us, tip by the day at the end of the dive, for the same reasons.

 

[ClumsyCuttlefish]

Maybe a stupid question, but what about tipping in Canada? I just realized that I always tip DM when I go on vocation, but never thought if it is appropriate to tip in my own country!

 

[MMM]

Maybe a stupid question, but what about tipping in Canada? I just realized that I always tip DM when I go on vocation, but never thought if it is appropriate to tip in my own country!

I seldom dive in Canada (WWW). But if there's a shop DM taking you out, then tipping would likely be in order. If you are just part of a group that rotates who leads the dive, then no.