JEK said:
A good custom for a world traveler to adopt I'd say
I don't want to push my habits to other countries. There are plenty of habits, like taking off yours shoes at the airport, that I don't want to see spread but do follow if they're the norm.
Not everyone start by tipping their mothers for breast feeding. No other country hand out tips as often or as large as the Americans do.
If I'm already spending half of my arm to pay for a hotel room or a villa, why don't the owner just charge a $5 more to pay a decent wage to the housekeeping? What if the hotel has two maids, do I wait until they show up to see how many there is? What if I don't have suitable money, or local currency at all?What if I run out of envelopes, where do you get them in a villa anyway? After all you need to tip every day because you don't know if the housekeeping person is the same every day. Do you really, really know that your tips even get to the maid?
When we travel, we do check what is the culture at the destination(s). You really need to know if tipping is the norm or if it's considered an insult, or something in between.
Just think about going to Japan, the person serving you is bowing and you are offering him money? They don't tip in Japan and it's even considered rude to count your change after paying the bill. If you leave any money on the table, they'll run after you.
In St. Barth we usually follow the french customs, leave something for the good food and/or service. We do consider it insulting if there's a 15% service charge included in the bill and a big, red stamp "Tip not included". That's for the fools.
