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CakedecT
Junior Nomad
Posts: 29
Registered: 1-28-2014
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Tipping in Baja
I have been here three months now. A few questions about tipping.....the people who bag your groceries? The people taking care of the restroom at
Pemex? The people who help you park your car? The guy in the parking lot at Soriana who helps you load your groceries and keeps the parking lot
clean? How much is appropriate?
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Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3567
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
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I tip between 10 and 20 pesos. Includes panhandler's too.
Some people have problems with this: I tip 10 pesos whether the Pemex attendant clean's my windows or not.
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J.P.
Super Nomad
Posts: 1673
Registered: 7-8-2010
Location: Punta Banda
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Mood: Easy Does It
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CakedecT
I have been here three months now. A few questions about tipping.....the people who bag your groceries? The people taking care of the restroom at
Pemex? The people who help you park your car? The guy in the parking lot at Soriana who helps you load your groceries and keeps the parking lot
clean? How much is appropriate? |
People providing the services you listed above and many more ,Usually are not paid anything( O nada) buy the buisness. The TIP is their total
income.
Let your conscience be your guide as to the amount as to the amount of the tip.
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watizname
Senior Nomad
Posts: 786
Registered: 8-7-2009
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I don't think Mexico has welfare. These people are out there trying to put food on the table. If they help you out, I think a small tip is
appropriate. Like Lee said 10 to 20 P's. If they ask and you don't want their services, then you don't have to tip.
I yam what I yam and that\'s all what I yam.
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apple
Nomad
Posts: 284
Registered: 11-4-2013
Location: SD
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Just a few pesos to the kids bagging groceries. Give 'em too much and soon they'll be making more than their dads!
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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I tip the gasoline guy 5 pesos for cleaning windows on my small truck. I tip the groceries baggers 1% if total price paid for groceries exceeds $100
pesos. Didn't realize that parking guy keeps the parking lot clean, so I will tip him something...even though that is the landlords entire
responsibility for keeping common areas in shape for which he is reimbursed by the tenant for common area maintenance that is paid by tenant to
landlord.
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J.P.
Super Nomad
Posts: 1673
Registered: 7-8-2010
Location: Punta Banda
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Mood: Easy Does It
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| Quote: | Originally posted by apple
Just a few pesos to the kids bagging groceries. Give 'em too much and soon they'll be making more than their dads! |
I have never seen a kid bagging groceries in Ensenada, It's normaly Sr. Citizen's 
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apple
Nomad
Posts: 284
Registered: 11-4-2013
Location: SD
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They are almost all kids in La Paz
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DianaT
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Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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We think tipping is different and depends on the circumstances. We usually do 10 to 20 pesos for the grocery baggers, the window washer at the gas
station and more for the person watching the car, in the parking lot, who also helps with loading and directing traffic (we can never shut our windows
all the way because of the dog or dogs).
Restaurants are where we have had problems with other gringos. It really is their business, unless they are with us. Many times we have slipped
people more money when the others have some locked in view that something like 10% is an absolute. This is especially true if it is a rather large
group and everyone wants separate checks. We do it on the sly because we don't want to make an issue out of it, but gees, I guess many people have
never worked where they depended upon tips for their living.
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mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
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The DJ Market in San Felipe usually has a school child (in his/her uniform) bagging for tips. We give them two bucks. Restaurant...I do the same as in
the States....good service 15-20%.....bad service is lucky to get a few bucks.
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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sancho
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2524
Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
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Not exactly tipping, but yrs. back parking on the street
in Ensenada, this 10 yr old kid asked for $ to WATCH
the car while I was gone, I replied I don't need that,
which he pulled out one of the old can openers, said
if I didn't give him $, he would scratch the car, perfect
extorcion
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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"We exist on our wages"
"We live on our tips"
Multiple nights in a hotel I can afford - 20 peso note left on the pillow. When I get back, replaced bedding, a mountain of towels, soap, and scrubbed
floor (it's the daily dust not negligence).
The little girls in mercado sotres squabble as to which one gets to help me. They fetch items from different parts of the store, find stuff I cannot,
wheel the cart around then outside to the car and unload bags into the trunk. Their reward is ten pesos plus -juice- of their choice. A small rule, no
colas. The cajeras (cash register clerks) give me warm smiles.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DavidE
"We live on our tips"
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That's worse than begging. In fact, it is begging. I don't ever remember hearing this, and hope I don't although I know it's true....and that's
the problem.
Employers, such as supermarkets, have a workforce that embellishes their business, as well as their bottom line, and refuses to pay for it,
transferring the responsibility to the customer. In effect, it's a price raise.
In Mexico, where workers rights are held in high regard, this is no more than a government gift to big business and will continue as long as wages
are held dismally low and people are kept needy through the ever raising cost of living.
It isn't just them. There are restaurants in my area that have live entertainment catering to the expat crowd, that won't pay the musicians. They
have the balls to put in their advertising that tips are their pay, and the local numbnuts customers think nothing of it.
Gawwwwwdammmm...I repel from this.
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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oxxo
Banned
Posts: 2347
Registered: 5-17-2006
Location: Wherever I am, I'm there
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Mood: If I was feeling any better, I'd be twins!
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I know a Mexican man very well, about 40 years old. He works as a "wheelchair pusher" at the Alaska terminal (terminal 2) in San Jose del Cabo. He
gets paid nothing. He works strictly for tips. He says that most people think he is an employee of Alaska Airlines and is paid by them for this
customer service. He is not! I asked him what he thought a fair tip is for his service. He said he would like to get US$5 for a push from the
ticket counter upstairs to boarding and waiting with them for boarding and vice versa. He gets maybe 4 or 5 pushes a day because he has to take turns
with several others who do the same thing at this terminal. I asked him who the best tippers are. He said Americans aren't too bad. He said
Canadians (he speaks English, is friendly, and asks where people are from) are generally terrible and when they tip it is usually US$1. But he saves
his greatest scorn for wealthy Mexicans who almost never tip, not even 10p.
We probably over tip, but criticize me if you want. If we see that someone in our group at dinner is stiffing the wait staff, we just quietly hand
the staff some more pesos on our way out. It's no big deal.
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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One of the few areas I can easily find myself in hot water over is when I suffer the bragging of a "macho" self-proclaimed rico who revels in relating
tales of how he screws the "gente" meaning ordinary worker. Forced overtime, just a few hours late showing up with the week's sueldo (cash).
I listened to "Antonio" the "Injinero" brag how he screwed Las Penas, when the well motor was replaced. Bastard bragged about how many homes he owned
and how "his price" is what he was going to pay in the hotel whether I liked it or not. He was no engineer. When he was on the patio spouting his
macho I insulted him with questions about hydrology which was not even my major. Yeah good old sarcastic me -- when I got through with him his crew
was rolling around on the patio sick with laughter. Then I shut down the power and the water. Didn't need to change the locks on the room doors. Just
let the windows open at dusk so a few hundred mosquitoes could enter.
When I returned from the states I brought a new C frame farm duty totally enclosed well pump & motor. Stainless steel. Found it on Craig's List in
Silver City New Mexico. It took almost a year for the town to repay me for the motor but the @#$%^&! was out of a job forever. Rumor has it he got
drunk and threatened to put a contract out on me. Some really bad-asses from Bejuco let him know they would dissolve him in acid if he tried it.
Got to control my temper. I do not do good around macho ricos...
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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J.P.
Super Nomad
Posts: 1673
Registered: 7-8-2010
Location: Punta Banda
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Mood: Easy Does It
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| Quote: | [/quot
It isn't just them. There are restaurants in my area that have live entertainment catering to the expat crowd, that won't pay the musicians. They
have the balls to put in their advertising that tips are their pay, and the local numbnuts customers think nothing of it.
Gawwwwwdammmm...I repel from this. |
I will not darken their door for that reason and a few more.
 
[Edited on 2-14-2014 by J.P.]
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willardguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6451
Registered: 9-19-2009
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| Quote: | Originally posted by oxxo
I know a Mexican man very well, about 40 years old. He works as a "wheelchair pusher" at the Alaska terminal (terminal 2) in San Jose del Cabo. He
gets paid nothing. He works strictly for tips. He says that most people think he is an employee of Alaska Airlines and is paid by them for this
customer service. He is not! I asked him what he thought a fair tip is for his service. He said he would like to get US$5 for a push from the
ticket counter upstairs to boarding and waiting with them for boarding and vice versa. He gets maybe 4 or 5 pushes a day because he has to take turns
with several others who do the same thing at this terminal. I asked him who the best tippers are. He said Americans aren't too bad. He said
Canadians (he speaks English, is friendly, and asks where people are from) are generally terrible and when they tip it is usually US$1. But he saves
his greatest scorn for wealthy Mexicans who almost never tip, not even 10p.
We probably over tip, but criticize me if you want. If we see that someone in our group at dinner is stiffing the wait staff, we just quietly hand
the staff some more pesos on our way out. It's no big deal. |
gawddamn the pusher man. geeeze we miss you
Hoyt!
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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On my way for morning coffee across from the mercado municipal in Mazatlan sat a legless man on top of a Mitla blanket. Impeccably dressed including
felt cowboy hat. Beside him was a enamel blue cup. He did not beg. I felt it was my "duty" to contribute 10 pesos every morning passing by. His reply
"God Will Repay You". He was so clean, well-shaven, with crisply pressed clothes he made me feel self-conscipus
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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sd
Nomad
Posts: 487
Registered: 3-19-2008
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I am just a visitor on my many trips. First time I drove down into remote areas I experienced hard workers with limited opportunities. In my car now
for my next trip down are several pairs of quality gloves for ranchers I will meet, and I will have small items for kids I see.
Tipping I am generous when I can be. So many great people trying to provide for their families. The Alaska Airlines story educates me, I had no idea.
I don't need their assistance but will give them some $$ when I see them.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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"Gifting" and "Tipping" are different. For me, tipping implies service.
Ohhh....I dunno. This tipping thing has morphed into a "redistribution of wealth" nightmare.
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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