tipping the maid

Steve,

Just read your cancun blog where you mention that tipping maids in any luxury hotel is not common.

I would bet to differ as it is my understanding the only income the maids make is their tips. We typically stay in timeshare which simply means we stay 7 days and were just at a riviera maya resort where we had a day maid who did the cleaning and an afternoon maid who turned down the beds and towels etc.

we tipped the woman who did the main cleaning 250 pesos per week and the other 100 pesos per week.

also my wife said her last week was at a budget all inclusive and there was virtually no tipping even for bell boys etc.

To me tipping is vitally important. We could get into a philosophical discussion about employers paying a living wage but, we know they dont

 

I will probably get hammered for this, but I believe that "when in Mexico" ...do as the Mexicans do. First of all, I doubt seriously that the maid works for no wages. There is a minimum wage law in Mexico, just as in the States. About the only places I have heard of where the people are not (necessarily) paid, are the baggers at the supers, WalMart, etc. They DO commonly work for tips only, and the Mexicans in front of me in line, frequently donate their small change to the bagger. That and at gas stations, for some reason...but the locals do it, and therefore so do I.

Mexicans who tip at restaurants (and many don't) rarely exceed 10%, and usually it is considerably less. I have seen parties of 10 leave no tip...or maybe 20 pesos after a 1000+ peso tab.

Point is, that it is easy to "feel sorry" for someone less fortunate than ourselves, but poverty is a relative (and maybe abstract?) term. If you go into a "poor" (by our standards) community, made of nothing but rundown shantys, and ask, the people there will say, (sometimes rather indignantly)..."We are not poor!" I have been to about 30 different countries, and have found this to be almost universally true.
In fact, go into some of these towns on a weekend and see some of the fun they have on Saturday nights, with music, food and dancing Many outsiders see this and feel those peoples' lives are richer than their own.

Steve's ghost writer is probably correct, if he/she is a Mexican. So my advice is to ask around first. Of course it is too late for Cancun, a beautiful place that many Mexicans outside of Cancun, consider not to be a part of Mexico anymore.....like San Miguel Allende and the Lake Chapala areas, where the American/European expats have created their own little foreign communities, complete with high prices, just like NoB. To tip uncustomarily (or uncustomarily high), or to pay a higher price for something, just because it is still a lot cheaper than in the States, just fuels the fire. Sorry to rant.

 

I beg to differ with the previous poster, Mexicans most certainly do tip at Restaurants. Pretty much all of my friends are Mexican, They ALL tip and tip 15%. After over 20 years in the Restuarant business I can say that the only people that do not tip are generally from Europe so much so that tip is added to the bill when Europeans dine, that is because in Europe many places Tip is included in the bill.

 

My Mexican husband is the world's biggest cheapskate, but he ALWAYS tips in restaurants. He tips between 10% and 15%...unless I push him to tip 20% (which I will do on the rare occasion that service is actually good).

 

Having spent the past week with Mexican friends visiting from Mexico City, I can say we normally tipped 15% and tipped 20% for really great service.

Without starting a whole side discussion, I suspect that there's a socio-economic stratification when it comes to tipping. Just my opinion.

 

I always tip at least 10% myself, although I don't think I've ever gone to 20%. But this thread didn't start about tipping in restaurants. I merely used the "restaurant scenario" as an example of my experiences in restaurants throughout different areas in Mexico.

 

Man I hate that - what gives restaurant owners the right to decide how much I have to tip? I am from Europe and always tip very well if the service is good (doesn't even have to be excellent). I seriously will not eat at places here that add the tip to the bill - Why should I be forced to tip 15 or 20% if the service was slow or bad? A tip is optional - if the person deserves it then I have no problem tipping good.

 

I agree with you Matkirk but it is true that tips are added in many Restaurants in Europe so many are actually used to that custom.

 

Well first to my buddy Johndish. I think the average housekeeping wage is $45-$50 pesos per day. I cannot believe you only tipped the poor lady $250 and her helper only $100.

If someone slaps a tip on my check and it is not announced or on the menu, I tell them to take it off and if I get grief I ask for the manager and offer to make a scene.

Thing is, I tip very well. Always more than what they would force down my throat. BUT, if they try the other way, I tip 10% less than what they charged me. At the Crab Shack once I had incredible service and an incredible meal. A huge tip was in order. Got the bill with 12% put on it, did my bitch routine with the waiter and manager, told him I was going to tip double the 12% but if that was what he wanted, that would be what he got.

Then told him he was a f@%*ing idiot and that I would never go back there and I have not.

OK, nice rant T.J.