Reaction sensor is broken today

[auntiem]

I'm sick with the flu, so my reaction sensor is broken today. Oops. This happened so fast that there was no way to retract it. I had clients at my desk asking about a trip to a Latin American county. I mentioned that it was a tip heavy country and to factor that into their budget.

"We have to tip? We don't tip."
"EVER?!" *flash of distain on my face then a quick backpedal* "Then you should go to Fiji - tipping is rude there" *cheerful teasing voice*
"Well, if we go to *Latin American country* who do we tip? Do we have to tip the maid?"
"Well, of course you have to tip the maid, you always tip the maid" *oops, change the tone girl*

I feel bad because usually I handle this much better and am much more polite about setting people straight. I got thrown off because they had mentioned a few other countries they had travelled to - most of them where tipping is customary.

[Nayeli_Sabia]

ACK

Seriously, if you can afford to travel out of country, you can afford to tip.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I wouldn't worry about being polite (or not) when setting this type of person straight.

You aren't enlightening them. They know they are supposed to tip. They are just assholes.

[aurelemsrealm]

I agree with RecoveringKinkoid. To hell with them if they get offended because you told them how it's supposed to work. If they can't follow the customs (or at least make the effort), they'll just have to suffer the consequences.

[friendofjimmyk]

That's kind of scary. If these people travel on a regular basis and have any kind of attitude, especially one where they don't seem to care about following customs in another country (hell - tipping is customary here!) - it's sad to say, but people will look at them and then believe that everyone from that country are arrogant assholes.

[auntiem]

Tipping customs is usually one of the first things I check before going somewhere - I would be mortified if I came home from a trip and found out that I had tipped incorrectly. Generally I assume well traveled people do the same. Most of my "newbie" travellers will ask who to tip and how much because they want to be polite ambassadors for our country.

[crazylegs]

I do tip (and wouldn't think of not), but personally i think the person should be paid a decent wage to begin with, but thats another story.

[Seshat]

I agree, crazylegs. I'd rather pay more up front and know everyone was being decently paid. But in other countries I'm a guest in their culture, so I'll try to operate their way.

[edible_hat]

I liked working near the airport, especially when Americans who didn't know that we don't tip much in Australia would come in. (Apart from that one guy whose credit card was blocked when he used it in 3 countries in 24 hours, and said he couldn't pay in cash because he only had American dollars, but that's another story)

[Lil Bunny]

When we went abroad for our music thing, they sent us a link to this great site that I cannot think of. It broke down the basics of the country as well as general customs. I want to say it was something with the FBI or what not. It was a great help to me to read through so I knew what I was getting myself into. I still got scammed with some English money but eh, I guess it was a nice collector's piece. If I can find the site again, I'll post it.

[Bagga]

Perhaps it was this?

https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...orld-factbook/