Well, all the decorations are up (around town)… so CNY must be almost upon us…
Which brings me to the subject of the thread -
What’s a good rule of thumb when handing out tips, gratuities, etc. to, for example, the security guys at the apartment…
There are quite a few (they take turns manning the desk)…and there are new faces frequently…so am not sure how to approach this. I don’t want to hand out the envelopes individually because I may miss someone. Has anyone done this through the management office, for example - or is that simply not on.
So, basically, how much is a decent tip, and who to give it to. Does anyone know if there is generally a pool for this sort of thing here - contribute $X into the pool, and it then gets distributed to all - that would help…!
Well, all the decorations are up (around town)… so CNY must be almost upon us…
Which brings me to the subject of the thread -
What’s a good rule of thumb when handing out tips, gratuities, etc. to, for example, the security guys at the apartment…
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Now why would you do that? Are you Chinese? Did they give you Christmas gifts too?
Just am not sure what the “norm” is here. The last experience I had of this was in HK many moons ago - where they looked at you strange if you didn’t have those little red envelopes to hand out…
More from the point of view of is it expected…??
Don’t suddenly want my flat to be the only one ‘burgled’ (out of 50)…if you know what I mean…
Personally, I approach it as a guanxi thing – if you want to have good guanxi with an individual (a single doorman, your barber, etc.), give them a tip or red envelope. But with a rotating group of faces, I’d probably skip it, seeing as how you’ll end up missing someone. You could buy them (as a group) some desserts or something for them all to share, and those not present at the time could have theirs later.
I doubt they would notice if you skip it – the custom isn’t really all that pervasive IMO.
[quote=“dms321”]Just am not sure what the “norm” is here. The last experience I had of this was in HK many moons ago - where they looked at you strange if you didn’t have those little red envelopes to hand out…
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Of course, in Hongkong they only think about money. I never saw anyone in Taiwan giving money to a Security Guard. Not even for “protection”, haha.
[quote=“dms321”]
Don’t suddenly want my flat to be the only one ‘burgled’ (out of 50)…if you know what I mean…
Cheers![/quote]
OK, well. For a start I give:
Relatives: 0 NT
Friends: 0 NT
Security Guards: 0 NT
Relatives Kids: 0 NT
Friends Kids: 0 NT
Security Guards kids: 0 NT
Others: 0 NT
Even on weddings I prefer to give gifts instead of cash cause its just not in my culture to hand out bills as gifts.
Just inform the bride/groom before you want to do it. Maybe you can give something personal to your Security Guards too and tell them “xin nian kwai le” while at it. They probably receive it better than any cash from you.
My wife and I used to get red envelopes way back when the family was still complete but then my wife would give a zillion red envelopes back to the family … during the evening I would lose all the money on gambling, dice and card games … so I would end up with nothing :s … my wife would triple hers playing mahjong … but as far as I know we never gave any envelopes to our security guards … never got burgled …
Agree that with rotating guards you are going to miss some. A group gift of fruit is a good way to go. I tried a bottle of nice scotch last year but the message got back to me that they could get in trouble if their boss saw the alcohol at the security house so this year, it’s back to fruit or a cake. My barber will continue to get some scotch becuase his momma taught him well. He shares it with me.
If anyone wants to give out red envelopes full of cash, I’m always happy to accept them. I’ll take gifts too, but I’m not a drinker so don’t bother with the alcohol.
I have never recieved an envelope and don’t want to. One friend told me she used to give her folks money and would often get the same amount back. What is the point if you have to recipricate immediately with an amount close to what you received. Does anyone get this from their employer? I’m sure all the locals get this at CNY from my boss, but none of the foreign staff do. I don’t think anything of it as I get many things they don’t get throughout the year.
