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Tipping in Taiwan? Who would you tip here? (after reading this article)
for sure, the rubbish picker. i let my recycle items pile up, sort em, bag em and then put em outside the gate early morning hours. she takes em away before the sun rises up.
how much to tip a rubish picker?
The traffic cops. If anyone deserves it. Standing out there in the middle of the road with nothing but a whistle. I wouldn’t take their jobs if you paid me 2000NT an hour.
They are volunteers, and as a motorist, I can say that “what you get for nothing is worth nothing.”
Regarding Taiwan, I wonder if any of that “10% service charge” that you see printed at the bottom of the menu actually gets to the people who work at the restaurant, or if it lines the pockets of the management. The latter, I would imagine. Not that the wait staff deserve any of it, but it is the concept that Westerners would be thinking of.
Try as I might the chappies that deliver the gas to my 5th floor flat - no lift - refuse to take a tip. I always offer to round off the bill but in all my time here not one has ever accepted. I sympathise with these guys, riding around all day with big bloody bombs draped all over their scoots then traipsing them up zillions of flights of stairs. I can barely lift a full gas bottle!
Odd.
HG
Beats working the paddies, I guess, Huang.
Who do I tip here? None. Not part of the culture.
Pizza delivery guys if they arrive in a decent time or have to traipse up a flight of stairs. Ones I have tipped appreciate it and seem to be university students with possibly a limited income (or they wouldn’t be delivering pizzas).
I sometimes let good safe taxi drivers keep the change. I make a point of not tipping the reckless ones.
I’m with Big Fluff on this one: although tips are not required for taxis here, i always tip them, KEEP THE CHANGE, just to show them the good side of big noses. They always say thanks and appreciate it. I especially tip them when the boss has paid for entire outing. I like to spend other people’s money. My own money, such as it is, usually ends up getting …STOLEN! URRRRRGHH!
My daddy told me when I was a wee lad, “Son, I’ve always made it a principle in my life to never tip anybody but bartenders and hookers.”
(OK, my papa didn’t really say that 
I tip the doorman every year because he’ll let me in the building when I’m so drunk that the taxi driver has to help me to the elevator…
Yeah, I tip my buxiban boss for the same reason. 
Great topic! I have never been able to convince my husband that we should give our landlords or the guards a red envelope at CNY. We’ve been here four years, and lived in three apartments.
Now we’ve got four full time guards that rotate, 3 ladies that clean up the common area and do a fantastic job, plus the landlord. I’ve always thought it odd that the tenant would give the landlord a gift but I’ve seen some very generous gifts delivered to my inlaws at CNY. (In return, they gave each of the tenants a couple cans of abalone. Funny. They said it was expensive abalone, but geez, in a tin can?)
So what kind of money does everyone put in a red envelope for these people???
a thousand Nt dollars is a nice gesture.
I’ve never seen Taiwanese tip ANYBODY! One thing I really love about Asia is the almost across the board no tipping policies. (You know how expensive it is to take a taxi or eat out in the U.S. these days!)
You guys are going to ruin it for all of us! Pretty soon they’re going to start expecting that all big noses give them tips.
Instead of giving them money, I just make sure to smile at the taxi drivers, try to engage them in a little Chinese chit chat and always say thanks at the end of my ride. I think spreading a little good cheer is worth more than just a few extra NT.
~My 2 kuai
[quote=“braxtonhicks”]Great topic! I have never been able to convince my husband that we should give our landlords or the guards a red envelope at CNY. We’ve been here four years, and lived in three apartments.
[/quote]
That’s interesting about giving the landlord a hongbao. It seems a bit outrageous to me; you’re already giving them the rent every month. In Hong Kong, we always give the guards hongbao. Hong Kong apartment blocks have up to 36 residential floors. That can be quite lucrative for guards.
[quote=“Erhu”]
I’ve never seen Taiwanese tip ANYBODY! One thing I really love about Asia is the almost across the board no tipping policies. (You know how expensive it is to take a taxi or eat out in the U.S. these days!) [/quote]
Yes, but, one thing you need to remember is that in a lot of Asian countries they do add a 10% service charge. This pisses me off because you don’t know whose getting it! At least if it went to the person who was servicing or helping, that would be great! But…
I would like to tip the old lady who against the rules will give me a bag to carry my fruit in at the company fruit stand. Unfortunately no real money changes hands as it comes off my pay. She is about the only person in a service position that I can remember actually being kind. Otherwise the service I recieve here doesn’t really seem to warrant tipping as it’s usually very informal or very poor.
Maybe I should tip the police officer for not giving me a ticket…wait that’s a bribe : )
I think it’s in the police handbook that you’re not supposed to give foreigners traffic tickets. Every time I’ve been pulled over, all I’ve had to do was take off my helmet to expose my big blue eyes and pretend not to speak any Chinese. After stumbling through a warning in whatever broken English/sign language they can muster, they always let me go.