www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Like everyone, I go out to eat quite a bit and as everyone knows, most of the time, the checks (in Costa Rica) include the tip. I'm in the habit of throwing down another 100 or 200 colones.
Am I doing the right thing or should I be leaving more?
LVSteve

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Just an old horney, fat gambler.

For me, it's any loose change less than 500 colones.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

I voted nada because my normal tip was not listed as an option.

If service was just adequate, as it most often is, I either leave nothing or just the loose change (taking the coins 100c or larger). Basically, its not so much about the tip as not wanting to bother with any coin under 100c.

If the service was friendly and reasonably quick, as is not all that uncommon, I'll leave more, although I generally don't go over another 10% on top of the 10% servicio I've already been charged. In those cases, I'll usually only take the bills or maybe a 500c coin, meaning the EXTRA tip is usually in the 100-400c range. But it really also depends on whether you're talking about a 2000c meal at Mariscar or a pricier 5-6K per person meal at someplace like Tin Jo or Cafe Mundo. For example, I'm not about to leave a 450c tip on a 2050c tab, but if the service is good I'll want to leave something more than 50c, so I'll also sometimes take or drop a few 100c coins accordingly.

Of course, all of this is way too confusing to have included as one of LVSteve's options.

Steve this is not a fair poll, the amount of the bill would be reflective on how much added propina one would want to add. Depending where you eat this can vary drastically. Of course you have to take in the quality of service you receive and whether you were waited on by a smoking hot tica!

C'mon guys, you know you're going to chalk over more for a hot tica!

Any disputes? please don't go on about discrimination because I tip the waiters who provide good service, it is just the hot ticas are a weakness, I assume with all of us!

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GG
"Last time I said no......I misunderstood the question!"

Guys;
So far, its 40% for 500 colones, so I guess you are answering my original question. I'm tipping too little.
LV

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Just an old horney, fat gambler.

I voted for 500 col, but I usually leave another 5-10% of the bill, knowing full well that it's included in the bill. It's supposed to be a gratuity for exceptional service, so I don't tip extra for poor service. I've been to restaurants in the US where they tack on the 15% tip to the bill. I will leave an extra tip nonetheless, but only if the service was very good to exceptional.

In CR, if I go out to eat, and the bill is 10,000 (~$20) col, I wouldn't feel right leaving a 100 col (~20 cents) tip. I'd leave at least 500 col. (~$1.00), even though the service charge is already included.

I tend to tip more than most, especially if the wait staff is really good (don't screw up order, promptly refill drinks, etc.). One of my best friends was a waiter for many years before and during college and he was always educating us about how shitty waiters get paid.

-Orange

LV, TIPS is an acronym for "To Insure Prompt Service". I've always tipped according to that definition. If the service fits, then I'll leave anywhere from a few hundred up to 500 colones.

Papa Nut

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The best revenge is living the good life!

Huh , there's also MORE than 40% that tip nothing or 60% that are tipping only 200c or less, so how can that mean you're tipping too little? Plus, what would the percentages look like if you opened this poll up to the ticos that still make up the vast majority of the customer base of many or most of the restaurants we visit? For that matter, why not just tip (or not) what you feel most comfortable? A few colones one way or the other probably won't make that much difference anyway, so what difference does it really make what anyone else does?

Prolijo;
The reason I started this poll was because I went to lunch the other day with a fellow monger. The bill came and it was about 1500 colones including tip. I left 100 colones but noticed that my friend left 500. It got me to thinking; am I leaving too little. Hence the necessity for this poll.
In my way of thinking, I've learned that I am indeed leaving too little.
LV

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Just an old horney, fat gambler.

Steve,

I didn't vote in the poll, as none of your options work for me. There are no hard and fast rules, but I can only paraphrase advice given in a dozen travel sites.

As ten percent of the food total pre-tax is added to the bill as a service charge, and as overtipping is not customary in costa Rica, and as gringos are pissing in the piscina by overtipping...

Round your total up to the nearest 100 colones. That's not "add 100 colones," but round up to. If your restaurant bill is 4690 colones, the additional tip is a 10 colones coin. If your bar tab is 8410, leave 90. This is customary here, according to all sources I've read.

If the service is extraordinary (i.e. the waiter/bus boy had to clean up after your chica because she dumped an entire glass of rum on the table and then proceeded to lap it up like a drunken shitzu) you might round up to the nearest 500, never exceeding 15% in total, the service charge included.

This is just my opinion, and in practice I overtip, because I get carried away by the moment. Last night at the Restaurante del Mar across from the HDR, I tipped 500 c. on a 4800 tab. Hey, sometimes you have these strange compulsions.

I only round taxi fares up to the nearest 100, if ever, and only because the drivers claim to either not have change or are unable to make change because of some brain dysfunction...

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Pura Vulva! Wandering through the dark, I am El Ciego.

El C,
Once again, yours and my philosophies are pretty close, although I seem to be a little looser at the high end or in what I think qualifies for more than 100c. I should add that when I tip 500c or more it is ONLY on a group bill at a pricier restaurant. You raised an interesting point about taxi's, which btw our approaches match exactly. In addition to being cheap, another reason I grab the coins 100c or larger off the table before I leave is that coins are extremely handy to have for cabs and buses, where change is not always available.

a tip is to tell the waiter look both ways before crossing the road if it a hot tica waitress i offer her another tip my one eyed monster i do not care what is written in books about tipping. i just do what i feel is right at the moment. to each his own. pura vida

I'm sorry, I just don't understand your way of thinking. Currently, nearly 2/3rds of respondants leave about what you left or less. Shouldn't that confirm that you are tipping correctly and that it is your friend that is in the minority? About as many leave nothing at all as those that say they leave 500c., so maybe you should actually leave less.

Your survey question was unclear as to the size of the restaurant tab you were referring to. Of those that say the leave 500c, I'm guessing many of those big tippers were thinkiong more in terms of 10K or more dinner tabs than 1500c lunches. Your friend who left 500c on a 1500c bill left nearly a 50% tip on the the pre-servicio amount. That would be high even by US standards, where larger tips are normally made.

And this survey only asks CRT'ers who as a group are probably more overgenerous than the average tico restaurant-goer. We complain about overtipping BM girls and how it leads to altered expectations and a sense of entitlement. the same argument can be made about disrespecting local customs in restaurants. Many here would say these guys don't get paid as much and that 500c is no big deal. But it is to the average tico and the same attitude many of us have to the overtipper at the BM many tico's have to the overtipping gringo tourist at their various restaurants. Is a tico, who doesn't make any more than the local soda owner going to have to routinely tip 500c now when he goes in for a sandwich in order to just get basic service. And we wonder why there is increasing resentment among many elements of CR society against rich gringos that throw all their dollars around raising local prices and standards further beyond what locals can afford to pay.

Gentlemen,

Tipping is not customary anywhere in Central America, let alone when 10% is included already on the bill. I'm not saying this to be cheap, it's just that I have seen first hand how introducing our tipping customs into their culture inflates prices and leads to the so called "gringo tax" that infuriates a lot of the guys who live down there. The service is generally poor in Latin America and tipping won't help that a bit. Prolijo has stated many times how some guys unthinkingly leave 40 to 50% tips thinking they are being nice guys. But actually all they are doing is inflating the market. You have already seen what overpaying customers have done to the Del Rey. Tips anywhere in Central America including Costa Rica are not expected and therefore there is no reason to do it.

Interesting discussion. Many varied responses and reasoning being applied.

What always amuses me about money discussion here is that some people have hard and fast rules about what they are willing to pay and post them like they are gospel and everyone should adhere to them or the entire mongering scene will collapse in economic chaos.

I prefer to tip on performance. I agree that TIPS is an acronym for "To Insure Prompt Service" but I do not think that is accurate in todays world.
If you are not a regular customer at that establishment your tip would only ensure prompt service if it was offered in advance. The promptness of service can be affected by numerous things out of the control of the person who you will be considering tipping. A new, inexperienced, disorganized & uncaring cook can destroy the service time no mater how attentive the server is to your needs.

I tip based on service. I have been at the NY Bar and ordered a cheeseburger and 2 Imperials. Total bill 3000 colones, tip 100 or 200 colones. The next visit same order, same 3000 colones bill, tip 500 colones.

Why the disparity? First example perfunctory service, no smile, no attention to details, no follow up to see if I need anything, etc. Second case, friendly service, check back on anything I might need, when the ice in my glass of Imperial runs low fills it up without being asked, etc.

Tips have to earned not be an automatic reflex percentage over and above the included 10% and a good tip is not going to destroy the economy or drive up prices or any of the other dreadful things some forecast. Remember the difference between 200 colones tip and 500 is about .60 cents.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine