Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Of Tips and Bargaining


Comic art by Iris Yan, one of my favorite Blogger bloggers - girlfriend to Alex Noriega, another favorite Blogger blogger.


I know this sounds quite familiar to you, reader.

Why do we tip bigtime at posh restaurants when we know they obviously make tons more money than cheap cafés?


For Filipinos:

Why do we tip big at fancy restaurants and not leave any at the local karinderia (quick-serve restaurant)?

Then again, why don't we mind paying a full price at the department store while we argue our asses off to bargain for the lowest possible price at the palengke (locality market)?

Hmmmmmmmmm...

This culture is a little confusing, don't you think?

Of course, about the latter, merchants normally have higher-than-normal price-labels at the outset.  This is clearly because they expect customers to bargain.  You can't help but bargain, anyway, if you really want to buy something.  It's a culturally defined system of purchasing and you can't beat it.