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Do you tip?

Out of curiosity do you guys leave tips at restaurants? Someone on reddit was asking for info on Kuwait because he was planning to move here and a person replied with a few pointers with one being that tipping isn’t something we do in Kuwait. I hope thats not true.

I tend to tip anywhere between 10-20% depending on the quality of service. It’s obviously not mandatory but the salaries of waiters in Kuwait (and anywhere else for that matter) isn’t very high so most live off the tips. The tips are also generally shared amongst the staff so that way the chefs in the kitchen also get a cut from the tip pool. So if you aren’t tipping you really should be.

187 replies on “Do you tip?”

I always tip 10-20% depending on service. That includes delivery drivers if I have food delivered. On low value orders I might tip a higher %

Yeah. I do tip, not necessarily the 20%. Also I’m not sure if you can tip at coffee shops. In the states there is a tip jar for baristas where here I’ve been told they can’t put a jar for tips. I also always tip the shisha guy ahead so I can get coals on a regular basis especially if the place is crowded. 🙂

well in places where i pick up the food from the counter i tend not to tip. but then you have places like Gia where it’s kinda like half half. It’s self service but then you leave your plates on the table for someone to clean up so you kinda have to leave a tip then.

Yeah makes sense. I tip the guys at the gas station like 150 fils, since they probably don’t make enough. Plus they have to stay outside during the summer and winter times.

i know – its ridiculous actually – the number of kuwaitis ive met who speak with pride about the amount they tip. Nearly EVERYONE is more generous

really dude? really?! you’re gonna make fun of someone who actually is generous enough to give something out of their pocket to a stranger instead of encouraging them to give more?
and just a side note, that 150 fils can feed him, and if he keeps collecting it can even cloth him because after all it is money and when i was in school i collected almost 5 kd from all the little fils i’d get from here and there. so yeah.jus sayin

It true, tipping is not part of the culture here. People who travel and lived in the West are more aware of tipping than the average resident in kuwait, especially in non-fast service restaurants.

The staff wouldn’t get the tip because the transaction goes straight to restaurant/ owner account in Dubai and Europe it is different tho because there is an option on the actual invoice were it says TIPS

The staff WOULD get the tip. If you don’t believe me just ask them. I do this in nearly all the restaurants I eat at and I’ve asked the staff before and they told me they do get it. It’s the same thing as having the “tip” option. You think when you have the tip option the money doesn’t go into the restaurant/owner account? It does but when they do the calculations all the extra tip money goes to the employees.

I think that depends on the trustworthiness of the company that owns the restaurant. E.G. M.H. Alshaya I would trust the tip to go to the staff, but there have been places where I’ve known staff that they have told me the company takes a percentage if not all of the tip money.

Well from my experience even Oriental Cuisine get to keep the tip money paid by knet and they’re a small establishment. Would you be willing to share the name of places that dont pass on the tips to their staff. Might want to investigate and do a post on that. You could email me it if you want to keep it private.

Some restaurants do not give tips to the staff. For example, I asked the waiter in THE GROVE in mbarakiya, and he said that the owners take their tips (i was told there were 6 owners)

I was once at an Alshaya owned restaurant and asked if I paid the tip via KNET, if they would receive it. The waiter said yes, but it takes a while.

There’s this guy I met recently who used to work at an upscale restaurant in Kuwait who told me the most godawful story.

A well-to-do local family spent over KD90 on dinner & left a 150 fils tip.

This apparently happens A LOT here. The staff at a Parisian cafe that I frequent a lot in 360 tell me similar stories all the time.

Saying it’s not a part of the culture here is absolute horseshit. Most people here go to Europe or America in the summer so they know its considered common decency to leave a 10-20% tip and still, they use the “not part of my culture” rationalization to get out of showing respect to a fellow human being who’s suffering.

Heck, I know tons of people here who’ve never been to Europe or any Western country and they consider it rude NOT to tip. And they’re not rich by any stretch of the imagination.

tipping is just an american thing, in europe it’s uncommon to tip and in places like japan it’s considered rude.

nice job at generalising kuwaitis by the action of a single family btw.

If tipping is an American thing (which it most certainly isn’t considering that leaving a 15-20% tip is mandatory in France), then I guess so is decency.

*Diva snap*

Oh and the people I was referring to who are strictly middle class and have never been to a Western country before but still insist on tipping in restaurants….. yeah they’re Indian.

*Triple diva snap combo*

Do you know how much waiters make in France & Japan?

French waiters, on average, make $2000/month! That’s roughly KD 650.

Do you know how much waiters in Kuwait make a month? One fifth of that, sometimes less.

Have a heart.

“diva snap”

ugh I just cringed so hard.

and there’s no tipping in france, the 20% service charges are mandatory and included in your bill. do you even understand what tipping is??

A lot of restaurants here do not include a service charge where as it is mandatory BY LAW to include a service charge in every licensed cafe or restaurant in France.

Do you understand that working 60 hours a week and living on KD 150 a month in a country that is now factually the 9th most expensive country to live in, is not totally alright?

I’m sorry but most of us here don’t think it’s alright.

French waiters make a living wage, a lot of waiters here don’t.

Again, have a heart.

From what I remember in my trip to France, tipping was part of our trip. In fact on one of the bus tours I can still remember the lady guide repeatedly saying before the end of the trip and I faithfully quote “Eet eez certeous culture in Fghaunce to teep zi drghiver (French accent for: It is courteous in France to tip the driver) so Yeah, we HAD to drop a few euro coins !

You are right. Tipping in general is a “north american thing”.
And it has really gotten so out of hand over there.

Like you said in europe in general tipping is not expected.
Like you said in japan its an insult.

You can google this information and you will see that a lot of forums and travel websites will say the same thing.

Again concentrate i am saying “in general”, as nothing is 100%

Service charge is equivalent to tipping except you’re forced to leave a 20% tip in this case. So although you think you’re not tipping when in France you’re actually tipping very handsomely.

kuwaitis are full of dung. full stop i have way too many reasons for that but aint no body got time fo you
and what in the world is cringey about a diva snap?
*DIVA SNAP*

These are the same people who let their househelps stand beside their table, hungry, while they wolf down their food like there’s no tomorrow.

And you expect them to give a tip?

I do tip and the service delivered does factor on how much to tip but yes a basic tip is what i do leave on the table when i visit any restaurant. I also do tip when i receive a home delivery whether it is from the restaurant guy or from the bakala but yeah i have never tipped in a starbucks/caribou/etc. yet. and i have seen people leave horrendous meagre tips or no tips which i feel is so very rude considering the salary these waiters or delivery people are paid and the service they offer.

You’re swell.

Also, judging by your name, I’m guessing you’re Indian (I’m not, I just love Ms. Roy) which contradicts with what “K” said up there about tipping being a strictly American thing.

You are awesome, keep doing you!

Because that guy up there said tipping is just a North American thing when I know plenty of non-Americans like Manish who’s Indian who tip all the time!

At restaurants, i tend to tip between 10-20% sometimes a little more depending on the service. However, i always love to tip the delivery men highly when i order food. I feel as if i could empathize with them, even though I have never been in their position.

thank you Arundhati Roy is your G-d, for people who think that tipping is strictly American thing i have no comments, for me its being nice to people who provide you service and not being paid those kinds of fancy salaries. Also it saves me the trouble of leaving the comforts of my house when the weather is horrible here which it is mostly. So i would prefer to tip the guy who helps me in doing so.

if it was mandatory only, but in general I believe they work with a salary and when they applied for the job they are doing they know that they would be serving masses, for me I do my job and no one tips me.

can we compare this?
I just don’t believe in tipping.

“they work with a salary”

They work with a salary that takes into consideration that they will be receiving tips so it’s a reduced amount that what it should actually be as the company assumes that the waiter will make up for this difference with the tips they get.

No one tips you on your job because you do not work on an intentionally reduced salary that will be covered by tips.

You guys forget that tipping in the US is totally different and can’t be compared with anywhere else because the US always restaurant wait staff to be paid less than minimum wage on the basis that they’ll receive tips. Therefore if you don’t tip, the waiter/ess is getting less than minimum wage. Basically, America made it the customer’s obligation to ensure that the server isn’t being underpaid and transferred the guilt to you. If you don’t tip you’re waiter you’re basically punishing him/her, especially so in cities which tax waiters on their income including the tips regardless whether or not they receive them.

Mark, look up “tipped wage”. There’s a federal law which allows a person to be paid less than minimum wage if the wage paid + tip would equal or above the minimum wage.

As regard to wages in the states, it varies from state to state. Some states pay minimum wage, some don’t. Restaurants never have to make up the difference because the staff makes it in tips.
I worked in restaurants for 9 years and I got paid minimum wage in my state. Every time wage went up,I got a pay raise. The kicker is we get taxed on our tips AND our hourly. Tips aren’t free money. You are required to claim a certain percentage.

Anywho, I always tip at least 15% since I know they get paid minimal and I have been in their shoes.

Income tax is tax you pay on any money you earn. If you call it a “tip”, “gift”, or “bonus” doesn’t make a difference.

Waiters in America make like 2.75/hour. Give or take depending on the restaurant. They depend on tips to get them to minimum wage or above. Yes, If they don’t make the minimum wage then the business has to compensate then for the money. But doing so counts as a strike against the worker. Too many of those can result in being fired because of poor performance.

BAM!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_States

State Minimum Tipped Wage Notes
Alabama $2.13
Alaska $8.75 Same for tipped and non-tipped employees
Arizona $4.80
Arkansas $2.63
California $9.00 Same for tipped and non-tipped employees
Colorado $4.98
Connecticut $5.69 Bartenders’ minimum wage is $7.34/hour
Delaware $2.23
Florida $5.03
Georgia $2.13
Hawaii $7.00
Idaho $3.35
Illinois $5.45
Indiana $2.13
Iowa $4.35
Kansas $2.13
Kentucky $2.13
Louisiana $2.13
Maine $3.75
Massachusetts $3.00
Michigan $2.65
Minnesota $8.00 Same for tipped and non-tipped employees.
Missouri $3.675
Montana $8.05 Same for tipped and non-tipped employees
Nebraska $2.13
Nevada $8.25 Same for tipped and non-tipped employees. Minimum wage is $7.25 and it is accompanied by health insurance benefits.
New Hampshire $3.26
New Jersey $2.13
New Mexico $2.13
New York $8.75 Food service employees’ minimum wage is $5.00/hour. Service employees in resort hotels’ minimum wage is $4.90/hour if they receive at least $4.10 in tips per hour.
North Carolina $2.13
North Dakota $4.86
Ohio $3.93
Oklahoma $2.13
Oregon $9.25 Same for tipped and non-tipped employees
Pennsylvania $2.83
Rhode Island $2.89
South Carolina $2.13
South Dakota $2.13
Tennessee $2.13
Texas $2.13
Utah $2.13
Vermont $4.17
Virginia $2.13
Washington $9.47 Same for tipped and non-tipped employees
West Virginia $2.13
Wisconsin $2.33
Wyoming $2.13

Well i agree who says that it’s not part of our culture, but at the same time we should feel for those guys as well who are serving food on our tables.

But i’m a bit confuse and don’t agree with 10 to 20% tip logic. You have to think about the value of currency as well before tipping anyone. That formula (10 to 20%) is well suited for states or other parts of the world, but in Kuwaiti dinars i think it will be too much.

An average bill for 2 people at chillis (or at any other similar food chain) comes around 15 to 18KD. so according to 10 to 20% formula, if i calculate my tip let’s say at 15%, then i have to pay something like 2.5KD for a 18KD bill. Don’t you think that 2.5KD is too much for a tip. I know we have to feel for the waiters, but still helping out someone is a totally different subject and tipping is something else.

One more thing, when i place order via Talabat. For each restaurant there is a delivery charge, so do i have to give a tip to the delivery guy? I don’t think so.

What does value of currency have to do with it? Percentage is the same no matter the currency cause. Why is 2.5kd for a tip too much but $8 isn’t? Why are you also applying a max level of tipping? If your bill comes out to 100kd would u leave 2.5kd tip?

25kd is 25%, the max I would tip is 20%. And yes I’ve tipped that high before but not in kuwait since we don’t have wine here and so you’re not gonna get a 100kd bill for two.

Mark i got your point, but still i think that setting a percentage in Kuwait is not gonna work and neither it’s ideal. One of the guy (Muscati) explained very nicely above that why tipping is a different thing in USA and hence cannot be compared. There has to be some kind of generalized system to implement such things, or else it’s to individuals whatever they do.

Because then we have to (and should) think about those guys as well who work at utility stores(Jammias) and take our groceries to our cars, the garbage pickup guys, bus drivers and many others who are needy.

I know that the subject is related to tipping, but then it all ends in helping out someone, therefore we should not forget about others as well.

Don’t we all tip the guy who takes our groceries to our cars, the garbage pickup guys, bus drivers and many others who are needy??? Because we have surplus and they don’t ????????????????? WOW what great moral value youuuu have! *snaps vigourously*

10 – 15% Service charge was included in most restaurants in Kuwait 6-7 years ago and people used to pay tips, then a law stopped restaurants from billing service charge and minimum charge.. so what did the restaurants do ? they increased the prices 20-35% !!
and this was the end of tipping in Kuwait

I tip depending on the food and service quality.

usually its 1-5 KD , tipped 100$ once in the states because the waiter was VERY good and gave her a RAH thank you card.

The entire concept of tipping is completely and unnecessary and frankly diminishes the dining out experience.

A much better way to properly compensate employees at restaurants/ retail is to increase their salaries. At the same time, prices of products can increase accordingly as to balance out the cost on the employer’s/ business owner side.

This way employees are paid properly and do not depend on the kindnes of people.

Yes but compare service in the US to France or Italy. The service in the US is MUCH better because they need to work for their tip

I don’t tip, period.

I also don’t care much what the custom/law is in North America or Europe.

I’d much rather see owners be forced to provide a livable wage for their staff than have them push it on customers because they’re being greedy fucks.

Doesn’t that just go back to what Mubarak said?
That the restaurant owners push the waiters’ salaries onto the customer? It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.

Everybody should be paid decently for the work they do, tipping is stupid.

Also, make no mistake, waiters can make an absolute fortune from tips…imagine, say after a 9 hour shift a waiter made only 20 KD in tips (which is very low). You’re talking about 510KD extra a month above their base salary, which is more than some engineers earn.

lol, I really respect you Mark for keeping a nice civilized discussion. I have been a reader of this blog for 5 or 6 years now, and you are a very patient person! Keep up the good work, and I hope success for you in the future.

That’s not what I said. I said your “tip-them-because-they’re-poor” argument is invalid. For the record, I do tip, but I wonder who decided that of all the professions in the world, people who move your food 10 metres from the kitchen to your table need to be tipped.

If anything, the chefs should get the tips. You’ll probably retort by saying “they share the tips” -the answer is not always, and not fairly.

You’re assuming that waiters are being underpaid, and in Kuwait that might not be much of a stretch, but it’s still not my problem.

I’m not assuming anything, I’m stating a fact. Waiters here are underpaid because their salary takes into fact that they will be tipped. So when you’re not tipping you’re not really making any statement, you’re just being cheap.

That’s horrible that waiters, and/or restaurant staff in general, in Kuwait aren’t being paid a livable wage because the law allows owners to shirk their responsibilities on the assumption that their customers will give a tip.

I hope they protest or collectively bargain for better wages instead of assuming people are going to tip cause that’s never going to happen on a large scale level.

because ur tipping restaurant owners are underpaying their staff salaries.

If don’t tip they (AlShaya for example) will start having to pay higher wages for their employees.

for example in Norway:
The waiters union don’t want a tipping culture because that gives the restaurants an argument to lower the waiters salaries

Really I thought they upped for maids by now, I think lowest thing is 100 KWD a month, my friends maid salary is 120 KWD a month and every two years he buys her a ticket to the Philippines.

Garbage men salary varies from 60 to 85 KWD.

Security is like 80 to 120 KWD.

Subway the guy that makes sandwiches = 85 KWD

KFC = 90 KWD the one u see at counter and the one that makes food.

City Center Worker the one u ask for help to know where the product forgot whats the title of their position = 120 to 150 KWD

People who work Fridays / chilies / fidruckkers , the waiters get around 100 to 150 KWD, the kitchen staff from 130 to 200 KWD

Of course all the above get transport from home to work and vice versa, and the company provided them a place to live in ” a bed ” inside a room with 3 or 4 other people, and food is provided by the company they give u 1 or 2 meals a day.

Of course sometimes they don’t pay them overtime, they over work them 50+hours a week, they delay there salaries by 10 to 15 Days, and of course the bad treatment by some people.

Got a friend his salary now is 250 KWD he is like a call center or something.

So let’s saying he is renting a bed space in apartment that’s 50 KWD.

Transport for his work to his home is also another 30 to 50 KWD.

Food pays around 20 to 30 KWD a month.

250- 130 = 150 KWD

so his salary is 150 KWD

because doesn’t provide any of the above.

I think Mohammedmade the only logical point .. Because people think they help by tipping waiters but in fact making it worse cause employees will not raise salary based in that fact .. A strike is a best thing for them

what kind of thinking is that? do you seriously believe tipping waiters is a bad thing for them? you think if you don’t tip they’ll earn more money from their employer? that’s the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. anybody who thinks this is a fucking cheap ass moron.

You make it sound like waiters here can just quit their jobs if they’re not happy and work somewhere else. majority of those workers don’t have a choice, its either take what they’re offered or leave and go back to where they came from.

i tip mostly, but never because the server are underpaid but just to appreciate the service i get.
i dont think tip should be given as a help but rather as appreciation.
just like you would’nt mind paying a salesman what he has asked for (a little more then the market rates) if he was really helpful whereas you would’nt pay a fils more if he was rude.

its just appreciation and not a help.

i dont care if the salesman or the server is earning 100kd or 1000kd then.

I don’t tip.

I’d rather give the tip to the poor the people who can’t handle life or to sick people who needs meds or give it to charity to poor countries where 1 KD can feed a family for a day or two.

But giving tips is a nice thing, but again I’d rather give to poor people directly.

I don’t tip because its never enforced and some restaurants have service charges which makes more sense to me than tipping tbh. Also, who’s to say that the manager will take the waiter’s tips? Also, its true that in some countries tipping is not allowed, so what’s a person supposed to do?

I tip depending on the restaurant:

1. At fast food “chain” restaurants, I don’t tip.

2. At normal dine-in restaurants, I tip approx. 10-20%, depending on the size of the bill.

3. For delivery I just round up the amount if I’m paying in cash.

In Kuwait (unlike other places, like say the US) tipping is not required. In the US, you must absolutely tip – since tips are included as part of the wage for the wait staff (in other words, their salary is set on the assumption of tips).

So in the U.S let’s say a data entry salary is 1000 USD and the waiters salary is 1000 USD, why should the data entry tip the waiter? no body tips the data entry 😛

and I do not think they tip the garbage man

The data entry guy is working 40+ hours while the restaurant worker is barely working 30. The data entry guy receive health benefits and a retirement plan from his company while the restaurant doesn’t have to provide these benefits with part-time work. The restaurant worker has to pay for these things of of pocket.

Some restaurants won’t allow you to work full time because they will have to pay benefits. Although you can make more working part time in a restaurant than a full time job, the hours usually suck, you have to work almost every holiday and weekends. You are working while the rest of your friends and family are enjoying the weekend.

I never tip, I expect the workers to be kind and respectful. Also getting extremely close to Japanese traditions only made me less likely to tip. They aren’t getting extra for doing their job! its like paying a student for doing their homework.

I haven’t started studying Uni in japan yet, but I’m gonna start next year. In japan its extremely weird almost an insult to get tipped because workers actually take massive pride in their jobs no matter how insignificant it maybe which for me is highly respectable and should be done around the world.

Japan is a different culture, Kuwait isn’t Japan. You can’t just apply a different cultural system here in Kuwait and pretend its ok. In Kuwait it’s not an insult to tip, on the contrary the waiters and waitresses appreciate it.

Mark I believe we should embrace certain habits in other cultures that are better than ours. Like how Japanese always push themselves to the limits or how the west have a high level of Democracy.. Why shouldn’t we embrace that if it helps my our own cultures better? Wither they appreciate it or not they is my on this discussion.

Unboricuaen I apologise but that was what I was told by several Japanese people I met, even from school. Also several western foreign exchange students to Japan who are on YouTube talk about it… Maybe different prefectures have different ways of doing it?

You start tipping. Restaurant owners reduce the staff salaries because they are getting tips.

THE END

that’s what happened in the US & what is happening in many restaurants in Kuwait

If you want to feel better by tipping more. Go ahead. I do that sometimes.

It has nothing to do with feeing better about myself, it’s about doing the right thing. Being cheap or stingy isn’t the right thing, but tipping underpaid workers is.

The right thing?
As long as you keep tipping the worker will always be underpaid.

as I said restaurant owners are underpaying because they expect their staff to get the rest through tips.

If you are concerned about low salaries there are many street cleaners / tea boys / shop keepers

Who barely survive with their salaries and they don’t get any tips these are the guys that need help and are getting 0$ tips

I think you should tip them also until their bosses start underpaying

Quater KD minimum, 100-200 Fils to Bakala guy for his leg work. Delivery guy … rounding up the bill or minimum quater KD as before. Restuarants, paying by K-net or Visa + 10% in cash.

no i don’t tip, its not fair on other workers that don’t work in the food industry, like retail. they fold, clean, answer questions, ring up people, give customer service and get paid the same.

The best way to tip and get a guaranteed 5* service just give the waiter 2kd once you enter and you will see the difference

I always tip and I’m Kuwaiti. It’s actually something I was taught growing up so I don’t think it’s a culture thing or maybe it’s just my family.

I guess, no one does. Order taker is cashier, guy cooking for you is somewhere back. Server is so taxed already checking the slips, never even makes an eye contact, forget about smiling. Then they have this employee of the month board, I think it is to encourage employees, not the patrons.

Taking about take away/self service, I do tip them when I dine in. Same with Pizza Hut and Burger King.

Tipping should be a thing of the past. Restaurant owners should pay their waiters in full rather than a reduced salary and expect customers to pay the difference. You might not see this salary reduction thing here in Kuwait, but the wages are shit. Watch this video and educate yourself on this whole epidemic:

https://youtu.be/q_vivC7c_1kk

With that being said, you should only tip because you actually want to, not because you feel pressured by your waiter’s situation, or society shaming you into doing something you don’t really want to do.

I usually tip in restaurants and cafes from 1 to 5 KD depending on the service. Why do I pay a specific amount instead of %? because I still recall how a few years ago restaurants used to make us pay the 10% forcibly in the final receipt until the ministry of trade prohibited it. Then after the prohibition the restaurants just increased the base prices of meals to offset the difference and went along happily :/

if that’s not the case for many restaurants please tell me so that I can update my tip policy :/

If the argument is employees are paid minimum wage etc, then I would rather restaurant prices are increased to supplement wages. I would much rather see this happening than agonizing on the % of the tip to offer at the end of each meal.

The salary and the amount of work that a waiter is doing is similar across restaurants in Kuwait. Thus, I don’t believe that one waiter should get a higher tip than another just because the food in that particular restaurant is more expensive. So, I tip a pizza express waiter 1KD, and I also tip a Meat Co waiter 1KD.

I tip and not limited to waiters…to everyone who helps…the bakala guy to carries stuff to the door, the gas station guy who helps fill the tank, the supermarket guy who takes stuff to the car, the saloon staff and of course my house help if she goes extra mileffort and the waiterm too..
It is smallest act of acknowleding that you are blessed to have them make things easy for you…

I don’t tip usually, unless the service was exceptional. I’d rather spend the tipping amount on someone who really needs it.
While i do so when i go to the States only as tips is mostly what they get as a pay!As in Kuwait waiters get compatitave salaries with some other allownces as housing and transportation .. and they are happy with it as them !

Yes they are dear, ask them by your self! man, most waiters get around $1000 in Kuwait while in their country they bearly do $100 monthly! also we cannot deny the fact that living in Kuwait is not expensive at all!

Most waiters get around 80-150kd salary, that’s nothing close to $1,000 so don’t know where you pulled that number from. Also FYI, the cost of living in Kuwait is considered high.

Yes “he” implemented it. He didn’t implement it because customers were being cheap and not leaving tips, he implemented it to improve the experience of his customers. The problem here is some people think they’re doing the waiters a favor by not tipping them. They somehow convinced themselves they’re not cheap but instead are fighting for a cause.

Wow.

If someone just arrived to Kuwait, a country which boasts one of the highest GDPs in the world, and just read the comments section here, they’d go “Hmmmm, everything I heard about life in the Persian Gulf might actually be true”.

And to think most of 248am’s readers are supposedly well-educated, worldly people……..what does that say about the rest of the people living in Kuwait? It’s just the epitome of sadness.

For all the trolls out there waiting to pounce on me, when I said “people in Kuwait”, I mean everyone here.

Get over yourselves.

The body of water is historically and internationally known as the “Persian Gulf”. Some Arab governments refer to it as the “Arabian Gulf” or “The Gulf”. but neither term is recognized internationally.

You wanna live in a bubble, you go right ahead. I live in the world, you can stay in the Arabian Gulf.

What do you mean ‘even’? I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I hate pumping petrol, especially in the heat. Worst job EVAR.

Oops when I read this back, it looks like I’m implying that I pump petrol. I don’t of course, but I sympathise with those guys that do, even in the terrible heat, so I tip them.

Tipping is a favor and may not be considered important by some people but I think it’s good to tip considering the type of service and the deliverance of the waiter or waitress.
In Kuwait the nature of salary is based on nationality, if you guys have noticed. In most companies or workplaces the payment strategy is very heart breaking, you can imagine working with someone on the same job and he or she takes higher salary just because of his or her nationality.
Favoritism and nepotism is at its peak in Kuwait, so tipping is a good step and I think if people understand the conditions of the employees in most public places especially restaurants. I have personally witnessed two Kuwaitis tipping in front of me on different occasions, I personally always give what I can afford to the guys cleaning the streets, I have respect for those guys.

Very sensitive subject but must admit there are actually some interesting viewpoints on both sides of this subject. I personally make it a good faith effort to try and tip accordingly but I do notice that some of the workers I tip nowadays don’t even say thank you or show the slightest appreciation. Nevertheless I continue to tip because I can’t blanket punish everyone for the actions of the few ungrateful. We just celebrated Eid and Thanksgiving. We all have somethings to feel blessed for of you really stop to think about it. Christmas is a few short weeks away. Time to reflect and count your blessings. If you can somehow lessen the burden for a less fortunate human being please consider doing so. I’ll get off my soap box now and stop preaching. I’m traveling over the holidays back to the land of “tip please”! Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Tipping is what everyone should do here, especially in some of the more middle to highish restaurants, the waiters are obviously paid very less,
The culture of tipping is prevalent with some people who do it out of generosity, ive seen people leave like 2-3 five or ten fils coins which i assumed was a way to get rid of them….
If i pay by cash i usually leave about 15-20%, same goes for card payments

I never tip restaurant workers. I instead donate a small percentage of my income to families who are in poverty every month. They are more deserving than any worker in Kuwait. 🙂

i’m not convinced.

if you think waiters are underpaid, why are you encouraging that by going to those restaurants? shouldn’t you stop eating there to boycott those restaurants?

having said that, i “tip” cleaners, laborers and other low-paid workers anywhere from half kd to 1kd.

i rarely tip waiters of restaurant franchises whose profits are in the millions. the guy that saved up for 10 years to open that one restaurant earns the tip, not KFC and McDonald’s.

garbage men in finland can earn enough to live in a 2 bedroom house, send their kids to good schools and universities and enjoy good entertainment in their free time.

unlike most places in the world, the government and society of finland has decided that everyone deserves a good life regardless of their job.

kuwait, like most of the world, has decided that we would rather have underpaid waiters than equality.

Please don’t equate Kuwait, a third world country, with first world countries like Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the UK and Canada – countries with considerably better human rights records.

Well, tips are not mandatory here but also not restricted, it is up to guest’s discretion, however service charges in restaurant is forbidden (like forced tips) for me as i was a waiter in 1998 i never leave without inserting tips, 10% usually for good service or 5% for not- meeting expectations service.
Sorry i did not read everything you mentioned hopefully what i wrote is not redundant

Kuwaiti’s who refuse to tip are doing so to make sure that the workers “know their place and stay there”. The same type of people who make their hired help wear ridiculous outfits and don’t know their kid’s teacher’s names. The same people who think a salary of $800 a month is decent.

Generalization? Maybe. Still alarmingly applicable to a “modern day society”.

i tip mostly, but never because the server are underpaid but just to appreciate the service i get.
i dont think tip should be given as a help but rather as appreciation.
just like you would’nt mind paying a salesman what he has asked for (a little more then the market rates) if he was really helpful whereas you would’nt pay a fils more if he was rude.

its just appreciation and not a help.

i dont care if the salesman or the server is earning 100kd or 1000kd then.

I tip if the service and food is good, which in Kuwait is most of the time. A person should tip only if they want to and not be pressured into it.

This reminds me of my experience in the USA where the waiters and delivery staff got aggressive when I didn’t give them extra money as tips. Over there it feels like the customer us being guilted into it.

I forgot to add that it was my first visit to the US at the time and had no idea tipping was “mandatory” there. I wouldn’t have minded tipping but the accusations of being “stingy/stupid/etc” were hard to bear.

Yeah that’s a bit much. Once I was clearly foreign and a waiter stopped us and said “Hi don’t mean to be rude but in NY people usually tip X%” so I left more. Better then him yelling

This was in Minnesota, a blue state. Red states like North Dakota tend to be a bit more douchey by lowering the wages for wait staff to approx $4.50/hour because of tips.

Goddamn Republicans.

The reaasons Dems want to increase the minimum wage is so that they can justify raising taxes. Republicans are for lowering taxes. Personally either party is corrupt.
Btw 7 hr is a crap salery. Thats the equivalent of making 70 kd a month when you take the cost of living into consideration.

No es puertorriqueno?

Please don’t compare Republicans, many of whom would probably want to lynch you just because you’re Latino, to Democrats.

Republicans: Donald Trump, Global warming deniers, war mongerers, “Dr” Ben Carson, self-loathing Marco Rubio, extreme racists, creators of a global economic depression.

Democrats: Defenders of human rights, savvy economists (ex: Obama slashed the
George Bush created deficit by two thirds), opponents of war.

It’s like comparing apples & disgusting, rotten, stinking, vomit-inducing oranges.

I don’t know why people keep justifying themselves being cheap by saying: they get less wages in their home country, they gained a lot of weight since they arrived to Kuwait, take or leave it, and many more. For my self I tip to make the server smile while serving food.

Lot of comments on tipping …i want to point another important observation i made in kuwajt in my last 15 years of stay here, it is what many of my friends noticed too.
Does anyone know how much food is wasted by customers, many citizens may get mad at me for saying this but i observed its mostly the kuwaitis who waste a lot… I have seen many kuwaitis eat only 20-30% of what they order and leave the rest…hell they dont even pack to take it home, why?? Because packing the remaining doesnt suit their nationality? Food can be left, but most 90% + expats do pack the food( even the good earning ones coming to high end restaurants ) .
Too many people dying in this world due to hunger , in the eyes of Allah it is a crime to waste so much food. I have seen this at places like ruby tuesday, TGI fridays, chillies, mais alghanim and much more. I dont know why they do this , maybe they have no value for money and food anymore? They get money easily without much hardwork ?

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