The tipping convention in India continues to baffle me. There seems to be no set custom, such as 10% or $1 per favor. I had no idea what to tip my driver that had been with me for 4 days driving me all over the country, sleeping in his car, and waiting attentively for my site seeing or meal to complete. He promptly started his car and drove to pick up if I had been gone 5 minutes or 5 hours. I decided to go with a $14 tip and tried to gauge his reaction. I am terrible at reading people (although I tend to be good at reading poker faces...) and felt that he expressed sadness. I found myself feeling cheap and unappreciative after he dropped me off on Saturday night. I arrived in the office Monday morning asked the office manager about an appropriate tip for the driver. He say $3 for the entire trip! I don't get it; a published cost for a one hour guide through one of the temple was $11 ("foreigner-rate"), yet the custom is to tip $3 for over 100 hours of dedication by my driver. Baffling.
My driver last night was a talkative sort with lots to say and ask. Unsolilited, he blurts out that his pay is 5100 rupees per month and casually asks what my salary is. Considering the exchange rate is 44 rupees to $1, how do I even start to answer him...
1 comment:
I am glad you are enjoying the trip. Within a short time you experienced quite a bit. Your observation about "no set custom" when it comes to tipping kind of defines the main difference India has with the US. US is more of a template driven country where you apply the same rules to myriad of things and places. In India you make up the rules as you go along depending on the place, person, occasion and even the mood! I think it is the complex set of customs, intricate division of labor and class and a society with century old dogma and beliefs that is in play at any given scene. The people interacting in any given transaction will be playing to particular dynamics that determine the nature of the transaction itself. In the US you deal with the system that you are familiar with, and you know the opposite party is familar with. In India you deal with the human across you in a quick understanding of many complex things in play and do it differently with someone else the next minute! If one don't understand, then play the i-don't-understand role - that has a respectable place too :-)
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