More Tips on Tipping

Regarding “Tipping Customs Can Be Tourists’ Slippery Slide” (Travel Insider, April 29): Author Christopher Reynolds wrote a commendable treatise on what one is expected to leave as a tip. I wish he had mentioned two other tipping customs:

First, travelers who are on escorted tours are normally expected to extend tips to their tour guide and bus driver at the end of the trip. Most of these workers are not paid a living wage because their employers believe that they will be receiving tips. I have noted that most U.S. travelers are either ignorant of this custom or just want to ignore it. I’ve surmised that the usual expected tip is $1 dollar per tour or day to both the tour guide and bus driver.

Second, at one time in the Far East, especially in China and Taiwan, a gratuity for a service was taken as an affront. Today in China, especially where there are large numbers of Western tourists, another custom seems to have come into being: a double standard for tipping. No tips are expected when the service is extended to a native. However, when the receiver is a Western tourist, a tip is sometimes expected, even though the amount has already been added to the traveler’s bill.

THOMAS J. CHIN-BOW

Hollis, N.Y.

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The incident you related about the French waiter refusing a tip reminded me of an experience I had in Japan five years ago.

Arriving at the hotel near the airport where we stayed before returning home, my husband and I looked like the worst of American tourists. Every bag we owned was stuffed. We had regular luggage, garment bags, shopping bags and even two Chinese rugs, rolled up. While I checked into the hotel, my husband found a bellhop. He assembled all our stuff on a cart and pushed it to our room.

We were prepared to part with the last of our Japanese currency although we were aware that tipping is not done in Japan. Our bellhop was about 18. I offered him the equivalent of about $6. He evidently did not speak English, but he waved off the money. I tried to acknowledge this and once again offered him the money, this time with a sweeping gesture acknowledging all our baggage. Again he refused, and then he backed out of the room. So we pocketed the money and closed the door.

We were amazed at his behavior and the notion that he was simply doing his job.

SUSAN S. REHWALDT

Murphysboro, Ill.