Tip me if you can! - Good services without tips

We all love getting the recognition we deserve when doing a good job at work, and most of us would accept tips whenever the opportunity presents itself. Here in Australia tips are usually reserved for service orientated tasks and the situations in which tips are expected may vary. For example, you might not always tip when ordering your morning coffee, despite the tip jar unless you’re a regular and are having a good day. But when catching a cab and having a nice chat with the driver or having a business meeting in a fancy restaurant you may feel more inclined to tip – and it’s perfectly acceptable. However in Japan (and in many Asian countries) tipping someone for their good service isn’t as easy and effortless as you would expect it to be.

The Japanese believe that good service is the standard (as it should be) and so they embrace that customers should not pay extra. The custom of tipping is a bizarre one to them, because as the saying goes ‘The customer is king’. However if you really feel that your host deserves a tip, you may place the tip in a small envelope called otoshidama-bukuro or pochi-bukuro and offer it in this way. And to further express your gratitude - why not tell them? You can say ‘kore wa kimochi desu’ which roughly translates to 'I appreciate you' or in this instance, 'your service'. However in most cases if you were to leave the cheque on the table along with a tip, you just might be seeing your waiter chasing you down. So good luck finding an average and honest Japanese person that would even think of accepting your tip.

 In addition, like any business environment, competition with others which have similar quality and price level, differentiation is important. Restaurants and hotels focus on improving services for customers. On the other hand, competitors also develop services to win over customers so this makes synergistic effect on better services.