Max, you could if you went to live and Goa and worked as a porter at the airport

A lot of the hotel workers I have spoken to, have other jobs.

One of the waiters we spoke to waited on tables during the holiday season and when he wasn't working in the hotel, he worked as an insurance salesman, carpenter and builder. He said that he didn't earn enough during the holiday season to take time out and not only that he wanted to save up for a scooter. Many of the workers in the hotel had other jobs.

As for a 2 rupee tip, how is picking up a pre-packaged, cellotaped bag of clean knickers from the laundry and walking up a flight of steps, worth more? It is hardly service above and beyond the call of duty. In any case, we have found we use a lot of smaller notes on the beach and are left with the 100 rupee notes, therefore, we don't often have that many coins on us. You can hardly ask the laundry boy if he has any change on him. Rather 2 rupees than a poke in the eye or told to bog off for expecting a tip.

In case you think I am mean, unless someone has been rude, the service bad (which is very unusual) or the food poor (also unusual), we always tip well (10% on top of the meal) to the point we have been told that people like us are spoiling it for other tourists who do not tip the 10% etc.

It will be our 7th time in Goa in November and we always insist on carrying our own cases when we arrive at Dabolim.
A couple of years ago, we were towards the back of the queue at Immigration and when we got through to baggage reclaim, our case had been taken off the carousel and a guy was standing near them.
I gave him a £1 coin and he promptly walked off!
No way am I going to pay £1 (or anything else, even 2 rupees) for somebody to lift my case off the carousel, so now it's a case of 'No, Thank you'.

Coming home, we do tend to get a porter as we usually arrive early for our flight and, as there's generally queues for earlier flights, the taxi will drop us off at the end of the queue, which is usually outside the terminal and more than likely not our flight anyway.
The porters have the trolleys ouside and seem to know which check-in desk our flight is going from, so to us, that's worth a tip of £1.
We also change their £1 coins into notes if we have the appropriate money.

For meals, we usually give about 10% - but only if the food and service has been good.
If a service charge is included, we may just leave a few rupees.
On the one (and only) time we ate at the Spice Garden in Candolim, the food and service was appalling , and the bill included a service charge.
We'd had such a dire evening there that we crossed the service charge amount out and just left the basic bill amount. Very unlike us, but we felt very strongly about it.

When we spend the day on the beach and have coffees, water, soft drinks, beers and lunch, with the boys coming round to the sunbeds to ask if we want anything, we usually add 10% at the end of the day when we pay the bill.
On our last day, we usually give our favourite guy at the shack a little extra to him personally.

If we've negotiated a price with a taxi driver, we usually just give that amount, unless he's been exceptionally helpful in some way.

If I ever offered a tip and was asked for more, I'd take the money back and give a lower amount. I don't put up with rudeness.

Polly

If anyone asked me for more after being given a tip, I would take the tip back and give them zilch - flippin cheek I say

I always check my bill if its correct they get a 10% tip providing the service is good if not they get nowt

its the people you dont see that are poor the women with picks on the roads when was the last time you seen a waiter or barman whe didnt have a mobile or a motor bike?

.....Well said there Lez....

Max, its probable what you or I earn in a month would keep us going for a year in Goa, given we follow there way of life, as for Prettypollycat, if I knew which where your case's on the carousel, would you give me a £1 if I took them off and stood next to them :lol:. jxk8..................

The OP asked what to tip and we seem to have exhausted that now. I'll keep this open for a little while more just incase we have a few more answers.

jxk8

as for Prettypollycat, if I knew which where your case's on the carousel, would you give me a £1 if I took them off and stood next to them

I gave him £1 'cos I thought he was going to carry them to the coach.

Put it down to a long journey to the airport and a long flight. Lesson learned!

So, no, I wouldn't give you £1 if you did the same. :lol:
Polly

PPC,
just a little joke and my dry sense of humour hope your not offended, but I promise to carry your beach towel onto the beach if OK with your ho? jxk8....................