Tipping In India

December 10, 2009- Tipping in India


The other day I was in a Auto Rickshaw and had to travel about 5 kilometers... After negotiation , we agreed to 50 ruppes for the trip. When we got close to the destination, I wasn't exactly sure of the destination, so the auto guy had to spend about 1 or 2 extra minutes driving around. He finally dropped me off and demanded 80 INR instead of 50... Since I had no change, I gave him 100 inr expecting proper change. To the contrary, he claimed he had no change and gave me 20 Inr back. I was NOT happy and demanded my proper change...I even went to find change myself. And after giving him the exact amount, he still insisted on short changing me..and when i finally refused, he gave me an evil stare as if i was "conjuice" (Stingy). I smelled lots of alcohol under his breath, just as a side note..

Did I do the right thing by not giving him the measly 30 INR?? Perhaps I could have been perceived as stingy. But I thought to myself, this is not an issue of 30 INR, its an issue of character. And to put away any "guilt" thoughts I had for not giving him the money, the next day , I needed a ride from an auto rikshaw to go just a few blocks...the thing I liked was that he charged me less than what what is supposed to be the bare minimum of 20 rupees imposed by every auto-driver (regardless of distance)..so in that case, I gave him a tip of 10 Rupees..

I guess, I've always liked people with character!

Raj