No Change?

As a general rule tipping is not really common in this country because:

1. The 10% service charge is usually included in the bill.

2. The service is usually crap.

Taxis are not really much different.
Taxi service is GREAT in other countries unlike in this country.

Now there's one trick that passengers have to watch out for whenever embarking on a taxi ride in here. That is the trick of pretending to not have any change, or take his own sweet time to search for change in his ten thousand pocket waistcoat.

Big lies. I feel so embarrassed for the taxi drivers when they do that. Do they think people are dumb enough to fall for it? I was doing that trick when I was 18 and delivering pizzas. Argh!

During the time of SARS I usually tipped the taxi driver, since their business was not doing so good during those days. Nowadays they seem to have forgotten all about that and have gone back to selectively picking their passengers and treating them like an imbecile.

Perhaps economic downturns are good for teaching and stressing the importance of good customer service the hard way?