To tip or not to Tip: What drives Tanzania's tipping culture?

You begin to multitask to get your unruly entourage under control while placing an order for the entire table and out of the corner of your eye, you think you see your waitress roll her eyes and sigh. Suddenly you conclude she isn’t as friendly as can be and thus, her fate is sealed – no tip for her if you somehow make it to the end of lunch with all your senses intact.

Tipping generally refers to the practice of giving a gratuity or additional sum of money to service workers, such as waitstaff, bartenders, taxi drivers, and other service providers. It is often considered a customary way to express appreciation for good service.

Tipping customs can vary by country, with some places having a strong tipping culture, while others may not practice tipping as much. In some countries, service charges may be automatically included in the bill, so it's essential to be aware of local customs when it comes to tipping.

Tips and their amount are a matter of social custom and etiquette, and the custom varies between countries and between settings. In some countries, it is customary to tip servers in bars and restaurants, taxi drivers, tattoo artists, hair stylists and so on.

However, in some places tipping is not expected and may be discouraged or considered insulting. The customary amount of a tip can be a specific range or a certain percentage of the bill based on the perceived quality of the service given.

It is also illegal to offer tips to some groups of workers, such as government workers and more widely police and other law enforcement officers, as the tips may be regarded as bribery.

Giving a tip is typically irreversible, differentiating it from the reward mechanism of a placed order, which can be refunded. From a theoretical economic point of view, gratuities may solve the principal–agent problem (the situation in which an agent, such as a server, is working for a principal, such as a restaurant owner or manager) and many managers believe that tips provide incentive for greater worker effort.

However, it shouldn’t also come as a surprise that the practice can be discriminatory as workers receive different levels of gratuity based on factors such as age, sex, race, hair colour and even breast size, and the size of the gratuity is found to be only tenuously related to the quality of service.

Tipping in Tanzania is as controversial a conversation as it can get. There are plenty of places across the globe that operate with in-house tipping policies and while many of us associate tipping to restaurants, hotels and bar waiters and waitresses, in reality, tipping often cuts across any service rendered.

There exists a notion that tips should be somewhere between 10 to 30 percent of the total bill for restaurants. However, in some places, it is expected that the bellboy who carries your luggage up to your room will be tipped, just as the driver who takes you from points A to B and the masseuse you book while at the hotel will too.

The questions raised reveal what people think about tipping culture and leave it to Tanzanians to give you the juice on any topic. I reached out to our readers to gauge what the general feel on tipping culture should be.

The questions that set off debates in different groups and had Instagram and Facebook polls rise and fall for a 24-hour period were: Do you tip your waiters or waitresses? How do you determine how much the tip should be? Should waiters/waitress demand their tips? Do you think tipping is mandatory?

The polls gave the first feel where after the 24 hours lapsed, the polls closed with 67 percent saying they tip depending on the services rendered, 21 percent tip regardless, 9 percent do not tip at all and 3 percent are not even aware that there is a tipping option in Tanzania

In determining how much to tip, 39 percent tip with whatever change is left, 35 percent often part with the smallest note on them, many who further elaborated that it could range anywhere between Tsh1000 to Tsh2000. 17 percent went with the standard international rate of 10 percent of the total bill 9 percent voted at anywhere between 10-30 percent of the total bill.

On the issue of wait staff demanding their tip, 98 percent voted against it and 2 percent argue that demanding a tip should only be done if good service was given. Additionally, 96 percent voted that tipping should not be mandatory and 4 percent voted that it ought to be.

While these polls give an idea into the general consensus, probing further conversation gave even more clarity on why some voted as they did.

In one group chat on WhatsApp, a reader defended her choices saying that she always tips and she believes tips should be 15 percent of the total bill and 20 percent if you really enjoyed the service, adding that most restaurants include an 18 percent tip on group dinners.

“⁠Tipping is not mandatory; however, most waiters are paid very low wages and the tips help them make a difference but waiters should not demand a tip. They should focus on providing great service,” she adds.

In the same group, another member chimes in saying: “⁠I was so generous when I came back from America but now, I have gone with the culture, giving between Tsh2000 to Tsh5000 and sometimes Tsh10,000 and when we are in group, I have gone up to Tsh20,000.”

“Honestly, I only do it when I receive outstanding customer care because a lot of wait staff in Bongo behave as though they are helping the guest while it is the guest that actually helps them and that discourages me from tipping,” writes another.

“It is true, the customer service is really bad and if you go to establishments that are full of foreigners, many of these staff prioritise the white guests in hope of receiving a big tip but I still believe we should tip them to appreciate their service,” another adds.

In another group, one member added that they always tip the people who help them carry their luggage at the airports which has helped them build good rapport with these people who are now always ready to come to their aid.

Another member shares how they received a warm welcome and goodbye from a security guard at an ATM machine and this was a good instance of where tipping was worth every cent parted with.

Scholastica Nicholaus is a baker and says she loves good food and will only tip depending on the service, and adds that if the food isn’t as great as she expected, “…watapokea kichambo…” (she will give them a piece of her mind).

Ellyne Timothy argues that the tipping culture is not yet there in Tanzania and as such, many places include it in the tip. However, she stresses that some wait staff aren’t very attentive and that doesn’t encourage a customer to tip.

“Some places have people who serve you so well. I tip anybody who goes out of their way to make my life better and this is not strictly reserved to restaurants and hotels. If I visit an office and I am treated so well and assisted in a manner that makes my life easier, I will definitely tip the person, unless they refuse or their office is strict on tipping, then I’ll respect that,” she says. “If somebody helps me exceptionally, I would feel guilty if I walked away without tipping and appreciating them.”

Lusajo Kibonde says that he tips and a minimum for him is at least 15 percent of the service without tax included, adding that where he resides in the states, tipping is a must and not a matter of "vichenji chenji" (leftover change).

“Most of the people who work in the service industry are paid the bare minimum and make most of their money from tips, so it is expected that you will tip, and those providing a service will go above and beyond to earn the tip,” he says.

“However, even if you’ve gotten the worst service from a waiter/waitress you will still tip and the normal tip is about 20 percent of the bill,” he adds.

To him, tipping also isn’t just about restaurants and he says: “If I go for a massage and pay $60, I will tip her between $10-$15, or more at times. Here, you also tip the hotel porter, the bellboy and even the barber.”

“To me there are practices that were correct or appropriate at a certain time and point for maybe a great reason to a certain part of the world, but that shouldn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be changed or must be adopted to the rest of the world, one of them is the mandatory tipping culture,” says Ms Hilda Nkabe in responding to the poll.

“It shouldn’t be compulsory! In some parts of the world not only do you tip your waiting staff, you tip just about anybody who gives you a service - waiting staff, hairdressers, taxi drivers. My two cents is that restaurant owners should pay waiting staff a fair wage like any other job and not make them live on tips,” she shares.

“There are 5-star hotels that already have a service charge included in the bill which should be going to the waiting staff, now why would I be obliged to tip again?”

“Now, if you are happy with any service of any kind and you feel like tipping by all means go ahead and tip but it should never be mandatory, and I say this as someone with a background in the hospitality industry and has worked in hotels and restaurants for a number of years,” she explains.

“Personally, I only tip the waiting staff when I receive great service and almost always, when I go out to restaurants with my special needs child, as we always have additional needs and requests outside the ordinary,” she shares.

Chef Hazel Kelly is a woman who has been in the service industry for many years and she shares that tipping should be mandatory. “I tip 10 percent but I do not think they should demand a tip,” she says.

“Wait staff in this industry do not make enough from what the restaurants pay them and many have to make their money through tips. The truth is restaurants are very exploitive and if they can find a way to cut costs, they will,” she explains, adding that the ones who face the harsh end of it are the wait staff.

Aura Suites restaurant supervisor, Modest Ndwika says that tipping is becoming more common in Tanzania. "When a customer tips you, it's a sign of appreciation for the service you offered. That is money you get to keep in addition to your salary," he says.

However, he says that the amount normally given in the form of tips by guests is not a lot due to the prevailing culture in Tanzania.

They don't have a tipping policy neither do they encourage waiters to up their game for tips. Here, tips are independent of hotel policies so they don't even have to declare them. He also adds that Tanzanians tip just as frequently and much as foreigners.

The conversation on tipping culture is one that must take a lot into consideration if we as a society are to get anywhere close to our global counterparts. Seeing as it is not in our culture to tip and the many arguments against tipping being mandatory, should we then hold it against service providers who choose to serve clients they are sure will tip them?

Like the many foreign cultures, we have adopted over the years, is this one we are willing to adopt? At the end of the day, the customer is, without a doubt, king; but let’s face it, nobody wants to serve a king who gives conditionally, if at all they do give.