Re: [TANGO-L] tipping customs

[Huck Kennedy <huck @eninet.EAS.ASU.EDU>]

Sergio writes:
> In most airports to get a luggage cart you must pay at
> least 3 dollars

     I have not found this to be true.  While obviously
I haven't been everywhere in the world, I can say I have
never been charged for a cart at an international arrival
anywhere except in Newark Airport in the United States,
where they actually have the disgraceful gall to charge
$3 even within the customs area.  Elsewhere in the US,
I've gotten a free cart within customs, but then had to
relinquish it before exiting to the main airport area.
Outside the US, I've always gotten a free cart, period,
with no restrictions.

> Cab drivers in many countries take you for a ride, then they demand a tip or
> keep the change without asking if it is ok. Frequently they do not bother to
> help you to unload the luggage.  In Argentina they will bring the luggage to
> your house if needed.
>
> Here I have never seen somebody to keep the change, most taxi drivers round
> down on the amount: 6,30 will require you to pay only 6,00. It may be
> different for tourists.

     That has happened to me as well.  I keep hearing
horror stories of Buenos Aires cab robberies, but
I thought the cabs there were some of the best in the
world.  The fares are cheap (before the devaluation they
were still relatively cheap, now they're a steal), and
you can give a cab driver a simple address anywhere in
the city (like Calle Qualquiera, 4832) and he can tell
from the address where the nearest cross street is, and
take you there directly with no fuss.

     And the nicest surprise (although it's an acquired
taste) is that the cab drivers almost all drive at night
with their headlights off, using only their tiny parking
lights (which are also white, but give off little light).
At first this seems crazy, but then you realize that with
cab drivers constituting the vast majority of drivers at
night, the city is spared the harsh glare of headlights
and instead takes on an almost surrealistic soft glow
that is quite charming.

     The downside of this, however, is that a couple
of times I almost got hit crossing the street on foot
at night because I'm used to looking for bright
headlights, and the dim lighting of the rapidly oncoming
taxi just didn't register in my mind as an approaching
danger.

     They advise you to call for a cab by telephone
instead of hailing one on the street.  The only bad
experience I had was the one time I did call one to take
me to the airport.  We negotiated a price on the phone,
then on the way he tried to hit me up for more money to
pay the tolls on the highway along the way.  I told him
we had agreed on a fixed price to take me to the airport
and the tolls were his problem, not mine.

Huck