Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 120, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1909 — Tipping System In India. [ARTICLE]

Tipping System In India.

In the first place, when we arrive to a town, our baggage is carried from the train to a carriage by four coolies. I have seen no baggage wagons here; the custom is for a second-class carriage to handle the baggage on top. Arrived at the hotel, the baggage is carried to our room by four coolies. Then there ISI the table waiter, the room man, the scavenger, the man who brings h6t water, and the man who does this, that and the other. 01 course, the driver of your carriage expects a tip in addition to his fee, as does the footman who rides behind. I have said ..othing of the men who are constantly in front of your room offering to st 1 you a snake, tell your fortune, make a tree grow out of the ground, make music or perform athletics. Nor have I mentioned the man who appears and presents you with flowers, to reappear with a demand for pay when you are ready to depart. When I settled my bill at the Benares Hotel this morning, the clerk and the manager sat side by side. The clerk made out the bill and I paid it, whereupon the clerk gave it to a servant to carry to the manager, who receipted it and sent it back to me by the servant The clerk might have handed the bill to the manager; the manager might have handed It to me. But that Is the custom over here, and as it has been the custom thousands of years, I won’t attempt to change it on this hurried trip.