Reply #3: "Clearly intended..." [View All]

[onager]

Ha! We had one short-term Amercian employee here in Egypt who learned that the hard way.

He left 200 Egyptian Pounds (about $30 US) on the coffee table in his hotel room. He DID NOT intend for it to be a tip. Just forgot it when he left for work in the morning.

That afternoon the money was gone. But he certainly got fresh flowers in his room and extra free snacks every day, for the rest of his stay.

He took the same attitude most of us do here: this is such a desperately poor country, you don't want to take anything away from people, even if it was given accidentally. And as he said, if he went to hotel management and complained, the maid would be fired. Definitely the LAST thing he (or any of us) wanted to happen.

OTOH, the hotel was incredibly picky when I wanted to donate some stuff to charity. I was leaving for an extended stay back in the US and had some clothes and other items I no longer wanted. I had to fill out a long itemized form and sign a notarized document, certifying that I was giving the stuff of my own free will, etc. etc. I guess they do that to ensure no theft or coercion was involved. Weird.