This is a favorite of most restaurants in Central America and seems to be practiced to an art in Panama City in some places.
Here is how the gringo-abuse takes place:
1. You eat a fine meal. For this example, lets use Benihana as an example – it just opened in the mall and the meal was great.
2. You get the bill but ONLY in summary format (basically just the charge to sign with a space for leaving a tip).
3. At this moment, STOP EVERYTHING. Get your waiter to bring you the full detailed bill. In the case of Benihanas and many other restaurants in Panama City, it will likely have the 10% service charge already added to the bill. 10% is the customary tipping amount.
4. Put a $0.00 in the tip spot on the credit card charge slip and away you go….
I have been beat for an additional 15% many times in Panama City until Marty Monroe of Giggi Travel wised me to the scam. In the case of the Benihana bill for 8 people, it would have been a 30$ US beating.
Travel safe, travel wise and enjoy Panama !!!
Hey Mr. Panama Gringo,
Love your site! Hilarious stuff. Would there be any way for you to email me at the address above? I’ve got a question for you and wasn’t able to find your contact info elsewhere
Thanks,
Matt
Hola Gringo!
I just stop by your site and wow! It’s very interesting all you have here. I am a native Panamanian girl who lives in USA now. But things are changing there, so when I go to visit with my husband. Sometimes things are a little confused even for me, like the calling cards and so.., It is good to know all that. Thanyou!
Why you just stop behaving like an ugly american in Panama and ACCEPT this country for once and for all & learn SPANISH the way it MUST BE?
I am finding it entertaining to navigate around this website. However, could you please remove the comments of this guy above, the one with the nickname suggesting that his opinion is at all representative of ours as a nation? It’s just getting on my nerves. There is clearly a lack of understanding of how our economic outlook depends on Americans finding our little country to be a good place to visit and invest in.
This is a practice in many countries…to include the U.S. depending on the size of your party…and by the way in the U.S. many restaurants decide to charge you up to 18% for “service”. Additionally, in many Latin American countries the full amount of the tip does NOT go to the waitstaff, but is shared with the restaurant owner…if you only were charged a 10% tip…then you could probably afford to give 5% more to be in line with U.S. standards.
Don’t be cheap…especially when you get good service…and I can tell you the service in the restaurants in Panama…are much better than in the U.S.
I agree completely. Once I understood the 10% was computed – I usually leave anotehr 10% when the service is good. I just didn’t like leaving my normal 20% + on top of added in tip.
Well I just surfed over this site, cool site. Thanks for posting Carlos’s phn. #. He’s picking us up tomorrow at the airport. We’re living in Costa Rica for the moment, been there about 9 mos. now. When they see the paleface, the price goes up. Standard practice. My colombian wife does most of the deal making. So it depends on the situation. Dinner should be a 20% tip if all went well, but 35% is over the top.
This practice of charging you the tip in the main
price and then “hiding”it so you end up tipping
twice is a common practice on the Island of Aruba.
Since their money is not in US dollars, the problem
is double: trying to figure out the rate exchange,
then trying to get them to admit, öh, si, the tip
was included already! By the time we caught on to
this little practice, it was almost time for us to
go home.
Agreed that service in virtually every restaurant we went to in Panama was notably better than NA standards. We’re from New Orleans, so we know restaurants, food, and service–Panama, in general, has it right! We visited a lot of small local cafes along the roads we traveled from Volcan to Panama City and though we regrettably didn’t know enough Spanish to be conversant, we were always treated kindly and received good food and service. No illnesses either. We noticed right off that many places added on the 10% “mystery” charge–no biggee. Just add another 5-10% depending on how wonderful the service and food was and still be happy you paid early 70′s U.S. prices for a great, perhaps exotic meal in 2008.