Short video but it's my first video in 6 months so just trying to get back in the habit. So what do you think about how restaurants and other businesses implement grats and tips in Bermuda?
Thank you so much. I have a watch all of your videos over the years and I appreciate the information. I was not aware of the fine distinction between gratuities and tips. I also did not know that I can ask to have the gratuity removed. I will start using the tip feature on future trips and I will asked to have the gratuity removed and I will apply a 20% tip As I am traveling, I will do this using a credit card. I understand the rationale to provide the tip in cash instead but if you were in Bermuda for any length of time such as a week, that requires one to withdraw a lot of cash out in advance from the ATM machines. thus it's a bit of a hassle. We have been to Bermuda eight times and we are about to go there over the Fourth of July and I will certainly heed your advice. Thank you so much keep up the good work.
One thing I like about grats here is that it gets split with the backend staff that wouldn't normally get anything. However it's really annoying that each business makes their own little amendments so you can never really be sure how grats are split. I should have added that, if you are curious, it's totally acceptable to ask how grats are distributed. But from my experience, sometimes even the staff don't know and they just see a random number added to their paycheck with no idea how it was calculated. It's a system that's ripe for exploitation so I don't blame anyone for choosing to avoid it alltogether. In any case, I hope this info helps!
On my travels I have usually tipped servers with a handshake of cash that doesn't have to show up anywhere. They always seem appreciative of that. I have never considered doing that while here on island. Something I will now have to consider. Also, had no idea I could tell them remove them grats.. about to be wasting everyone's time at the bar.
My wife and I went to Bermuda last July (2022), and we tipped beyond the gratuity. Mind you, we left the kids home so we REALLY contributed to the local economy lol. I don’t want to side track your video, but curious on your opinion. Our first trip to Bermuda was in 2013 for our honeymoon. We went as my parents said in all their travel it was the best service they ever had across the world and uur experience was similar. As aforementioned, we went last year trying to recreate that experience. We stayed at the reefs, like we did in 2013. Our service and experience on the island was terrible. I mean, terrible. Not isolated to a few instances, but the entire vacation. I didn’t know if this was unique to the reefs so on our 9 taxi cab rides I made a point to ask the cab drivers. My experience is cab drivers always tell you the local haps. 7 of the 9 drivers explained to me that Bermuda has changed. From the focus on the downtown and banking, to the kids and crime, all the way to service like we were experiencing. The 08 crisis and retirements of the service industry as well as COVID really impacted the hospitality industry. One older taxi driver (who we ended up using a few times because he was such a pleasure) explained that Bermuda just didn’t have enough nationals in the tourist industry and because of that they had to bring in foreigners (which we experienced at the hotel, mainly from the Philippines as well as India). Furthermore, the union rules of the hospitality industry requires that a certain number of persons working at the property are required to be Bermuda nationals. This has caused a lot of friction, which manifests itself into the service aspect. So, with all this in mind i start searching google, and my anecdotal was that a lot of people were complaining about the service on the island. My question to you is, does any of this remotely accurate in your opinion and what are your thoughts if it is true on the tourism industry. I know where we live in NJ, many people who used to go to Bermuda are now going to Cayman, Aruba, Turks, because the experiences have proven to be consistently better. Thanks for the video, always enjoy watching and your local knowledge. I do have a love for the Island, but after last years trip, I don’t see a reason to have anything more then memories now.
When I was in Bermuda years ago I took the local buses; taxi only at night and I did a lot of walking. The 7-day or longer ticket was very convenient! Unfortunately, here in Germany the government is crazy and prices have gone up into the sky. Since I have retired now I'd love to go back to Bermuda but most likely will not be able to because of financial reasons and required immunizations. Omar, thank you for your wonderful video and clarification what tips and grats are!!! By the way, in Germany the wage is 12 €.
Thank you for such an informative video!! Your content is amazing and helps with planning out our trip. I actually had a question for you, would you have any information about restaurants that have Halal food in Bermuda? I have dietary restrictions:(
I've always hated the idea of grats being forced tips...I dunno..didn't know they could be removed though. Learned something new - now if they could just do something about the cost of food, they'd be on to something. Great video as always bro
Yeah, grats should be IN ADDITION to a decent wage....but it was unrealistic to think that would happen tbh. Is what it is, I guess. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
Come on, Larry. You know it's just an umbrella term. You can be unemployed not worry about going into debt to see a doctor. And Bermudians pay taxes too
I've never been a big ARPG guy but d4 has me hooked mostly because of the world, story and side questing. I see everyone racing to 100 and I'm just slowly trucking along like a real casual. 20 year old Omar would be ashamed lol
Hey there, great video👏! I thought that gratuity and tips were the same thing so I never tipped when I had a gratuity included in the price. Now I get it. I personally prefer that people get their salary from the employer through the price charged and the tip (voluntary) goes straight to the employee. I find it annoying to see a price in the menu and then having to pay x% more for taxes, gratuity, service,...or whatever reason... $16.40 an hour? I saw cherries 🍒🍒 at $30 the pound at Marketplace...almost 2 hours of work for a pound of cherries??? I think the minister has still some work to do... I hope that you take the video habit again! 😉
yeah it definitely should be. I don't understand the logic of using grats to supplement the min wage if the goal is to actually put more money in their pocket. But, like i said, it's all smoke and mirrors. They want to look like their helping people without upsetting the balance, so mission accomplished I guess. There aren't many people making less than 16.40 and those that do supplement their income with grats. So if grats counts towards the min wage then it's a toothless new law that doesn't really help anybody. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
How are you Omar ? I am from Karachi Pakistan I want to relocate to Burmuda for job purpose can please give some guidelines about the job market of the country appreciate your reply.
If you ask to have the grats removed from the bill, do the servers act like you are just trying to get away without tipping? Or do they wait and see that they are actually getting cash instead, and then actually appreciate the fact that you removed the standard grat for a more personal tip?
What I would do is, ask the server how their staff split grats and if they would prefer a cash tip instead. If they say yes, then you can ask them to remove grats. If they prefer grats then put the cash back in your pocket.
In terms of grats versus tips, im just a poor uni student so i never tip when im by myself. When im with friends the expectation is to tip because it's "good etiquette", but I'm struggling financially as well. So in that case id prefer to have the grat on there instead of asking me to pick a price to give extra. Only if the server is exceptional with the service will i even consider tipping. Thats the mindset i have with youtube as well with subscribing honestly
When the average American tourist sees grats they will think it's the tip for the server. But what is happening is not surprising from a country that gave equal marriage rights then took them away from its people.
Short video but it's my first video in 6 months so just trying to get back in the habit. So what do you think about how restaurants and other businesses implement grats and tips in Bermuda?
Thank you so much. I have a watch all of your videos over the years and I appreciate the information.
I was not aware of the fine distinction between gratuities and tips.
I also did not know that I can ask to have the gratuity removed.
I will start using the tip feature on future trips and I will asked to have the gratuity removed and I will apply a 20% tip
As I am traveling, I will do this using a credit card. I understand the rationale to provide the tip in cash instead but if you were in Bermuda for any length of time such as a week, that requires one to withdraw a lot of cash out in advance from the ATM machines. thus it's a bit of a hassle.
We have been to Bermuda eight times and we are about to go there over the Fourth of July and I will certainly heed your advice. Thank you so much keep up the good work.
One thing I like about grats here is that it gets split with the backend staff that wouldn't normally get anything. However it's really annoying that each business makes their own little amendments so you can never really be sure how grats are split. I should have added that, if you are curious, it's totally acceptable to ask how grats are distributed. But from my experience, sometimes even the staff don't know and they just see a random number added to their paycheck with no idea how it was calculated. It's a system that's ripe for exploitation so I don't blame anyone for choosing to avoid it alltogether. In any case, I hope this info helps!
On my travels I have usually tipped servers with a handshake of cash that doesn't have to show up anywhere. They always seem appreciative of that. I have never considered doing that while here on island. Something I will now have to consider. Also, had no idea I could tell them remove them grats.. about to be wasting everyone's time at the bar.
what have i done...
My wife and I went to Bermuda last July (2022), and we tipped beyond the gratuity. Mind you, we left the kids home so we REALLY contributed to the local economy lol. I don’t want to side track your video, but curious on your opinion. Our first trip to Bermuda was in 2013 for our honeymoon. We went as my parents said in all their travel it was the best service they ever had across the world and uur experience was similar. As aforementioned, we went last year trying to recreate that experience. We stayed at the reefs, like we did in 2013. Our service and experience on the island was terrible. I mean, terrible. Not isolated to a few instances, but the entire vacation. I didn’t know if this was unique to the reefs so on our 9 taxi cab rides I made a point to ask the cab drivers. My experience is cab drivers always tell you the local haps. 7 of the 9 drivers explained to me that Bermuda has changed. From the focus on the downtown and banking, to the kids and crime, all the way to service like we were experiencing. The 08 crisis and retirements of the service industry as well as COVID really impacted the hospitality industry. One older taxi driver (who we ended up using a few times because he was such a pleasure) explained that Bermuda just didn’t have enough nationals in the tourist industry and because of that they had to bring in foreigners (which we experienced at the hotel, mainly from the Philippines as well as India). Furthermore, the union rules of the hospitality industry requires that a certain number of persons working at the property are required to be Bermuda nationals. This has caused a lot of friction, which manifests itself into the service aspect. So, with all this in mind i start searching google, and my anecdotal was that a lot of people were complaining about the service on the island. My question to you is, does any of this remotely accurate in your opinion and what are your thoughts if it is true on the tourism industry. I know where we live in NJ, many people who used to go to Bermuda are now going to Cayman, Aruba, Turks, because the experiences have proven to be consistently better. Thanks for the video, always enjoy watching and your local knowledge. I do have a love for the Island, but after last years trip, I don’t see a reason to have anything more then memories now.
This is a great question…i need to think about how I want to answer this but I promise I will!
When I was in Bermuda years ago I took the local buses; taxi only at night and I did a lot of walking. The 7-day or longer ticket was very convenient!
Unfortunately, here in Germany the government is crazy and prices have gone up into the sky.
Since I have retired now I'd love to go back to Bermuda but most likely will not be able to because of financial reasons and required immunizations.
Omar, thank you for your wonderful video and clarification what tips and grats are!!!
By the way, in Germany the wage is 12 €.
@@OmarJames this waiting for the reply is emblematic of the service 😂
🤣🤣🤣 I deserve that. Sorry was overseas but it’s coming soon, I promise! Decided to make a video out of it. Should get some time this weekend!
@@OmarJames I am teasing, hope you had a nice trip! Looking forward to the video!
Thank you for such an informative video!! Your content is amazing and helps with planning out our trip. I actually had a question for you, would you have any information about restaurants that have Halal food in Bermuda? I have dietary restrictions:(
There was a good spot on front street but it closed during covid. I'm not sure of any spots currently but i'll ask around!
I've always hated the idea of grats being forced tips...I dunno..didn't know they could be removed though. Learned something new - now if they could just do something about the cost of food, they'd be on to something. Great video as always bro
Yeah, grats should be IN ADDITION to a decent wage....but it was unrealistic to think that would happen tbh. Is what it is, I guess. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
Health care is not free in the UK. About 18% of a citizen's income tax goes towards healthcare, which is about 4.5% of the average citizen's income.
Come on, Larry. You know it's just an umbrella term. You can be unemployed not worry about going into debt to see a doctor. And Bermudians pay taxes too
W video Omar. I'm a Path of Exile guy myself but I feel you on procrastinating to play Diablo 4 😂
I've never been a big ARPG guy but d4 has me hooked mostly because of the world, story and side questing. I see everyone racing to 100 and I'm just slowly trucking along like a real casual. 20 year old Omar would be ashamed lol
Hey there, great video👏! I thought that gratuity and tips were the same thing so I never tipped when I had a gratuity included in the price. Now I get it. I personally prefer that people get their salary from the employer through the price charged and the tip (voluntary) goes straight to the employee. I find it annoying to see a price in the menu and then having to pay x% more for taxes, gratuity, service,...or whatever reason...
$16.40 an hour? I saw cherries 🍒🍒 at $30 the pound at Marketplace...almost 2 hours of work for a pound of cherries??? I think the minister has still some work to do...
I hope that you take the video habit again! 😉
yeah it definitely should be. I don't understand the logic of using grats to supplement the min wage if the goal is to actually put more money in their pocket. But, like i said, it's all smoke and mirrors. They want to look like their helping people without upsetting the balance, so mission accomplished I guess. There aren't many people making less than 16.40 and those that do supplement their income with grats. So if grats counts towards the min wage then it's a toothless new law that doesn't really help anybody. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
How are you Omar ? I am from Karachi Pakistan I want to relocate to Burmuda for job purpose can please give some guidelines about the job market of the country appreciate your reply.
D4 is fantastic! Highly doubt I'll get to 100 anytime soon though!
Yeah it's been a blast! Played as much as I could over the holiday but doubt i'll make 100 either. great game tho! enjoying it much more than 3
If you ask to have the grats removed from the bill, do the servers act like you are just trying to get away without tipping? Or do they wait and see that they are actually getting cash instead, and then actually appreciate the fact that you removed the standard grat for a more personal tip?
What I would do is, ask the server how their staff split grats and if they would prefer a cash tip instead. If they say yes, then you can ask them to remove grats. If they prefer grats then put the cash back in your pocket.
In terms of grats versus tips, im just a poor uni student so i never tip when im by myself. When im with friends the expectation is to tip because it's "good etiquette", but I'm struggling financially as well. So in that case id prefer to have the grat on there instead of asking me to pick a price to give extra. Only if the server is exceptional with the service will i even consider tipping. Thats the mindset i have with youtube as well with subscribing honestly
We all do what we can. Nothing to be ashamed of. hope I earned your sub!
When the average American tourist sees grats they will think it's the tip for the server. But what is happening is not surprising from a country that gave equal marriage rights then took them away from its people.