tipping in general

[yo-mo]

Working in the restaurant business myself, I'm concerned about being appropriatly generous. I've read alot about tipping in the AI situation but would like to hear what is regarded as standard in restaurants, etc. In the US 15% is considered "adequate"
20% "appreciative". Some guidelines would be helpful. Someone mentioned bringing nailpolish as a gift for the maids. Cool idea. Any other thoughts?

[james]

Someone mentioned bringing nailpolish as a gift for the maids. Cool idea. Any other thoughts?

How would you know what shade to get?

Seriously, I would stick to pesos. If you are going All Inclusive, the maids normally cannot officially accept gifts as management might consider the booty purloined.

There are some other posts on this forum about tipping you might want to check out. In most parts of Mexico, the standard is 10% for eating out, and you may see that automatically added to your bill here at some restaurants as servicio. Playa gets alot of visitors from countries where tipping is not a custom, and these otherwise worldly and culturally enhanced folk sometime forget to read the page in the guidebook about tipping. It has a negative effect for lots of waiters, where the 'included' tip is seen as a limit of generosity for those who would normally go farther. I know plenty of waiters that size up the customer and figure out where they are from before going with the included servicio or not. I won't get any more specific than that.