Yogiyo!

There is something I realized the other day that I have not mentioned yet. People in Korea do not tip. You do not tip your cab drivers (no matter how fast they get you there by driving like maniacs), you do not tip your servers at restaurants, you do not tip your hairdresser, you do not tip the bell boy. There is no tipping. This is one of the things I love most about Korea. (And will probably be one of the hardest things to remember to do again when I get home to America.) There is never the awkward moment at the end of the meal trying to figure out how much to leave your server based on their performance and/or the food. There are no tip calculators! Korean people would probably think you are nuts if you asked where you can find one on your cell phone. You would think that with the lack of tipping the service would be terrible, but people here take their jobs seriously and the service is really wonderful. You can even yell at your server in a restaurant. The phrase "yogiyo!" is used to get your server's attention and means "over here!". All you have to do is yell it and then someone appears to take care of your every need. It's brilliant, but if you are like me and just can't shake the western thought that somehow 'shouting loudly across the restaurant at your server is not the most polite restaurant etiquette' then there is a magical little button on the table I like to call the "yogiyo!" button. You can press the button and it serves the same purpose as the "yogiyo!" without the yelling. The button just buzzes behind the scenes in the server station. Again, brilliant.

Namaste