Travelling Tips: Baksheesh

Travelling Tips: Baksheesh

One of the most common complaints you’ll hear from tourists visiting Egypt (and other Arab countries) is the feeling they are being hassled by the ubiquitous requests for “baksheesh” which accompany almost any small service. Westerners often consider baksheesh to be like tipping and so have difficulty understanding why someone opening a door or giving you directions to the toilet considers that they are due a tip. Mark Twain visited Egypt and later complained about the "torture that no pen can describe from the hungry appeals for baksheesh that gleamed from Arab eyes." However, these requests should be not considered to be simple greed. This is not an attempt by Egyptians to rip–off western tourists. The annoyance springs from our failure to understand a concept that is central to Egyptian culture.

There are in fact three types of baksheesh.
 
This first is the giving of alms which is one of the five tenets of Islam. By making a charitable donation to a person worse off than yourself you show Allah that you are a generous and pious person. Strangely, although the practice of begging is not considered to be as distasteful in Egypt as in most western cities, you will actually receive very few requests for baksheesh when no service at all has been provided. In my home town it is not at all uncommon to have the refusal of a demand for money answered by an expletive. Not all requests for charity are phrased in a friendly manner. By contrast in Egypt I was never asked for baksheesh by someone who was simply begging.

The second type of baksheesh is by far the most common and relates to a service rendered. It is this form which is mistaken for tipping. In the west we tend only to tip in certain situations and although it may make sense to us, in reality the rules are rather arbitrary (for a cultural reference look no further than Mr Pink’s rant on tipping in Reservoir Dogs). We tip people who serve us food, but not fast food. We sometimes tip in bars, but not in others. In Egypt the practice is more egalitarian. You “tip” for everything. Bear in mind that the person who holds open the door for you probably subsists on an incredibly low wage, and the person who directs you to the tour bus or helps you find the tomb you want to visit likewise probably earns so little that without the extra “tip” they would barely make ends meet. Freely offering a small amount of money can vastly improve your reception by the locals and add to the enjoyment of your trip.
 
The third kind of baksheesh is what we would call a bribe but is, again, very common and culturally acceptable. The application of a few extra piastres will grant you access to an improved level of service in most situations. This practice also applies to officials guarding site and checkpoints and to governmental workers in general. Again their pay is relatively low and it is not only the tourist but also the Egyptian citizen who is expected to provide a bribe in order to get things done.

So, when travelling in Egypt be sure to take some loose change and low denomination notes with you wherever you go. Don’t hold back when you are asked for baksheesh but instead embrace this custom; simply smile, and make a small donation and in return you will be rewarded with a wide friendly smile. If you strongly feel that their action does not warrant any donation, say “la shokran” (no thank you) and go about your day with no hard feelings.