⌛ Hayahay-great place with long-nose-tax

just to elaborate a small bit, It is good to point out this long nose tax thing, what you see here in dumaguete is an unspoken dual economy of sorts. One for locals, and one for tourists. Those of us (Foreigners) who live here can circumvent the latter mostly by knowing where to go shop, (there are many honest bussinesses), who to ask, and like Rhoody, examining the bill.

Do you want to pay 14 pesos for a beer or 40? Do you pay 20 pesos for a tricycle ride or 7? Many times it is a matter of where you are, or what you know, and what you look like.

Unsuspecting tourists really are in the dark about local laws taxes etc. so an employee can just add a little to each bill and call it tax. And to the tourist, it is small money anyway, some locals count on that. But they picked on Rhoody, bad idea, there. he has the power to publish and keep them honest.

There is at least one beer parlor at the public market that charges 12 pesos for a 330ml Beer na Beer to philippinos and 14 to foreigners. What is two pesos? but they count each and every one and figure no one will complain. It is engrained in the thinking here.

At one time the twin lakes had two published entrance fees, one for locals and one for foreign tourists. The Negros tourism office even supported this position in a local news paper article! The Negros Chronicle ran the story.

 

There are actually 3 different prices at Apo Island, local Dauin residents, Pinoys, and foreigners... I always joke with the collectors there about my fees, as a foreigner who is a Dauin resident...
I don't have any problems with those fees like in Apo or Twin-lakes as it is published and we know it in advanced. I do have problems with cheaters.

But like promised I followed up on that and got an even more funny answer:

"No, you don't have to pay that, the waitress is new, she don't know you..."

seriously, thats not the policy I want to support, sitting on a table with visiting friends and when we pay they got charged more for the same item.
The solution for that is to raise the prices 5% and make a club or member card for returning customers and give them 5% discount instead of overcharging and cheating

Rhoody

 

hayahay means "relax or relaxing"....

 

thanx... I was not toooooo far
Hope my bubble-brain will not forget the real meaning again.. at least I can look back at DI to remember

Rhoody

 

as well as cozy, comfortable, refreshed, snug and cool.

 

Turist prices

Quite frankly, I think the habit of charging higher prices for a turist / foreigner is quite commen, not only in Dumaguete but all over the country, and in fact in nearly all low income countries of the world.

It can be a bit annoying, if you are living in a low income country for a longer period of time, and particular if you are working there, i.e. your income is not that much higher, than what other people earn.

Still, I do not think it is a particularly big problem in Dumaguete. Prices in most shops are fixed, most people in the public market are honost etc.

About the new policy of Hayahay, I have to agree with you though. This is not a nice policy. What they should do - if anything at all - is to publish the regular prices in their menu, and then they can give a discount to their regular customers, if they like. As e.g. Coco Amigos does. Or they need to publish, that there is a "service charge" of 4% on all bills, like many upscale places do. Only in these cases the "service charge" is more often around 10% not 4%.