What is the average unskilled wage in Guatemala? I have been told 20Q for eight hours plus lunch. If that is true, then 2Q for 15 minutes of work does not seem out of place.
You're forgetting that the shoeshine guy is NOT being paid an hourly wage plus lunch but IS an independent businessman and you may be his only client for the day making for a daily earnings of 2Q, hardly a living wage!
But hey be a cheapskate if it turns your crank!
I'm the guy who started this thread way back when. It's had an amazingly long and varied life!
The several responses say quite a bit about the range of people who frequent this place. Although not everyone read my question all the way through, it ended by asking for the high end of going tariff for a shoe shine. An equal number of people responded to the question as asked, castigated the questioner for setting out to exploit some of the poorest people in Guatemala, and told the world just how cheap they are when they visit a third world country.
I hate to imagine the kind of responses someone would have if he or she inquired of this group how much to tip a Guatemalan waiter, taxi driver, colectivo driver, or chambermaid! (In case anyone should care, my standard is something on the order of 10 to 15% for the waiter or taxi driver, Q10 for the colectivo driver for two people plus two suitcases, and Q5 per night.)
(P.S.: In most of the world, a gentleman wears black shoes with a black, grey, navy blue, or charcoal business suit. Brown shoes are appropriate if the suit is olive, tan, or brown in color.)
Sorry but black shoes in the EU/North America are not worn by most business people in the know, brown is best, and looks much better with a Navy/Gray or earth tone suit. Black suits are not worn by most business people, they are too serious and not appropriate for most business settings.
In Latin America, yes, the black shoe is worn more, as its more working class shoe than a fashion/upscale look that most don't grasp nor afford...
Been in the Mens fashion business 30 years, brown sells 4-1 to black...
Uh oh, shoe fight. Grabbing the popcorn.
It's worth mentioning that the "higher" end of the scale will be at sit-down spots where professional (mostly older) guys have paid for licenses in key spots. These guys generally are not fond of the guerrilla shiners and will chase them off their territory whenever they come near. Prices are going to be at least 10Q for this official service, leaving 20 or 25 for a job well done seems reasonable. They'll have a more complete set of tintas and cremas and in general more/better experience.
I don't know about black shoes in north america as all the lawyers wear black wing tips to court. I have rarely ever seen a brown shoe except on some poor clerk who is a recent law school graduate.
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