[DontTurnRight]

The one thing I don’t miss about US hotels and restaurants, is the pressure put on you to heavily tip. At the other end of the spectrum is New Zealand, where in the main tipping is not expected and service charges are not added to bills. A positive joy on all counts.

[icenspice]

LOL PC

Leaving shrapnel is a big NoNo.

I am known as a major tipper, whether it be a taxi driver or barber, and my partner always complains. Like many I hâte feeling obliged to tip, but in a NY restaurant 15% is the bare minimum unfortunately.

I like leaving tips when not expected, for example in Crete recently where i had a haircut for €10, adding €2. Or here in Luxembourg for my birthday meal…€6, my two Spanish friends nearly passed out but I kinda liked the Italian waiter.

In hotels generally never, except the porter, but having my bag rolled to my room is one of my pet hâtes and i usually say a polite No thanks.

[MartynSinclair]

I have often though of creating a small sticky label to stick on bills in any particularly ‘vulgar’ restaurant along the lines of

“best tip, ask your boss to pay you what you are worth!”

…I may get round to doing this one day..

I am currently in the States and I also feel pressured in leaving a minimum of 15% even for absolutely cr*p service.

[MrMichael]

I must confess to hating too the whole US tipping culture, it is getting almost as bad as cruise liners.

The best tip I ever left was in a hotel restaurant in Dallas, lovely hotel, crappy reheated food and service was perfunctory at best and decidedly rushed and cold at worse. I decided not to tip and unusually scrabbled around for the right cash to leave on the table….and just made it. The waiter asked “what about the tip” I stood up, leaned over the table towards him and said in a low voice ” best tip u ever had….. Don’t wipe your arse with a broken bottle”. He looked stunned, I and MrsM left. I know it was rude of me….but frankly he was lucky I didn’t just swing for him.

[icenspice]

OMG MrM

Will you protect me once the inévitable storm arrives?

[jsn55]

I don’t understand why anyone feels pressured to tip anyone anywhere. Why would you care what the waiter thought of you? Service people know if they are doing a lousy job, and tipping them just reinforces the fact that doing a lousy job is OK. If I were having many meals in a hotel over a week or so and had awful service, I’d tell the waiter why I wasn’t leaving a tip. To just skulk out of the restaurant is ridiculous. An establishment who employs someone who will yell at you across the room needs to be avoided. As previously stated, I tip very well for good service and feel no pressure to tip for poor service.

[FDOS_UK]

hueyjudy – 05/08/2015 16:56 BST

I agree with you, but the British way is not to make a fuss or to be direct, thus the angst and slipping out of the establishment.

[DavidGordon10]

Well yes – but just imagine what would happen if every person from all those countries that regard excessive tipping as a barbarity were to say: “No Tips!” when in the USA. “Those countries” include not just the UK, but most of NW Europe (particularly Scandinavia), much of central Europe (a 10% tip in the Czech Republic would be regarded as mad), much of the Western Pacific and Australasia.

Maybe European airlines would lose landing rights in the USA. Maybe the idea of a living wage for a job would be regarded as dangerous communism.

This thought experiment just shows how crazy the USA actually is about tipping. So, please, this is a request to our American friends to post a justification on this forum, which we can actually believe, for USA tips (and particularly for the “suggested” tips on the bill that caused me to reopen this thread).

PS – a tip is almost unknown in Denmark. Which is the happiest and most socially cohesive country – Denmark or the USA?

[DontTurnRight]

Another particularly irritating habit is restaurants that include a 15% or similar service charge as part of the bill. This was quite common in Bermuda and this does make life quite uncomfortable should you decide you do not wish to leave a tip.

To Huey Judy’s point, I do not care what the waiter thinks of me, but I do care if the waiter behaves in an inappropriate manner or is downright rude, as as happened on a couple of occasions in New York, where the tip has been less than anticipated. fortunately in this day and age, we have the delights of trip advisor, where we can name and shame restaurants, hotels and their staff if such behavior is encountered.

[LuganoPirate]

When in the US, if the service is bad I don’t tip and I’ll tell the waiter why. That or I’ll ask for the manager and tell him why I’m not tipping.

At the University Club in New York tipping is absolutely prohibited. Bliss. But you do need to wear a jacket and tie at all times, even for breakfast!

[MartynSinclair]

I don’t think any of us really begrudge tipping.. its just the expected amount, especially in the USA.

If I go out and have a superb meal and the bill comes to $400, I would presume that part of the $400 cost is the cost of the staff, especially the cost of a waiter, serving the food.

In my simple mind, a $50 tip to say thank is MORE than enough… a $100 dollar tip (on a $400 bill), to me is excessive.

With regards to buffet or self service restaurants…. I will leave a couple of $ bills simply because most people do… If I waiter gives me a look or ‘complains’, I will pick the dollar bills up, walk out and suggest he asks his boss for a raise…

[StewartK]

The thing about the US approach to tipping which still surprises me is the implied ‘optional tip’, usually in the form of a glass full of bills on the bar or service area at a reception or event where the drinks are free.

[chewkc65]

If service charge is already added to the bill, then service is to be expected of by customers. Definitely no additional tip. It horrifies me that a minimum of 15% tip is expected…no…demanded…in US restaurants. Then there are chamber maids, taxi drivers, hairdressers and a whole lot of other services provided where tipping is a norm…or should I say compulsory.

[CosmoFlyer]

Being German and having no problem honoring good service by leaving a good to very good tip, be that at home or in the US I often have problems with my partner who is American. Me leaving a 15% tip in New York for substandard service will make him uncomfortable. Me questioning why a good server can pay his rent in Manhattan after the first three days of the month would make him shake the head and respond “why not, if he is good !” On the other hand I do leave a tip of 10% if the food and service was excellent, even in most European countries where you are only supposed to round up the total amount. Very often you then get a very nice table next time you visit or a welcome drink on the house.
I do travel 120 days a year internationally and always leave a tip for housekeeping (normally on day 1 and on the last day) as I am aware how little money these hard working people earn.

[ccCookie]

K1ngston, I visit Singapore often and, if the fare for a taxi were SGD 9.70 for example, it surprises me that a taxi driver will actually try to hand you 30 cents change from SGD 10. In Canada a taxi would assume the change was his (and likely be offended by only 30 cents (assume for the moment that you could actually go anywhere in Canada in a taxi for $9.70.))

While 10% is included in the bill in Singapore, there is still a location on a bill to add a tip. As others in this thread have indicated, I also always stroke through this … and leave any additional money cash, if warranted.

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