191–200 of 416 posts
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Please stop tipping unless the service is very good. Hell, the quality of the service could be reflected in the cost of the food (it is), and you don't need to tip at all. Thank you, A Swede.
I also tip 10% in Europe unless I see a table/service charge added, and I will gladly stop if you say so
FWIW France has it right: there's no tipping, service is always included.
I am french, living in the US: yes, service is always included in France, but service is usually not that good. At least, definitely not as good as in the US.
Very often regarding those articles, you read in the comments different varieties of "good service": - may I ask: What does this actually mean? I have never been to a "high class" or "fine dining" location, so maybe my expectations are in general not high. My expectations are just simple: Give me the menu quickly, let me order quickly, let me eat and let me pay quickly. Thats it. What do I miss? EDIT: Im located in E…
It's really about reading the room. A good waiter won't bring the main of you're still finishing the wine that paired with your entrée. Won't come to pick the empty plates right in the middle of a lively conversation.
Things will land on and leave your table at the right time.
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At least they don’t demand a bunch of extra tips. I’m European (well, Scandinavian, which some Europeans consider European and some don’t) and my rule of thumb is that if I go out I tip 10%. If the service is extra good I might tip extra. If the service is very bad (unreasonably slow, or staff forget or mix up the order in a significant way, or they are very rude), I tip 0%. Of course everyone can mess up things a li…
I'm also Scandinavian (Norwegian), and I never tip when going out. I can't think of any long-term outcome of a tipping culture that is efficient for the workers and employers, even if the amount the customer tipped was correlated with quality (the research I've read shows it's got more to do with looks). It is simply more efficient that both parties know what they are agreeing to up front when (1) the worker still ha…
It’s so out of hand that staff have a euphemism for it. you stand at the counter in front of the Toast POS, tap your card, and … then the phrase … “The system will ask you a few questions”. Bam I’m supposed to tip 25% for standing at a counter to order and take my food.
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I’m from the USA and had the experience in Switzerland where the server refunded money due to my overtipping.
That’s funny. When there recently, I had a woman put the cc machine back in my face with a pouty look after I had plugged in 10%. She was non-Swiss herself though and I read it as trying to take advantage of a tourist
Why would being non-Swiss make someone more likely to take advantage of a tourist?
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> In Europe you'll wait 20 minutes to get the attention of a waiter for salt or ketchup until your food is cold. You could ask for the salt or ketchup when the meal arrives. Also Europeans are not, I think, accustomed to asking for salt, or ketchup, on already seasoned food. So your request is actually unusual.
It's amazing how much is attributed to culture. What if I like more salt? European are not accustomed to ask for salt. What if the chef forgot to add salt? You'll wait till your food is cold. It's culture.
For ketchup, I'm afraid you'll need to stay in the US.
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I'm not saying they're right to do so, but it sounds like their intuition was honed well if they pegged you correctly during your faux-pas era? Fascinating, wonder what the tell was.
If you are a foreigner I imagine your accent can give you away pretty quickly. Europeans would be far less likely to tip (or tip generously).
Southern europeans tip, there wouldn't be much difference there
Northern ones it depends, they don't tip at home but they usually do on vacations to southern europe (where tipping culture very much exists). Though some of that also has to do with currency conversions, at least historically, even if the tradition has stuck past the euro being introduced. So maybe that's why they don't tip when it comes to dollars?
It's important to remind that American restaurants work well - we have promp and good service as a rule, the majority of Americans are fine with and enjoy tipping and the vast majority of service workers enjoy getting them and are ahead financially vs European counterparts. This is our culture and we by and large like our culture.
It's fine to experiment with other options and it's (of course) fine to disagree and complain but it's also an important baseline to acknowledge that things mainly work and people mainly like it.
I never thought about paying staff via tips being a tax dodge for the restaurant if it lets them avoid raising prices and thus taxable revenue.
The BBC article's "sales tax" reason sounds good - unless you know that several US states do not have sales tax. The actual history of tipping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping#History And a bit on Sales Taxes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax#In_the_United_States From old family stories, I figure the real reason for tipping service workers is that both employers and customers want there to be plenty of s…