What's Your View on Tipping? (page 3)

The reason why there is tipping in the US is that the people are paid such low wages and are expected to make up the difference in tips. Many waitstaff share their their tips with the people that clean off the tables too. I wonder how the wages for waitstaff in Europe and other places compare to that in the US?

minimus

Don't know. If tipping is so foreign to them, it must mean they get a decent wage to begin with.

undercover

The Brits are known to be poor tippers.

They also have lousy haircuts.

They must not tip their dentists too well either...

OnTheWayOut

I heard that Canadians are bad tippers. (No offence to Canadians here, it's just something I heard.)

Great story:

A large group of us (12 or so) walk into a Greek restaurant in Van Couver, BC Canada. The time is early Sunday afternoon. The entire restaurant has 4 people at tables, there is easily room for 150 people or more. The lone waitress/hostess asks if we had reservations. She's kind of pissed when I say NO. I don't understand that, as the room is near empty and she would have to work just as hard to serve us whether we phoned ahead or not. She would have had to work hard whether one group of 12 came in, or six groups of 2. It takes forever from having menus in our hands to getting water, getting drinks beyond water, ordering. Each stage is a major hassle for this lady. Someone else brings the food, so after ordering, it was hot and fairly fast. But it still takes forever to get more drinks, napkins, condiments, anything that normally would be expected. Getting the check was also an ordeal. It was not just that she was the only person doing these things. She really did disappear for long spells and she really sighed when we asked her for stuff.

We never complained. The problem was- THIS WAS THE BEST FOOD I HAVE EVER TASTED, YET ONE OF THE WORST WAITRESSES I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED. There was no automatic gratuity on the bill. We decided to leave her slightly less than 8%, still a considerable amount for 12 people who ordered a few rounds of alcoholic drinks. Despite the fact that six of us were not from Canada, six were from the area and they knew that tipping was expected. Those six would gladly have left her less than 5%, so it kind of averaged out to 8% with us Americans feeling we had to break 10%.

The waitress was thrilled with our tip. She practically did flips that we had left so much, when we felt that it was really an insult. It was not sarcasm. She felt great that she received what she got. I am not sure if she was used to bad tips or if she knew she didn't even deserve what we left or if just the fact that 8% turned out to be high and she forgot there was a large group of eaters/drinkers to make it so high.

mouthy

Thanks Blondie for telling the truth..

Undercover ,no wonder your under the covers cos I might kick your butt

Nasty one Brits cant help it if they have the BEST CANDIES in the WHOLE world
The Yankie stuff is NO good

bluesapphire

Okay ... I feel that tipping for service oriented things like restaurants, hotels, etc. is a common courtesy because these people don't make a living wage and they rely ont he tips and they may/may not provide good service.

I have a problem with tipping a hairdresser who PER HOUR makes double or triple what I make. Who started this tradition? I HATE it. But I don't want to seem cheap. But if they are giving me a $200 hair cut and color and it takes them 3-5 hours, that's A LOT of dough. And not to mention they are doing cuts and styles in between while I'm sitting under the dryer. NOOOOO!!!! This has to stop!

What's Your View on Tipping?

minimus

blondie

minimus

undercover

OnTheWayOut

mouthy

bluesapphire

leavingwt

mouthy

XJW4EVR

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