Australians are notoriously poor tippers by world standards.
Americans seem to have raised the pracice to a fine art.
Like many Australians I despise tipping - believing that proprietors should pay staff a fair wage - thus obviating the need for tipping as a staff subsidy to increase owners' profits.
See this in today's Age newspaper:
"Tipping: a legitimate form of payment or an excuse for slavery?"
I'm not a fan of the system. However, if I'm somewhere (like US) where that is the system, I act accordingly. What I find truly objectionable is those that decry the system, and then use it as an excuse to screw the waitstaff.
I don't really believe any diners set out to screw waitstaff. The waitstaff are screwed by a past-its-use-by-date system where profit-hungry proprietors choose not to pay employees a decent wage. What other industry expects the goodwill of clients to pay or top up staff salaries?
Cheers!
Martin
As stated, I'm fine with "voting" to change system. But if you knowingly go into a restaurant where waitstaff are paid less than a"decent" wage because they expect to make it up in tips, and tip miserly, you are screwing the waitstaff, not making a statement about the system.
I agree with you on the system and I would prefer the European custom of a service charge on the bill. Be that as it may, US restaurants are generally legally able to pay a wage less than the standard minimum because tips are anticipated and the owners are not really "screwing" the staff.
Mind you, I don't go along with arithmetically challenged newspaper reviewers who don't pay their own bills anyway but insist that the percentage tip should go up because the cost of living has increased.
That's fine, and perfectly reasonable.
Don't use it as an excuse to underpay your servers in places where tipping is standard.
"Bi!!" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@gu8g2000vbb.googlegroups.com:
Not in Spain, France, Portugal, Andorra, Italy or Germany.
In any of these places you can tip if you want to thank for the food or service. And I usually do.
s
Same here.
But it gets more complicated. In the US, while the system lends itself to abuse, a waiter has the potential of earning sums that no European waiter could dream of. I know of a place in SoCal where the waiters make over 100k. Well over. This may be the exception, but there are waiters in the US that would never want to work any other way.
Funny, perhaps we don't go the same places but all the restaurants with waiters I have gone to in Europe have added a Service charge to the bill. Rounding up for good service to the next 5 or 10 is still possible.
James Silverton wrote in news:ioc98k$eku$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Frankly, I am surprised. Was that recently?
s.
The thing that bothers me is when a restaurant adds an automatic gratuity to the bill. Good service, bad service, doesn't make any difference on the tab.
Dick in the USA
He is probably refering to the statement on the menu "service compris" or similar service included. Joseph Coulter J&B Journeys
Not at all uncommon in the UK. Here, if there is no service charge I usually add atound 10%, depending on how I feel about the experience in the restaurant. But if you don't tip it is not like you are screwing the waiters, and no one chases after you.
In principle I would rather do away with the system.
Most things like that change eventually. The question is when, and what to.
Here is one alternative pricing model that is happening in Chicago now:
Many years ago, on a bus tour in Mexico we were taken to a real "tourist trap" restaurant after seeing the pyramids. I can read and speak Spanish so I knew that the "propina" was already added to the bill. However, the other members of our group did not know this so they were leaving tips as though they were in the US.
Godzilla
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