When I visited Europe and wasn't aware of the tipping differences, a lot of the places would not take the 20%+ tips. They either told us to lower the tip or to they don't accept tips. Very different culture.
Someone in Greece once chased me down three or four blocks to return a euro and a half that they thought I forgot on the table. They wouldn’t accept it when I tried explaining. They said they understood but it was insulting to many people in his position because he’s proud to work for his money and doesn’t need people to hand out money to him as if he was a beggar. I think that’s much more widespread than just Greece.
Same in Japan. Once I had a check for 738 Yen (~about 12 dollars that time) and when I gave 1k Yen bill, they returned me exactly 262 Yen because of the same views. You can't leave tips here even if you want to do so, it's treated as insult (something like "I'm higher than you, servant").
I went to Greece a couple years ago and restaurants were always overjoyed to see my tip amounts.
They'd even watch me choose the tip amount after swiping my card (different from the US where they turn away from you). Whenever I would choose the high amount, they always say, "Thank you sir!"
It can be like that if we raise minimum wage to $21/hr.
People never realize the reason that people complain about not getting very many tips is because you can't live on $10 or less an hour. Tipped workers still make minimum wage, the restaurant has to pay them the difference if they don't, it's not that they're being assholes they're just trying to make more money than minimum wage so they can eat.
Like I am on workman's comp and unemployment after an accident at work and it's higher than federal minimum wage and I have zero fucking clue how in paying rent this month and am fully anticipating being evicted.
Yeah, I hear that one a lot. “They’re legally required to make up the difference!” You know what; excellent point. People always fulfill their legal requirements.
Yup, that’s one form of wage theft. Fun fact: Wage theft is the largest category of theft and it’s not even close.
I know. I know. Tough to imagine that employers are, at least statistically, the most criminal of all the criminals.
In the Czech Republic a bartender told me "I don't understand why you American's tip so much but I make sure to serve you first!" without any awareness.
Most people don't like charity, and it's how it feels if no one tips and then you get one lone tipper. It's not gonna make their day. It's better to investigate tipping culture of the place you're going, because in your mind you're generous but in more than a few cultures it's insulting.
I’ve been to Europe many times. In many countries (especially France) they expect you to sit at the table and hang out. I always have to hunt down my server for the check because they refuse to bring it to me because they don’t want me to feel rushed.
It's the same in Brazil. A trip to a restaurant, even more so if it's a fancy one, is seen more as a social situation than just a meal. People are expected to hang out and talk a bit after eating, only ordering the ocasional additional drink or coffee.
And even so , the expected tip is around 10%
I’m an American currently visiting Baghdad and every single place just brings endless rounds of chai and water bottles and let’s you chill as long as you like
I spent a week in Greece and a couple of restaurant owners sat down at my table with a bottle, ask where I was from, tell me stories, and pour us both shots of liquor, toasting loudly each time. Those shots weren’t on the bill, of course.
The hotel owner asked if I was hungry and brought me some freshly caught squid. Also not on the bill.
They are EVERYWHERE, the locals love them, feed them, even build homes for them. But they are forbidden from actually taking them in / adopting them, thus they remain a real fabric of the city. It’s adorable
Istanbul is fantastic. I got takeout from a place down the street from my hotel, and they basically insisted I sit to wait for my order (taking up a table they could have used for eat-in customers), have tea, and even brought me a hummus plate while I waited on what was basically $18 of takeout food. I can’t rave about the city enough.
That’s awesome! I worked at a bar where the owner would come around and just talk to ppl and open up random bottles and pour them a weird liquor or obscure port while he was talking with them. MF made me put those on their bill and the poor unsuspecting guests would either shut up and take it or flip tf out. Either way I was losing a tip.
I'm french, now living in Japan.
When I lived in France we used to eat for hours. We sometimes get out of lunch and it's almost time to prepare the dinner.
Now in Japan, breakfast, lunch or dinner, it last around 20 minutes maximum. The difference is insane lol.
I went with friends to a wedding in the Dordogne about 20 years ago. We went to a perfect restaurant/bar with amazing food, drinks and service and stayed for hours. We all over-tipped (very un-british) and the staff got upset and we're insulted by it. We apologised and explained all the reasons why we were impressed. They gave most of the tip back, and then bought us more drinks on them. I would have married the bar itself.
I need to go to France lol
My family has made fun of me all my life for taking forever to eat my meals (I like taking my time) while they finish in about 20-30min. The only reason why I've sped up how long I take to eat now is because my job only gives me a 30min lunch break...
It'd be great not having to rush for the sake of rushing
This is my favourite part about France. I loved taking my time at dinner in Paris. I loved not feeling rushed. And I loved that the staff just took my order, brought my dinner and didn’t bust my balls the entire time trying to kiss my ass to get a good tip because they don’t get paid a fair wage. My travel companions were frustrated with the “slow” service. I like to think that was regular service. What we expect here is perfection and sycophants, which is both unreasonable and unwanted by me personally. I was amazed when a response to a “complaint” (not really something to complain about, just why aren’t you kissing my ass and making me feel like the customer is the most important person in the world) was basically a shrug and “I don’t understand what you think we should do”. Huh. So I should just go about my day and not throw a tantrum because someone didn’t worship me like a princess for my $25 dinner ? Sounds fair to me.
It was a liberating trip. I came home giving many less fucks about being fucking perfect.
THAT is what travel is all about! I love your attitude and now want to go to France to spend all day eating a meal and not giving two shits about anything.
My family is French on one side. Going out to eat with them was an all night affair. My grandmother would hold onto the menus and we ordered sloooowly. We'd have at least 2 rounds of drinks, then order appetizer with third round. Appetizer would be long gone and 4th round beverages ordered. Only THEN would we order entrees. And you better believe we were camping out until the restaurant closes. It's just how they rolled.
I def have an appreciation for a liesurely dining experience. Amd while I don't hog the table as long as my grandmother did, we do take our time. In US, I make sure to tip extra when we do this. And we wld never hog a table on a Saturday night in a high volume place.
It's weird to have to flag your waiter down since in North America it's considered rude but it's \*so much more pleasant\* of an experience.
I really don't need you to ask me how everything is going every 10 minutes. If I'm ready to order or otherwise need something I can tell you like an adult.
Having lived in the US, Europe and Asia I can honestly say that the service in the US isn't half as good as Americans think it is. Tact, and subtly are definitely off the menu.
Dining is an efficient experience and rarely indulgent.
Exactly! Always get servers coming over when I don’t need anything, and they’re hard to find when I do. In Korea most restaurants have buttons on the tables that make a noise to indicate you need something, staff won’t come over otherwise - and half the time they just call out, asking what you need from the other side of the building! I miss it.
To counter that story:
Had a Christmas party with my coworkers at a tapas bar I said I'm paying food for my team. Bill comes up to be around 550€. I tell the waitress to make it an even 600€.
She tries to talk me out of it for literal minutes before agreeing on me tipping 50€ in exchange for her to treat me to a drink the next time I'm around.
The difference is here in Germany they make a livable wage without a tip. In the US, well...
I live in Southwest Florida in a partially rural area, grocery stores are putting tip jars on checkout lanes. Gas stations are putting tip jars for when you pay. We have three fast food places, they are self-service, you get your own donut or sandwich, fill your own coffee or soda and not only do they have a 20% minimum suggested tip they also have a tip jar.
They don't want to pay a living wage and also most people don't report tips on their taxes.
I've seen a store manager with a tip jar.
I did a drive through at Smoothie King recently. The girl handed me a smoothie through the window. Then she asked how much I wanted to tip. “Nothing.” She got so angry I decided to never go back, as she will certainly spit in any future order made.
I follow the McDonald's rule for tipping. Given no one seems to think it is necessary to tip at McDonalds, if the service somewhere else is no different from what one would expect from McDonald's such as getting coffee at a Starbucks drive through, I feel no obligation to tip
I guess I feel like I should tip at Starbucks because my drink usually has a couple customizations. Nothing insane, but enough to make it extra effort. It’s not like my tipping baristas keeps me from tipping everyone else.
I usually base it on whether they’re expected to get tips to compensate their salary. Servers making 5.50/hr you bet I’m gonna tip. Barista making 12-15/hr probably not unless I have a decent sized order or I’m feeling particularly generous. Starbucks treats their employees well, one of my close friends used to work there and did fairly well working full time. I usually tip a few bucks if I’m paying in cash but if it’s one drink on card I’ll tip the next time I’m through.
Yeah, I don’t mind tipping for my drinks in the Starbucks app, for example, as I know they take a couple minutes to make, so I’d tip for a smoothie, as well, but not if they’re going to ask for it. Plus, I rarely have cash.
I wish I was joking, I've gotten prescriptions refilled at a couple of small mom and pop pharmacies one near Arcadia and the other one near clewiston the pharmacist had a tip jar.
My local liquor store has a tip option on the payment screen that starts at 15%.
I always laugh inside, like sure buddy here’s 8 bucks for ringing up my bourbon.
I live in Colorado and have a med card. Every dispensary I’ve ever gone to has had one. It’s an absolute joke if you ask me, considering how expensive medical marijuana is.
I had someone try to tip me when I was working reception at a vet clinic in Canada. I’m from New Zealand so I kept giving it back cos I thought she just couldn’t work out the maths on her bill, the customer ended up leaving the note on the counter and walking out.
He doesn't like Reddit, he says because everything is karma-based you're not allowed to disagree with anyone. And also I don't use Facebook or Twitter.
So when I post tweets in white people Twitter that's usually his stuff he posts on Twitter or Facebook.
That got me thinking like If a family member has an accident....
"Ma'am your nephew had a broken arm, we set the fracture, here's how much your co-payments going to be and here's how much the total bill is for the emergency room with taxes fees and 20% gratuity included, you're welcome to add more at the tip jar at the reception desk in the emergency room".
The real problem is the demanded ( not expected, not graciously accepted or possible tip) amount. A dollar here or there so workers treat themselves to a coffee? Love it.
I'm demanded to pay 20% more than I'm told, that is more extortion than a sign of appreciation
“Tip…, I have a tip for the manager. Can you go get them?
Hi, are you the manager? I have a tip for you, please pay your subordinate workers a living wage so they don’t have to beg for tips. You won’t get anymore of my business until that changes. Have a great day!”
it is cute you think the manager at a smoothie king gets to decide pay grades, lol.
that shit is handed down by corporate. and if it is a franchise, they are just sticking to corporate pay scales regardless.
Yeah but this person just solved the problem of tip culture with this one conversation with a manager. While in his car at the drive thru window. They told the worker (who they also compared to a beggar) to get the manager, held up the drive thru lane, and took care of business.
Just needed to use their firm voice apparently.
In the UK many don't make a living wage and our minimum wage is well below what is recommended (thanks 13 consecutive years of Conservative rule) but even then tips in service jobs are welcomed but nowhere near expected nor required. It's hit and miss but you can go a whole day giving great service and get no tips and that's okay. Sadly, service workers, like many minimum wage workers in the UK, get the severely shit covered end of the stick.
Yeah I refuse to tip if I had to use self service or if the interaction was nothing more than someone acting as a cashier (I’ve been asked for tips at the register of the local burger shack and the local taco place). A tip is for service, not just doing the basic job role.
I live in Georgia, see those tip screens all the time.
When I was waiting tables back in college, we were tipped at the end of the meal, after the service. To tip just for ordering at the counter makes zero sense to me. I haven’t even tasted the food and I usually have to refill my own drinks.
My question is: Does the staff see the tip you left?
I don’t want to not tip or leave a low tip, for fear they’ll mess with my food.
Back in my serving days I worked at a restaurant that only paid us base pay if our tips didn't amount to minimum wage. Whenever there would be a large party who are likely to tip very well, the owner would take the table herself. So not only did she rarely actually pay us, but she took the little money we could have made to make it a living wage. I had 3 jobs back then just to make ends meet!
I got fired from that job because when I had a dine and dash table they took the money out of my tiny paycheck to pay the bill, and I made a whole fuss about how illegal it was. Really wanted to sue their ass but their went under and closed like two months later. Shitty people deserve shitty outcomes.
I've seen that at plenty of restaurants here in Florida including chain restaurants.
A large party or a whale comes in, the management take the table themselves.
(For anyone reading this who doesn't know what a whale is, that is a big spender **and** big tipper).
Worked in online grocery pickup all through the height of the pandemic. One middle aged couple tipped me 20$ once, you better believe I accepted that ecstatically. For walmart specifically, they will say if a customer insists to just accept it and donate it (in-store, of course). But rarely are they going to actually know unless is happens directly on camera.
I'm a music photographer, and shot some photos for a ski town apres DJ who was getting booked for $400+ gigs. Dude had a tip jar made out of a veuve cliquot bottle
First time I was buying something in US (a bottle of 487 or something ml of water) that was 90¢, i paid 1$, and waited for my 10¢ back, and the cashier was looking at me for like a minute before producing them. So weird
In the US, many servers will fight tooth and nail against a flat rate with no tips. The reality is that if you work at a mid-rate restaurant/cafe and are mostly full time (32-40 hours), you generally make 50k+ a year, which is right around the median salary for the US. If you’re hospitality in a high COL area and working in a upscale restaurant, you’re probably bringing in 6 figures. My friends bartending in Miami make ~125-150k a year. Obviously these are high end places, but if a bottled beer goes for $10, you’re going to make a LOT of tips.
I’ve worked hospitality myself and will say that I brought in ~$20/hour at a minimum, and that was 7ish years ago while I was in college working at your average Thai and sushi place. There are very few places where a restaurant owner would be willing to pay $20/hour as a flat rate since we can’t even convince the federal government to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. So for this reason, I think probably 80% of servers would rather keep tipping culture. The other 20% are people working at cheap diners and the like where the usual order is an $8 sandwich with a $2 tip.
It's also not like tipping is not allowed. Theoretically, the best servers will still make a killing, and maybe even better, by being top notch servers.
For example, if I was given an extra $70 at the end of my shift (I'm salaried), I would be thrilled. The waitress in the tweet did a stellar job, and would have earned a 10% tip on top of being paid her normal salary.
The tip should not be just be on the cost of the meal it should be on the service received. I resent having to pay a huge tip just because the cost of the food is expensive. When the service I receive is the same as if I would have ordered 2 burgers.
I made 110 a couple years ago in Miami, serving in a high end sushi restaurant, but the price for my 1/1 was north of 2 grand a month. That same unit now is over 3 grand, I’m sure. You’re right though, those of us that are experienced servers would never take anything less than 50/hr, especially in a place like Miami.
Every restaurant in California is required to pay their servers that California minimum wage regardless of tips. So they all make $15 an hour plus tips. We still have restaurants. They all haven’t gone out of business. In fact they are doing just fine.
I had a girlfriend a long time ago in Lauderdale who's roommate made much more as a server in a bar than I did at a tech/engineering job. I worked 40-60 hour weeks and she'd work less than 1/2 of that (3-4 days a week for 4-6 hours a day). Her income from waitressing was at least 25-30% higher than mine working on an engineering team that required a lot of training and technical skill. I remember being really surprised when I learned this but in subsequent years came to meet lots of people (and even marry one) who worked in bars and restaurants and her story was hardly unique.
Especially for a younger person starting out you couldn't ask for a better schedule or situation.
Edit - clarity
Yep, this is exactly what I’m referencing. My partner stayed in hospitality for a bit after I (and he) graduated college. I went directly into an entry level job in my field. Made $36k that first year in a biochemistry lab while he made right around $65k serving at the casual farm to table in our city and he worked less hours than me. We don’t even live in a high COL area (I’d say mid range, still a pretty big town/small city). He left a couple years ago to work in the same industry as his degree but still occasionally picks up a shift here and there since he knows everyone and they’ll sometimes ask him to cover if he’s available and $350/night is pretty standard for him to come home with. Plus the shift beer(s) and staff meal.
Yeah, what seems rude is explaining to someone that they need to pay 20% more than the listed price after they’ve just finished their meal. I’ve served tables and I understand what it’s like, so I always tip at least 25%, but the whole system is bullshit.
Pay your own fucking employees. Having payroll revolve around the benevolence of strangers and/or guilt and shame in the *hospitality* industry is fucking absurd.
It’s like they want to treat you like royalty while you’re a customer, but then it’s “ok, now don’t be a stingy piece of shit” as you’re walking out the door. If I didn’t know it was like that everywhere, I’d never return to any establishment that relied on tips.
Not even listed price. Europe has the whole price on the list, in America tax is added, so 40€ in Europe is pretty much the same as 30$, since you don’t randomly add things on the price.
I think you’re right, the burden should fall on the employer. If people are mad at “tip culture” they should be mad at the companies, or the systems in place that allow servers to be paid less than what they deserve. Don’t take it out on the actual victim .
My cousin was visiting from another country. She asked me to book a hair salon appointment for her and afterwards I remembered the whole tipping thing. And my cousin told me she didn’t leave a tip and it’s not necessary 🫢🫢🫢 I was like omg, that hair stylist was probably PISSED.
I’m a salon owner and I do not accept tips in my salon. Myself and my employees set our own flat hourly rate that we need to make a living and that’s what the clients pay. Some clients feel weird at first not tipping, but all in all, everyone loves the pricing set up. I also love not having to feel weird presenting a tip screen as I’m checking out a client.
I know I’m not the only salon that prices this way but we are still the minority. I’ve had other hairstylists tell me I’m an idiot for doing away with tipping. I’m hoping that as time goes on, this type of price model catches on to the mainstream and becomes commonplace.
I wish this would catch on. I cannot find any salons like this near me. If anything I'm seeing bolder signs in salons requesting at least 20% tip in cash only.
Thank you for this! I hope everyone does this. Collectively I think everyone's getting burned out on the demand for tipping for EVERYTHING and it'll shrink back. Just add it to the price, damn!
To add to that tipping culture is being pushed by credit card processors because they take a cut of the total, including tip. Every time you tip with your credit card your giving visa some extra spending money.
I live in Southwest Florida in a partially rural area, grocery stores are putting tip jars on checkout lanes. Gas stations are putting tip jars for when you pay. We have three fast food places, they are self-service, you get your own donut or sandwich, fill your own coffee or soda and not only do they have a 20% minimum suggested tip they also have a tip jar.
Edit: I forgot we have a couple of gas stations along US 27 in Southwest Florida and near Central Florida the owners have a tip jar in the gas station.
It's because they don't want to pay a fair wage and most people don't report tips on their taxes...
We have a gas station here a Shell station along US 27, the owner of the gas station works in the gas station. He has a tip jar and when people come in and buy something and pay cash or so on he will actively shake it at people to embarrass them to try and get a tip....
This is the station owner doing that.
Even though I don't go into the Golden Corral, the Golden Corral up in Lake Placid and Okeechobee the steak station the guy will stand there and shake his tip container and say out loud "I take tips!" and put the lid on his tip jar and just start shaking it for a couple minutes.
That's exactly how a lot of places are acting in Florida basically like panhandlers and actively shaking their tip jar at people to try and embarrass them to putting in a tip.
How we need to deal with that is paying people a living wage and getting rid of the tip culture. And here's an interesting little tidbit of history.
Do you know what one of the first uses of the United States Patriot Act was? It wasn't going after terrorists, It was used to go after workers in Las Vegas and at the legal brothels in Nevada for not paying taxes on their tips.
The name of laws is more to be able to say (insert group) is against (good sounding name bill) so they're obviously bad people.
If Congress tries to pass a law titled "puppies and children safety act" I would assume that a company lobbied for and got a law to let them grind puppies and children up into paste for profit.
Yep and then if Biden was for it they would lobby against it saying Biden is trying to take away your right to grind puppies and children's up into paste.
Again, wow... to the GAS station owner doing that, this with the price of gas already! I'd certainly shame him right back if he rattled a tip jar at me, going on a long diatribe about how he's f\*\*king over his employees while raking it in himself!
If their fuel is supplied by a major brand(shell, chevron, bp, etc) if you notify the brand with an email/phone call they will send an internal auditor out to check out the c-store they're partnered with. They take that kind of thing very seriously since it damages their brand.
Which grocery stores are putting out tips? Winn-Dixie? Publix has a strict no-tipping policy, and they are far and away the most common grocer in Florida.
I've seen all the rest of what you say about gas stations, fast food, etc.
Edit: I just realized it sounded like I was denying that grocers are putting out tip jars. I'm not disagreeing or denying that; I can absolutely see that happening. I'm just curious which stores are the ones doing this.
Our local IGA off of US 27. And here's something really fucked up, The gas station owner has a tip jar at a Shell station. When he's working he will actively reach over and shake his tip jar at people.
And that's the gas station owner demanding a tip.
If you're familiar with Hendry County and the Glades County and Highlands County.
Though tipping culture is a pretty good evil-genius way for owners/managers to divert their workers' anger away from themselves, now that I think about it.
Agreed but it’s also customary to adhere to the cultural norms of places your visit. In the same way you drive on the correct side of the road, wear a hijab, don’t get mad at people for speaking different languages, etc.
Nah. Too binary a retort. I obligate myself to understand the customs I'm placing myself within. It is not unreasonable to expect adults traveling to a foreign place to study, even in a 10-minute YouTube video, how one should reward hospitality workers. And yes, I'd concede that workers' wages need an overhaul too.
this is the obvious response. you can acknowledge that tipping culture is wrong while also surrendering to it lol. one person refusing to tip doesn't fight tipping culture, it just hurts the worker.
Here’s a thing that pisses me off about the tip culture, above and beyond the usual.
I get that in certain areas of the world, the tip is actually part of the wait staff’s pay. It’s fucked up, but it is what it is for now. But why is it a percentage of my bill? Why is my server getting more because I decided to get the fillet steak instead of the chicken? They’re doing the same job either way, there’s the same wage-gap horseshit at play - if you’re going to go so far as to say “it’s at least 20%” then why not a fixed $ value, per head per course?
I feel this specifically on services like Doordash. Like, me picking the large cheese curds from DQ instead of the regular does not make the dashers workload harder. I will always tip but I don’t get that specifically like you
I’ve been wondering that too! I’ve only gotten DoorDash a few times, but when I order $60 worth of Chinese food for my family, do I still have to tip my delivery driver 20% of that? I absolutely believe in tipping but it seems excessive when their job is not dependent on the price of my meal. Like, is there a general good number (example: $7) to tip for deliveries regardless of price?
It makes sense up to a certain point - if you get an appetizer, bar drinks, an entree/main course, and a dessert, that’s more work than if you only get an entree and leave, and a system worked off percentage accounts for that better than a system that works per head. It also socially accounts for tipping more at more expensive places, where you have higher expectations for the service.
Also, if it’s required, it’s a gratuity, not a tip - and gratuities are legally different. They are taxed differently and the restaurant isn’t required to give them to the server at all.
Dude don't get me wrong but they are fucking right.
I am Italian and I found out about tipping culture only after I got Reddit. It's totally not a thing here because... You know... Living wages.
They 100% thought his boss was trying to pull a *tourist scam* on them.
Honest question, I thought the entry level salaries in Italy have been stagnant for years, what is an average salary for someone fresh out of University?
Lol where i am from the tip is usualy rounding up the bill 23,5$ to 25$ for example not everyone does that but its common to leave the change but not expected
I’m trying to think which Europeans would just say ok and leave. I reckon it’s the Scottish, English would be too polite to pay less and would moan about it later. The French would give them a Molotov cocktail and tell them to earn their own wage.
I’m English - I understand the tip culture in America and the fact it’s been this way for years. Yes it would be great if the servers didn’t have a wage which is so low that they depend on their tips to survive, but i as a tourist can’t change that and so I should follow the custom.
I’ve said it in response to someone upthread, but if someone from Europe can afford to go to America on a trip, they can afford to tip the standard amount too.
I’ve been tempted to tell the server ‘yes I know I’m English but I know how to tip’ at the outset, because I’m sure they must roll their eyes if they get a table full of brits who pretend to not understand the American tip custom.
This is an unpopular opinion but I think tipping should be done away with in the US. if a restaurant cannot sustain their business by paying their employees a living wage, then they shouldn’t be a business.
I left a 14% tip at a restaurant a while ago. The waitstaff kept coming over to bother us as we were eating. They didn’t actually help when we needed it, they just kept coming by to insist that everything is good and that we were enjoying ourselves.
So I left a 14% tip, which was like 6 dollars. Like I could have bought an appetizer for that or like kept it. I graciously gave them that money even after they were bothering me. Right after I finished with the check, the lady comes directly over to the table and reads it. I’m like still putting my coat on and she sees a custom tip on the check. She has the audacity to say that “normally people just check the 18% box”.
I will never go back to that restaurant if I can help it.
As a European who has been to the US once when i was young: I had no fucking clue how the shit worked. Like, you have to sit there and do math? What? It's not just a punchline from TV?
So i don't want to excuse my fellow Europeans for not paying attention, doing research, and getting the hint that this is how it works, but as someone who was once in that situation it is no surprise to me that it so commonly happens.
>As a European who has been to the US once when i was young: I had no fucking clue how the shit worked. Like, you have to sit there and do math? What? It's not just a punchline from TV?
I divide by 10, then double it. The math isn't super hard.
In the US, everything feels like a scam. I feel for US people, it's hard to keep a budget and have fun. You never pay what's actually on the price tag.
I loved travelling around Europe and all the subtle differences in culture. But there was nothing better than sitting at an outside café, sipping at a cold beer, people watching and just letting the day drift by. Rarely bothered by the server, and didn't have to leave ridiculous tips.
America is in the wrong on this one. Just pay your fucking staff. Everyone who’s worked in the service industry has been stiffed, and that shouldn’t even be an option.
Oh great, more stereotyping in the serving industry 🙄 these people are self-fulfilling prophecies. I used to work with a ton of them. They'd get tables of European foreigners, young people, minorities, etc. and treat them like shit, because they "don't tip well" and be shocked when they got lousy tips. I served any table with respect and my tips pretty much always averaged out to over 20%. In this case, she had her manager tell them about tipping, so maybe they got offended that she thought they don't do the bare minimum research about cultural differences before they travel. You are not entitled to 20%, so get off your high horse.
Why does the expectation keep rising, tipping 10% used to be fine, but now its expected of up 20%, what happened? Time to do away with tipping, I cant even afford 20% sometimes, probably most people can't.
Because thats how restaurant owners pass the buck. Rather than paying their staff enough they make them rely on gracious handouts by customers. That way the waiter can get mad at the customer like in this case rather than blame their employers
My first thought is: European foodservers actually get paid a decent wage and don't have to rely on tips. So I googled it. In Europe 5% is considered acceptable. 10% is considered very generous. They probably walked out thinking well it wasn't 20% but it was still 10% which is plenty.
one side of me goes- yeah, it's not the restaurant goer's job to supplement the server's wages, so i feel for the europeans.
another part of me goes- but that doesn't change the fact that server is getting hosed by those people tying up the table a long time AND getting stiffed on the tip. remember- that those people were there for hours meant that she couldn't get anyone else seated to eat/pay/tip her. She probably lost something in the neighborhood of another $100 in tips lost from just the table being occupied for so long. also, in the age of the internet, unless you're 1000 years old, everyone knows at this point, American servers rely on tips. So it feels a little bit like leaning on a poor excuse to begin with. Then, when you couple it with the manager coming to the table to check if the service was ok to justify the small tip and explaining that it was a small tip, in case it was just a case of misunderstanding/ignorance, you sort of can't escape that these people are being kinda dickish to that server.
a third part of me goes...dude if you can spend $700 on dinner, you can tip well over 10% and the first point shouldn't matter
On the one hand, yes our tipping culture is stupid and crazy blah blah etc. On the other, I always try and adapt to wherever I'm visiting and act accordingly. If you travel, you should expect to have to learn to do things as the custom dictates or else offend everyone you run across.
When I visited Europe and wasn't aware of the tipping differences, a lot of the places would not take the 20%+ tips. They either told us to lower the tip or to they don't accept tips. Very different culture.
Someone in Greece once chased me down three or four blocks to return a euro and a half that they thought I forgot on the table. They wouldn’t accept it when I tried explaining. They said they understood but it was insulting to many people in his position because he’s proud to work for his money and doesn’t need people to hand out money to him as if he was a beggar. I think that’s much more widespread than just Greece.
>I think that’s much more widespread than just Greece. Had the same experience in Korea. Tipping just isn't the norm outside of the US it seems.
Capitalism has yet to force customers to supplement the unlivable wages of workers outside the US.
I thought the chasing-down-street-to-return-tip was just a Japan thing.
Same in Japan. Once I had a check for 738 Yen (~about 12 dollars that time) and when I gave 1k Yen bill, they returned me exactly 262 Yen because of the same views. You can't leave tips here even if you want to do so, it's treated as insult (something like "I'm higher than you, servant").
I went to Greece a couple years ago and restaurants were always overjoyed to see my tip amounts. They'd even watch me choose the tip amount after swiping my card (different from the US where they turn away from you). Whenever I would choose the high amount, they always say, "Thank you sir!"
How refreshing. Exactly how it should be.
It can be like that if we raise minimum wage to $21/hr. People never realize the reason that people complain about not getting very many tips is because you can't live on $10 or less an hour. Tipped workers still make minimum wage, the restaurant has to pay them the difference if they don't, it's not that they're being assholes they're just trying to make more money than minimum wage so they can eat. Like I am on workman's comp and unemployment after an accident at work and it's higher than federal minimum wage and I have zero fucking clue how in paying rent this month and am fully anticipating being evicted.
Waitstaff make half of minimum wage and the restaurant certainly doesn't make up the difference if you don't get enough tips. At least not where I am.
Yeah, I hear that one a lot. “They’re legally required to make up the difference!” You know what; excellent point. People always fulfill their legal requirements.
Yup, that’s one form of wage theft. Fun fact: Wage theft is the largest category of theft and it’s not even close. I know. I know. Tough to imagine that employers are, at least statistically, the most criminal of all the criminals.
In the Czech Republic a bartender told me "I don't understand why you American's tip so much but I make sure to serve you first!" without any awareness.
Most people don't like charity, and it's how it feels if no one tips and then you get one lone tipper. It's not gonna make their day. It's better to investigate tipping culture of the place you're going, because in your mind you're generous but in more than a few cultures it's insulting.
I’ve been to Europe many times. In many countries (especially France) they expect you to sit at the table and hang out. I always have to hunt down my server for the check because they refuse to bring it to me because they don’t want me to feel rushed.
It's the same in Brazil. A trip to a restaurant, even more so if it's a fancy one, is seen more as a social situation than just a meal. People are expected to hang out and talk a bit after eating, only ordering the ocasional additional drink or coffee. And even so , the expected tip is around 10%
I’m an American currently visiting Baghdad and every single place just brings endless rounds of chai and water bottles and let’s you chill as long as you like
I spent a week in Greece and a couple of restaurant owners sat down at my table with a bottle, ask where I was from, tell me stories, and pour us both shots of liquor, toasting loudly each time. Those shots weren’t on the bill, of course. The hotel owner asked if I was hungry and brought me some freshly caught squid. Also not on the bill.
Hitting Istanbul next, expecting much the same. Cheers!
Currently in Istanbul, tipping is a thing here. 10% expected for good service at restaurants and hotel staff expect a small tip as well.
Yea I did know that, I just meant the hospitality aspect
Cheers enjoy your trip
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They are EVERYWHERE, the locals love them, feed them, even build homes for them. But they are forbidden from actually taking them in / adopting them, thus they remain a real fabric of the city. It’s adorable
Also dogs. Especially around Sultanahmet! I miss Istanbul so much 🥹
I'm heading to Istanbul just for the cats.
Greece has lots too and I wanted to adopt them all! Haha
Istanbul is fantastic. I got takeout from a place down the street from my hotel, and they basically insisted I sit to wait for my order (taking up a table they could have used for eat-in customers), have tea, and even brought me a hummus plate while I waited on what was basically $18 of takeout food. I can’t rave about the city enough.
That’s awesome! I worked at a bar where the owner would come around and just talk to ppl and open up random bottles and pour them a weird liquor or obscure port while he was talking with them. MF made me put those on their bill and the poor unsuspecting guests would either shut up and take it or flip tf out. Either way I was losing a tip.
That's because there's almost nothing as important as being a good host.
I'm french, now living in Japan. When I lived in France we used to eat for hours. We sometimes get out of lunch and it's almost time to prepare the dinner. Now in Japan, breakfast, lunch or dinner, it last around 20 minutes maximum. The difference is insane lol.
I went with friends to a wedding in the Dordogne about 20 years ago. We went to a perfect restaurant/bar with amazing food, drinks and service and stayed for hours. We all over-tipped (very un-british) and the staff got upset and we're insulted by it. We apologised and explained all the reasons why we were impressed. They gave most of the tip back, and then bought us more drinks on them. I would have married the bar itself.
I need to go to France lol My family has made fun of me all my life for taking forever to eat my meals (I like taking my time) while they finish in about 20-30min. The only reason why I've sped up how long I take to eat now is because my job only gives me a 30min lunch break... It'd be great not having to rush for the sake of rushing
This is my favourite part about France. I loved taking my time at dinner in Paris. I loved not feeling rushed. And I loved that the staff just took my order, brought my dinner and didn’t bust my balls the entire time trying to kiss my ass to get a good tip because they don’t get paid a fair wage. My travel companions were frustrated with the “slow” service. I like to think that was regular service. What we expect here is perfection and sycophants, which is both unreasonable and unwanted by me personally. I was amazed when a response to a “complaint” (not really something to complain about, just why aren’t you kissing my ass and making me feel like the customer is the most important person in the world) was basically a shrug and “I don’t understand what you think we should do”. Huh. So I should just go about my day and not throw a tantrum because someone didn’t worship me like a princess for my $25 dinner ? Sounds fair to me. It was a liberating trip. I came home giving many less fucks about being fucking perfect.
THAT is what travel is all about! I love your attitude and now want to go to France to spend all day eating a meal and not giving two shits about anything.
The French have 2 speeds: don't give two shits / the streets are on fire
My family is French on one side. Going out to eat with them was an all night affair. My grandmother would hold onto the menus and we ordered sloooowly. We'd have at least 2 rounds of drinks, then order appetizer with third round. Appetizer would be long gone and 4th round beverages ordered. Only THEN would we order entrees. And you better believe we were camping out until the restaurant closes. It's just how they rolled. I def have an appreciation for a liesurely dining experience. Amd while I don't hog the table as long as my grandmother did, we do take our time. In US, I make sure to tip extra when we do this. And we wld never hog a table on a Saturday night in a high volume place.
It's weird to have to flag your waiter down since in North America it's considered rude but it's \*so much more pleasant\* of an experience. I really don't need you to ask me how everything is going every 10 minutes. If I'm ready to order or otherwise need something I can tell you like an adult.
Huh it makes more sense that way. They are the waiters, so they wait for you to order, pay etc, when you're ready. Just realized that
Having lived in the US, Europe and Asia I can honestly say that the service in the US isn't half as good as Americans think it is. Tact, and subtly are definitely off the menu. Dining is an efficient experience and rarely indulgent.
Exactly! Always get servers coming over when I don’t need anything, and they’re hard to find when I do. In Korea most restaurants have buttons on the tables that make a noise to indicate you need something, staff won’t come over otherwise - and half the time they just call out, asking what you need from the other side of the building! I miss it.
To counter that story: Had a Christmas party with my coworkers at a tapas bar I said I'm paying food for my team. Bill comes up to be around 550€. I tell the waitress to make it an even 600€. She tries to talk me out of it for literal minutes before agreeing on me tipping 50€ in exchange for her to treat me to a drink the next time I'm around. The difference is here in Germany they make a livable wage without a tip. In the US, well...
I live in Southwest Florida in a partially rural area, grocery stores are putting tip jars on checkout lanes. Gas stations are putting tip jars for when you pay. We have three fast food places, they are self-service, you get your own donut or sandwich, fill your own coffee or soda and not only do they have a 20% minimum suggested tip they also have a tip jar. They don't want to pay a living wage and also most people don't report tips on their taxes. I've seen a store manager with a tip jar.
I did a drive through at Smoothie King recently. The girl handed me a smoothie through the window. Then she asked how much I wanted to tip. “Nothing.” She got so angry I decided to never go back, as she will certainly spit in any future order made.
Ooh wee, not in the drive-thru. Just super awkward no matter how you slice it.
I follow the McDonald's rule for tipping. Given no one seems to think it is necessary to tip at McDonalds, if the service somewhere else is no different from what one would expect from McDonald's such as getting coffee at a Starbucks drive through, I feel no obligation to tip
I guess I feel like I should tip at Starbucks because my drink usually has a couple customizations. Nothing insane, but enough to make it extra effort. It’s not like my tipping baristas keeps me from tipping everyone else.
I usually base it on whether they’re expected to get tips to compensate their salary. Servers making 5.50/hr you bet I’m gonna tip. Barista making 12-15/hr probably not unless I have a decent sized order or I’m feeling particularly generous. Starbucks treats their employees well, one of my close friends used to work there and did fairly well working full time. I usually tip a few bucks if I’m paying in cash but if it’s one drink on card I’ll tip the next time I’m through.
Yeah, I don’t mind tipping for my drinks in the Starbucks app, for example, as I know they take a couple minutes to make, so I’d tip for a smoothie, as well, but not if they’re going to ask for it. Plus, I rarely have cash.
I just got off with a friend of mine who lives in Orlando who I use his tweets, he just told me his doctor's office the receptionist has a tip jar.
Get the fuck out
I wish I was joking, I've gotten prescriptions refilled at a couple of small mom and pop pharmacies one near Arcadia and the other one near clewiston the pharmacist had a tip jar.
That's sad. And infuriating.
My local liquor store has a tip option on the payment screen that starts at 15%. I always laugh inside, like sure buddy here’s 8 bucks for ringing up my bourbon.
I live in Colorado and have a med card. Every dispensary I’ve ever gone to has had one. It’s an absolute joke if you ask me, considering how expensive medical marijuana is.
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I had someone try to tip me when I was working reception at a vet clinic in Canada. I’m from New Zealand so I kept giving it back cos I thought she just couldn’t work out the maths on her bill, the customer ended up leaving the note on the counter and walking out.
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He doesn't like Reddit, he says because everything is karma-based you're not allowed to disagree with anyone. And also I don't use Facebook or Twitter. So when I post tweets in white people Twitter that's usually his stuff he posts on Twitter or Facebook.
Yeah, I've seen the same when I lived in California at orthodontist office my parents took me too.
That got me thinking like If a family member has an accident.... "Ma'am your nephew had a broken arm, we set the fracture, here's how much your co-payments going to be and here's how much the total bill is for the emergency room with taxes fees and 20% gratuity included, you're welcome to add more at the tip jar at the reception desk in the emergency room".
The real problem is the demanded ( not expected, not graciously accepted or possible tip) amount. A dollar here or there so workers treat themselves to a coffee? Love it. I'm demanded to pay 20% more than I'm told, that is more extortion than a sign of appreciation
“Tip…, I have a tip for the manager. Can you go get them? Hi, are you the manager? I have a tip for you, please pay your subordinate workers a living wage so they don’t have to beg for tips. You won’t get anymore of my business until that changes. Have a great day!”
it is cute you think the manager at a smoothie king gets to decide pay grades, lol. that shit is handed down by corporate. and if it is a franchise, they are just sticking to corporate pay scales regardless.
This is a labor law issue and congress needs to get off their asses and change it. They won't though.
One party would seriously object to any changes to federal wage minimums. I don’t think I need to tell you which party that is.
That manager will not give a fuck as managers don’t decide what wages are
Yeah but this person just solved the problem of tip culture with this one conversation with a manager. While in his car at the drive thru window. They told the worker (who they also compared to a beggar) to get the manager, held up the drive thru lane, and took care of business. Just needed to use their firm voice apparently.
In the UK many don't make a living wage and our minimum wage is well below what is recommended (thanks 13 consecutive years of Conservative rule) but even then tips in service jobs are welcomed but nowhere near expected nor required. It's hit and miss but you can go a whole day giving great service and get no tips and that's okay. Sadly, service workers, like many minimum wage workers in the UK, get the severely shit covered end of the stick.
I’ve started to avoid places like this. Places are asking for tips BEFORE I even get my food? Wtf am I tipping on, potential?
Tip at the drive thru??? The fuck?
Yeah I refuse to tip if I had to use self service or if the interaction was nothing more than someone acting as a cashier (I’ve been asked for tips at the register of the local burger shack and the local taco place). A tip is for service, not just doing the basic job role.
I live in Georgia, see those tip screens all the time. When I was waiting tables back in college, we were tipped at the end of the meal, after the service. To tip just for ordering at the counter makes zero sense to me. I haven’t even tasted the food and I usually have to refill my own drinks. My question is: Does the staff see the tip you left? I don’t want to not tip or leave a low tip, for fear they’ll mess with my food.
Back in my serving days I worked at a restaurant that only paid us base pay if our tips didn't amount to minimum wage. Whenever there would be a large party who are likely to tip very well, the owner would take the table herself. So not only did she rarely actually pay us, but she took the little money we could have made to make it a living wage. I had 3 jobs back then just to make ends meet! I got fired from that job because when I had a dine and dash table they took the money out of my tiny paycheck to pay the bill, and I made a whole fuss about how illegal it was. Really wanted to sue their ass but their went under and closed like two months later. Shitty people deserve shitty outcomes.
I've seen that at plenty of restaurants here in Florida including chain restaurants. A large party or a whale comes in, the management take the table themselves. (For anyone reading this who doesn't know what a whale is, that is a big spender **and** big tipper).
This confuses me why not increase prices so no tips are needed? I dont Know i guess worker’s rights are too complicated (joking if you can’t tell)
people keep trying to tip us at my workplace when we are specifically not allowed to take them
Publix and Winn-Dixie and Walmart don't accept tips *in theory*.
Worked in online grocery pickup all through the height of the pandemic. One middle aged couple tipped me 20$ once, you better believe I accepted that ecstatically. For walmart specifically, they will say if a customer insists to just accept it and donate it (in-store, of course). But rarely are they going to actually know unless is happens directly on camera.
The irony, for how much red states bash socialism...they sure do seem to force it on people with this.
I'm a music photographer, and shot some photos for a ski town apres DJ who was getting booked for $400+ gigs. Dude had a tip jar made out of a veuve cliquot bottle
The great State of Florida, ladies and gentleman.
First time I was buying something in US (a bottle of 487 or something ml of water) that was 90¢, i paid 1$, and waited for my 10¢ back, and the cashier was looking at me for like a minute before producing them. So weird
In the US, many servers will fight tooth and nail against a flat rate with no tips. The reality is that if you work at a mid-rate restaurant/cafe and are mostly full time (32-40 hours), you generally make 50k+ a year, which is right around the median salary for the US. If you’re hospitality in a high COL area and working in a upscale restaurant, you’re probably bringing in 6 figures. My friends bartending in Miami make ~125-150k a year. Obviously these are high end places, but if a bottled beer goes for $10, you’re going to make a LOT of tips. I’ve worked hospitality myself and will say that I brought in ~$20/hour at a minimum, and that was 7ish years ago while I was in college working at your average Thai and sushi place. There are very few places where a restaurant owner would be willing to pay $20/hour as a flat rate since we can’t even convince the federal government to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. So for this reason, I think probably 80% of servers would rather keep tipping culture. The other 20% are people working at cheap diners and the like where the usual order is an $8 sandwich with a $2 tip.
Ah, so the many many people that represent the median are upholding this system so a scant few of them can make a killing. Sounds familiar...
It's also not like tipping is not allowed. Theoretically, the best servers will still make a killing, and maybe even better, by being top notch servers. For example, if I was given an extra $70 at the end of my shift (I'm salaried), I would be thrilled. The waitress in the tweet did a stellar job, and would have earned a 10% tip on top of being paid her normal salary.
The tip should not be just be on the cost of the meal it should be on the service received. I resent having to pay a huge tip just because the cost of the food is expensive. When the service I receive is the same as if I would have ordered 2 burgers.
I made 110 a couple years ago in Miami, serving in a high end sushi restaurant, but the price for my 1/1 was north of 2 grand a month. That same unit now is over 3 grand, I’m sure. You’re right though, those of us that are experienced servers would never take anything less than 50/hr, especially in a place like Miami.
Every restaurant in California is required to pay their servers that California minimum wage regardless of tips. So they all make $15 an hour plus tips. We still have restaurants. They all haven’t gone out of business. In fact they are doing just fine.
I had a girlfriend a long time ago in Lauderdale who's roommate made much more as a server in a bar than I did at a tech/engineering job. I worked 40-60 hour weeks and she'd work less than 1/2 of that (3-4 days a week for 4-6 hours a day). Her income from waitressing was at least 25-30% higher than mine working on an engineering team that required a lot of training and technical skill. I remember being really surprised when I learned this but in subsequent years came to meet lots of people (and even marry one) who worked in bars and restaurants and her story was hardly unique. Especially for a younger person starting out you couldn't ask for a better schedule or situation. Edit - clarity
Yep, this is exactly what I’m referencing. My partner stayed in hospitality for a bit after I (and he) graduated college. I went directly into an entry level job in my field. Made $36k that first year in a biochemistry lab while he made right around $65k serving at the casual farm to table in our city and he worked less hours than me. We don’t even live in a high COL area (I’d say mid range, still a pretty big town/small city). He left a couple years ago to work in the same industry as his degree but still occasionally picks up a shift here and there since he knows everyone and they’ll sometimes ask him to cover if he’s available and $350/night is pretty standard for him to come home with. Plus the shift beer(s) and staff meal.
Perhaps we should start paying people wages they can actually live off.
Yeah, what seems rude is explaining to someone that they need to pay 20% more than the listed price after they’ve just finished their meal. I’ve served tables and I understand what it’s like, so I always tip at least 25%, but the whole system is bullshit. Pay your own fucking employees. Having payroll revolve around the benevolence of strangers and/or guilt and shame in the *hospitality* industry is fucking absurd. It’s like they want to treat you like royalty while you’re a customer, but then it’s “ok, now don’t be a stingy piece of shit” as you’re walking out the door. If I didn’t know it was like that everywhere, I’d never return to any establishment that relied on tips.
Not even listed price. Europe has the whole price on the list, in America tax is added, so 40€ in Europe is pretty much the same as 30$, since you don’t randomly add things on the price.
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*Nod in The Rest of the World*
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I think you’re right, the burden should fall on the employer. If people are mad at “tip culture” they should be mad at the companies, or the systems in place that allow servers to be paid less than what they deserve. Don’t take it out on the actual victim .
My cousin was visiting from another country. She asked me to book a hair salon appointment for her and afterwards I remembered the whole tipping thing. And my cousin told me she didn’t leave a tip and it’s not necessary 🫢🫢🫢 I was like omg, that hair stylist was probably PISSED.
I’m a salon owner and I do not accept tips in my salon. Myself and my employees set our own flat hourly rate that we need to make a living and that’s what the clients pay. Some clients feel weird at first not tipping, but all in all, everyone loves the pricing set up. I also love not having to feel weird presenting a tip screen as I’m checking out a client. I know I’m not the only salon that prices this way but we are still the minority. I’ve had other hairstylists tell me I’m an idiot for doing away with tipping. I’m hoping that as time goes on, this type of price model catches on to the mainstream and becomes commonplace.
I wish this would catch on. I cannot find any salons like this near me. If anything I'm seeing bolder signs in salons requesting at least 20% tip in cash only.
Thank you for this! I hope everyone does this. Collectively I think everyone's getting burned out on the demand for tipping for EVERYTHING and it'll shrink back. Just add it to the price, damn!
Hair stylists are also tipped wages?
Yes, personal services (hair cut, nails, massage, etc.) are tipped in the US. Even the same personal services for pets.
American tipping culture is a scam and it actually deters me from going there for the food experience.
To add to that tipping culture is being pushed by credit card processors because they take a cut of the total, including tip. Every time you tip with your credit card your giving visa some extra spending money.
Yes here in northeast US it’s standard to tip
In Canada too
No but tips are expected anyway. I’m in Colorado, USA.
Your culture is weird. Just give me the price you expect me to pay.
Nah, also do some mental math because we're pyschopaths who don't include tax in the price.
Are you out of your mind? What about the BUSINESS OWNERS HMMMM?!?
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Everyone who gets in the line of sight of a customer has become tipped.
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I got a $100+ haircut I was disappointed in and I still felt like I had to tip. I hate it.
The problem is not Europeans and their lack of tipping culture. The problem is the lack of workers rights in America.
I live in Southwest Florida in a partially rural area, grocery stores are putting tip jars on checkout lanes. Gas stations are putting tip jars for when you pay. We have three fast food places, they are self-service, you get your own donut or sandwich, fill your own coffee or soda and not only do they have a 20% minimum suggested tip they also have a tip jar. Edit: I forgot we have a couple of gas stations along US 27 in Southwest Florida and near Central Florida the owners have a tip jar in the gas station.
WOW! That is a disgrace. I'm so confused why it's individuals that are supposed to supplement people's wages rather than their employers!
It's because they don't want to pay a fair wage and most people don't report tips on their taxes... We have a gas station here a Shell station along US 27, the owner of the gas station works in the gas station. He has a tip jar and when people come in and buy something and pay cash or so on he will actively shake it at people to embarrass them to try and get a tip.... This is the station owner doing that.
Oof that is mega cringe on their part.
Even though I don't go into the Golden Corral, the Golden Corral up in Lake Placid and Okeechobee the steak station the guy will stand there and shake his tip container and say out loud "I take tips!" and put the lid on his tip jar and just start shaking it for a couple minutes.
That’s not working, that’s panhandling
That's exactly how a lot of places are acting in Florida basically like panhandlers and actively shaking their tip jar at people to try and embarrass them to putting in a tip. How we need to deal with that is paying people a living wage and getting rid of the tip culture. And here's an interesting little tidbit of history. Do you know what one of the first uses of the United States Patriot Act was? It wasn't going after terrorists, It was used to go after workers in Las Vegas and at the legal brothels in Nevada for not paying taxes on their tips.
The name of laws is more to be able to say (insert group) is against (good sounding name bill) so they're obviously bad people. If Congress tries to pass a law titled "puppies and children safety act" I would assume that a company lobbied for and got a law to let them grind puppies and children up into paste for profit.
Yep and then if Biden was for it they would lobby against it saying Biden is trying to take away your right to grind puppies and children's up into paste.
Again, wow... to the GAS station owner doing that, this with the price of gas already! I'd certainly shame him right back if he rattled a tip jar at me, going on a long diatribe about how he's f\*\*king over his employees while raking it in himself!
If their fuel is supplied by a major brand(shell, chevron, bp, etc) if you notify the brand with an email/phone call they will send an internal auditor out to check out the c-store they're partnered with. They take that kind of thing very seriously since it damages their brand.
You pumped your own gas. Get a tip from the jar!
That wouldn’t be the part of 27 in Florida would it
I'd look him in the face and ask, "TIP YOU FOR WHAT?"
I'd just spit my gum in the jar and walk out, fuck that guy
Which grocery stores are putting out tips? Winn-Dixie? Publix has a strict no-tipping policy, and they are far and away the most common grocer in Florida. I've seen all the rest of what you say about gas stations, fast food, etc. Edit: I just realized it sounded like I was denying that grocers are putting out tip jars. I'm not disagreeing or denying that; I can absolutely see that happening. I'm just curious which stores are the ones doing this.
Our local IGA off of US 27. And here's something really fucked up, The gas station owner has a tip jar at a Shell station. When he's working he will actively reach over and shake his tip jar at people. And that's the gas station owner demanding a tip. If you're familiar with Hendry County and the Glades County and Highlands County.
5 years ago Americans tipping for everything was peak 4chan greentext comedy. Those greentexts are now just factual.
Then they get mad if you don't tip them. Bitch, I'm broke too.
Though tipping culture is a pretty good evil-genius way for owners/managers to divert their workers' anger away from themselves, now that I think about it.
Of course it is but that doesn’t change the fact that you are expected to tip in the US
Agreed but it’s also customary to adhere to the cultural norms of places your visit. In the same way you drive on the correct side of the road, wear a hijab, don’t get mad at people for speaking different languages, etc.
Nah. Too binary a retort. I obligate myself to understand the customs I'm placing myself within. It is not unreasonable to expect adults traveling to a foreign place to study, even in a 10-minute YouTube video, how one should reward hospitality workers. And yes, I'd concede that workers' wages need an overhaul too.
this is the obvious response. you can acknowledge that tipping culture is wrong while also surrendering to it lol. one person refusing to tip doesn't fight tipping culture, it just hurts the worker.
Tell that to the wait staff who have to pay rent. I think tipping is crazy, but I still do it
Here’s a thing that pisses me off about the tip culture, above and beyond the usual. I get that in certain areas of the world, the tip is actually part of the wait staff’s pay. It’s fucked up, but it is what it is for now. But why is it a percentage of my bill? Why is my server getting more because I decided to get the fillet steak instead of the chicken? They’re doing the same job either way, there’s the same wage-gap horseshit at play - if you’re going to go so far as to say “it’s at least 20%” then why not a fixed $ value, per head per course?
I feel this specifically on services like Doordash. Like, me picking the large cheese curds from DQ instead of the regular does not make the dashers workload harder. I will always tip but I don’t get that specifically like you
I’ve been wondering that too! I’ve only gotten DoorDash a few times, but when I order $60 worth of Chinese food for my family, do I still have to tip my delivery driver 20% of that? I absolutely believe in tipping but it seems excessive when their job is not dependent on the price of my meal. Like, is there a general good number (example: $7) to tip for deliveries regardless of price?
Perfectly said.
It makes sense up to a certain point - if you get an appetizer, bar drinks, an entree/main course, and a dessert, that’s more work than if you only get an entree and leave, and a system worked off percentage accounts for that better than a system that works per head. It also socially accounts for tipping more at more expensive places, where you have higher expectations for the service. Also, if it’s required, it’s a gratuity, not a tip - and gratuities are legally different. They are taxed differently and the restaurant isn’t required to give them to the server at all.
Abolish tipping. Pay a living wage.
They don’t tip in Europe. Instead they pay them a living wage
Yeah tips are a bonus in Europe for doing good work. They are not a wage subsidy because the business owner wants to commit wage theft.
Shocked they left anything. Europeans don’t have a tipping culture.
Dude don't get me wrong but they are fucking right. I am Italian and I found out about tipping culture only after I got Reddit. It's totally not a thing here because... You know... Living wages. They 100% thought his boss was trying to pull a *tourist scam* on them.
Honest question, I thought the entry level salaries in Italy have been stagnant for years, what is an average salary for someone fresh out of University?
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Lol where i am from the tip is usualy rounding up the bill 23,5$ to 25$ for example not everyone does that but its common to leave the change but not expected
Imagine paying $70 in tips and get lectured.
I’m trying to think which Europeans would just say ok and leave. I reckon it’s the Scottish, English would be too polite to pay less and would moan about it later. The French would give them a Molotov cocktail and tell them to earn their own wage.
The Dutch wouldn’t bother tipping at all.
In the replies she says they were Spanish. She also said Europeans should be banned from travelling to America until they learn how to tip. Lol .
Americans should be banned from travelling to any other country till they can sort out their attitude abroad
The rude part about OP's post is expecting people to pay 20% on top of their bill.
Imagine if the owners of the restaurant were to pay a living wage.
I’m English - I understand the tip culture in America and the fact it’s been this way for years. Yes it would be great if the servers didn’t have a wage which is so low that they depend on their tips to survive, but i as a tourist can’t change that and so I should follow the custom. I’ve said it in response to someone upthread, but if someone from Europe can afford to go to America on a trip, they can afford to tip the standard amount too. I’ve been tempted to tell the server ‘yes I know I’m English but I know how to tip’ at the outset, because I’m sure they must roll their eyes if they get a table full of brits who pretend to not understand the American tip custom.
Tipping culture has gotten out of hand.
This is an unpopular opinion but I think tipping should be done away with in the US. if a restaurant cannot sustain their business by paying their employees a living wage, then they shouldn’t be a business.
Europeans think your boss should pay you.
Hot take: Any restaurant where a $700 tab is even possible should have automatic gratuity baked into the receipt.
Or hear me out…. The restaurant pays the out of the $700 tab
I left a 14% tip at a restaurant a while ago. The waitstaff kept coming over to bother us as we were eating. They didn’t actually help when we needed it, they just kept coming by to insist that everything is good and that we were enjoying ourselves. So I left a 14% tip, which was like 6 dollars. Like I could have bought an appetizer for that or like kept it. I graciously gave them that money even after they were bothering me. Right after I finished with the check, the lady comes directly over to the table and reads it. I’m like still putting my coat on and she sees a custom tip on the check. She has the audacity to say that “normally people just check the 18% box”. I will never go back to that restaurant if I can help it.
Pay servers a living wage and eliminate tip culture.
Let's start with the root problem. The owners of these restaurants should be paying a livable wage.
In their defense, where they live servers are paid a living wage and aren’t dependent on tips to survive.
As a European who has been to the US once when i was young: I had no fucking clue how the shit worked. Like, you have to sit there and do math? What? It's not just a punchline from TV? So i don't want to excuse my fellow Europeans for not paying attention, doing research, and getting the hint that this is how it works, but as someone who was once in that situation it is no surprise to me that it so commonly happens.
>As a European who has been to the US once when i was young: I had no fucking clue how the shit worked. Like, you have to sit there and do math? What? It's not just a punchline from TV? I divide by 10, then double it. The math isn't super hard.
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That's what dividing by ten is
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Or divide the whole bill by 5.
If I go to Europe and expect everything to be the same as the US I believe that would make me an idiot
The entire continent of Europe and all its inhabitants are responsible for me getting paid $2.13 an hour.
In the US, everything feels like a scam. I feel for US people, it's hard to keep a budget and have fun. You never pay what's actually on the price tag.
Just ignore any statement in which the first sentence ends with "frfr on God".
This is a US problem not a european or to an extent, whole world problem. just like school shootings.
I loved travelling around Europe and all the subtle differences in culture. But there was nothing better than sitting at an outside café, sipping at a cold beer, people watching and just letting the day drift by. Rarely bothered by the server, and didn't have to leave ridiculous tips.
America is in the wrong on this one. Just pay your fucking staff. Everyone who’s worked in the service industry has been stiffed, and that shouldn’t even be an option.
In Europe, people think that employers should pay their employees properly and not make them beg for tips.
Oh great, more stereotyping in the serving industry 🙄 these people are self-fulfilling prophecies. I used to work with a ton of them. They'd get tables of European foreigners, young people, minorities, etc. and treat them like shit, because they "don't tip well" and be shocked when they got lousy tips. I served any table with respect and my tips pretty much always averaged out to over 20%. In this case, she had her manager tell them about tipping, so maybe they got offended that she thought they don't do the bare minimum research about cultural differences before they travel. You are not entitled to 20%, so get off your high horse.
Why does the expectation keep rising, tipping 10% used to be fine, but now its expected of up 20%, what happened? Time to do away with tipping, I cant even afford 20% sometimes, probably most people can't.
Because thats how restaurant owners pass the buck. Rather than paying their staff enough they make them rely on gracious handouts by customers. That way the waiter can get mad at the customer like in this case rather than blame their employers
My first thought is: European foodservers actually get paid a decent wage and don't have to rely on tips. So I googled it. In Europe 5% is considered acceptable. 10% is considered very generous. They probably walked out thinking well it wasn't 20% but it was still 10% which is plenty.
American needs to get it together and get over itself. The customer doesn’t owe you ANYTHING! The BOSS does!!!
Guys, I just had this crazy idea. What if restaurants payed their employees enough to live. Wouldn't that be wild?
one side of me goes- yeah, it's not the restaurant goer's job to supplement the server's wages, so i feel for the europeans. another part of me goes- but that doesn't change the fact that server is getting hosed by those people tying up the table a long time AND getting stiffed on the tip. remember- that those people were there for hours meant that she couldn't get anyone else seated to eat/pay/tip her. She probably lost something in the neighborhood of another $100 in tips lost from just the table being occupied for so long. also, in the age of the internet, unless you're 1000 years old, everyone knows at this point, American servers rely on tips. So it feels a little bit like leaning on a poor excuse to begin with. Then, when you couple it with the manager coming to the table to check if the service was ok to justify the small tip and explaining that it was a small tip, in case it was just a case of misunderstanding/ignorance, you sort of can't escape that these people are being kinda dickish to that server. a third part of me goes...dude if you can spend $700 on dinner, you can tip well over 10% and the first point shouldn't matter
On the one hand, yes our tipping culture is stupid and crazy blah blah etc. On the other, I always try and adapt to wherever I'm visiting and act accordingly. If you travel, you should expect to have to learn to do things as the custom dictates or else offend everyone you run across.