Tips on Tipping

[dajop]

Its just the wage structure there. Low. Meals in non 4 or 5 star restaurants can be moderately to incredibly cheap (ignoring FX), so giving a tip of 15% doesn't really force the price up offensively.

Yes exactly. It's just a matter of a different mindset, as in Australia we are used to all-inclusive pricing (with a few notable exceptions). In the US, it just a matter of getting used to prices being more than what is displayed. In hotels that may mean a service charge, local tax and state tax gets added to advertised price. In retail stores in most states, you've got to remember to add a random number ( up to 10%) to the price-tag to cover tax. In restaurants, the menu price isn't really covering the cost of labour, so you just have to remember to add labour charge (aka tip) plus tax to the menu price to reach the real price. View it with this mindset, and tipping doesn't seem so bad.

 

[amaroo]

I do not go to the USA but clearly this is the issue. No? How does an employer get away paying those sorts of wages and sometimes no wage at all?

A tip is not a tip if it is not forced. Do not call it a tip and smile about it.

The flip side is that the cost of living in the states is very low compared to Oz. High wages = high cost of living.....

 

[Myrna]

Don't forget housekeepers...for a multi-night stay, I tip after the first night. $2-$3 goes a long way to ensure clean room and additional guest supplies if I want.

i have always done this - leave at least $2 for housekeeper maids each morning with a TU note and rooms always get cleaned with fresh linen and towels. It is hard physical work making beds and maids get paid very low in a lot of countries.

 

[anat0l]

Its just the wage structure there. Low. Meals in non 4 or 5 star restaurants can be moderately to incredibly cheap (ignoring FX), so giving a tip of 15% doesn't really force the price up offensively. The problem for me is that the service can be terrible and you are still expected / obliged / choose your situation to tip. Its a coughpy situation, but I go with the 'when in Rome' philosophy.

If the service is actually terrible, I'd recommend you summon the manager or other superior. A negotiation from there may result in some resolve to your satisfaction, e.g. a good substitute meal, items comped on the bill. Depending on how bitter you are after that resolve, you may choose to give the standard or reduced tip. If your negotiation yields no satisfaction, then feel free to not tip or, as drron says, offer the repartee insult - a penny.

The only time you would likely give a tip for absolutely terrible service is to give yourself the easiest and quickest way out of the establishment, albeit a rather non-ideal (both theoretically and practically) way. Some would just get up and walk out well before the bill arrives, but that does take gusto.

I'm not sure if anyone here is happy about it, but you recognize the local customs and adapt to them (even through gritted teeth).

Tipping is not limited to USA, though it is the most prevalent example (and likely more so since it is an English speaking nation).

A handful of countries in Europe still work on tipping; some are simplified, e.g. just add a small amount and round up to the next whole unit. England has a 12.5% "optional service" which is added to the bills of restaurants with service - you need to review the bill and ask for it to be removed if you so desire (but be prepared to explain your position or at least gather death stares).

As a bit of a parallel against our normally "all inclusive" notion in Australia, in Italy, although bread is frequently free of charge to consume, you will more than likely have an extra charge of a Euro or so for "pan e coperto" (bread and cover). This applies even if you don't touch a single crumb of bread. In Australia, this would be likely against the law and you would need to either offer the bread for free or add it to the menu explicitly.

 

[amaroo]

i have always done this - leave at least $2 for housekeeper maids each morning with a TU note and rooms always get cleaned with fresh linen and towels. It is hard physical work making beds and maids get paid very low in a lot of countries.

+1

..........

 

[JohnK]

I think the underlined (by me!) not isn't supposed to be there?? If so you are right. In the USA its not really a 'tip for service' when there is the expectation you will pay it (and in some places compulsion when its added into your bill).

Correct. I have come across some ladies working in bars in Thailand where they do not return change. Why because they assume you will leave a tip as they have been spoiled rotten by people from compulsory tipping cultures.

Let me decide if I am going to tip or not. I may go to 5-6 bars in a night and have a drink in each bar. I am not going to leave a tip equivalent to the cost of the drink or even 50% of the drink.

I tip for good service but I am not stupid. I may not visit that bar again. And if I have a Thai with me I let them decide how much to tip if anything.

 

[Myrna]

In London, most restaurants will say 12.5% service charge will be added discretionary to the bills. So when friends take us out for dinner and ask about tips, I say no need to tip extra for this reason.

Last month we stayed at a hotel in the Cotswolds for a few nights. When we checked out, reception gave us the invoice and pointed to the tip line to add. First time we encountered this, and we just paid the invoice - because every morning we left tips for maids, and for servers when we ate at hotel restaurants and pubs during our stay.

When we were on safaris in Africa, we were told to tip drivers $10 per day and guides $20 per day - and give to them directly. And, leave $20 per day for all other staff to managers to be distributed at end of month. These are on top of paying at least $700 per person per night at safari lodges.

 

[RooFlyer]

Correct. I have come across some ladies working in bars in Thailand where they do not return change. Why because they assume you will leave a tip as they have been spoiled rotten by people from compulsory tipping cultures.

<snip>.

Yes! I was going to mention that in my post above about tipping in 'poor' countries. One doesn't want to 'corrupt' such countries, but my own reconciliation is on the side of leaving a bit more cash behind in the country. But it should always be one's discretion, not cash retained on assumption. Anyone who does that gets nothing from me, even in USA.

 

[Awesom Andy]

In SIN, you can get a negative tip in a taxi - e.g. for a fare of $18.10, hand the driver $20 and you might get $2 in change.

 

[anat0l]

In SIN, you can get a negative tip in a taxi - e.g. for a fare of $18.10, hand the driver $20 and you might get $2 in change.

This sometimes happens in this country, too, but only with some of the older Australian hands, e.g. a fare with xx.10 or xx.20 is knocked back to the nearest dollar, particularly if it is very close to a whole note value.

 

[pugwombat]

+1

..........

It's very hard to leave a tip for housekeeping in Japan. They round up any money left lying around on the floor and under the bed and leave it where we can find it again. We didn't leave any after our stay at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo, because I'm sure they would have assumed we'd left it there by mistake and credited it to our account.

 

[harvyk]

My tip on tipping is pretty simple, google a tipping website, see what they say about Australia first, and if that seems somewhat accurate I then look at the tipping etiquette for the countries I am about to go to.

For example the website which was linked to at the start of this thread would actually fail my test for Australia because they say "As a rough guide, the following are commonly expected at restaurants in each country:
Australia – give 10% for good service.". In my experience this is completely incorrect and reeks of someone who has failed to do the basic research, and certainly any one from the US will feel that a tip is almost required.

IME in Australia, tipping is completely optional. A small amount can be added at the end of the bill should the service be above and beyond what is expected, but at no point in time is a tip expected, and personally if it ever becomes expected or required it's a sad day for AU...

 

[anat0l]

IME in Australia, tipping is completely optional. A small amount can be added at the end of the bill should the service be above and beyond what is expected, but at no point in time is a tip expected, and personally if it ever becomes expected or required it's a sad day for AU...

Tips are definitely optional in Australia - haven't gotten a very cold shoulder in Australia for not tipping (and conversely haven't been ridiculously lavished on for tipping).

For the website I linked, I'm not sure about one of it's tips on Australia, which suggests tipping $2-$4 per bag to the porters, and similarly per day to the housekeepers.

Never done such a thing. I have left some choccies for the housekeeper, but that is all. Did it to make someone's day, not garner extra favour.

The rest of the page is more or less correct.

 

[drron]

An interesting article from LOTFAP-
PJ Lifestyle » The End of Restaurant Tipping?

 

[codash1099]

An interesting article from LOTFAP-
PJ Lifestyle » The End of Restaurant Tipping?

Huh? Still adding 18% to the bill. That's tipping in my book!

 

[anat0l]

Huh? Still adding 18% to the bill. That's tipping in my book!

Well I guess there's no if or but about it. It's there, it's added, you don't have to figure it out.

If push comes to shove, if the service is that bad you can always elect to have it removed.

Other countries call it a "service charge". And arguing to remove it is usually a lot more difficult. If that's tipping too, then so be it.

 

[harvyk]

Huh? Still adding 18% to the bill. That's tipping in my book!

Agreed... A true no tip restaurant would be you see something on the menu for $20, you eat said item and when you leave you leave a $20 note and not 1c more. Restaurants over there often use the "service charge" as a way of confusing diners so that you still leave a tip on top.

 

[amaroo]

I've asked a Covent Garden (UK) restaurant to remove the service charge. The reaction was short but compliant.

The food was terrible and the service was worse.

 

[mozerz]

Agreed... A true no tip restaurant would be you see something on the menu for $20, you eat said item and when you leave you leave a $20 note and not 1c more. Restaurants over there often use the "service charge" as a way of confusing diners so that you still leave a tip on top.

I am not picking sides or anything but then you would need to raise prices by 18-20% and dinner may not like the sticker shock.

 

[cove]

Went to McCormick & Schmick's for lunch so we used the Costco sourced gift vouchers (79.99 for two $50 gift cards) so that took out the pain of an Australian tipping in Los Angeles. I just doubled the sales tax for the tip and rounded it to the higher round dollar figure.