Friends have commented that in a local establishment the staff now bring to your attention the tip option when paying by card.
Very in your face.
They used to leave a 5/10% tip. Now they don’t.
Personally I never have done..I only tip if the service goes above and beyond.
I resolutely refuse to subsidise wages. Which puts me in a minority of one.
Two coffees in Denia yesterday came to €2.80 so I left €3.00. More than the locals leave.
The only occasion I tip is when there is, in my opinion, exceptionally good value..we regularly dine out at a local restaurant in the evening ..3 courses, with free wine as much as you can drink, (another bottle senor?) and brandy to finish, is €17. We leave €20.
And I don’t tip in the USA either. I rarely eat in the same place twice so don’t care, and don’t get me started on added service charges in restaurants. That really riles me.
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I just go with the flow and tip as is customary in the country concerned Something around 10% in restaurants in most parts of Europe, up to 20% in USA/ Canada. Whether I agree with the custom or not things are what they are.
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We had a bar meal in a pub in Wensley a couple of weeks ago. And very nice it was too. Steak pie to die for. There were 3 very young females behind the bar and serving on.
One pint of cider was served flat but exchanged. Probably the first out after cleaning.
I had about 1/2" of Timothy Taylors left in my glass. One girl picked up the empties on our table and with the quickest movement grabbed my glass and made off. I uttered something, she turned round and then kept walking.
They stuck another tables round of drinks on our bill. Good job we checked.It took 2 further attempts to get it right.
At this point a tip was still in the offing. Mistakes are human.
We went to the bar to pay and split the bill two ways (not me and Mrs FC but another couple :). The card was swiped and the receipt thrown on the bar top in front of me. Came across as a petulant teenager.
It was at that point the tip went out of the window.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sat 13 May 23 at 23:15
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Good service at a pub last Sunday for lunch, about 180 miles round trip from home (visiting Miss Z).
We got there late and some items had run out. One of our party was disappointed as they wanted the pork (for the crackling) but it had gone.
Waitress had heard the comment and brought out a sheet of crackling. Also pigs in blankets were and cauliflower were extra "sides". We ordered 1 or each and the waitress made sure there were enough for 4 to share - bigger portions than other tables.
4 dinners were £70 plus about £15 for soft drinks. I was happy to leave a £10 tip for the service.
I do think tipping is getting silly. It used to be rounding up taxi fares to the next pound, not 10%.
Takeaway drivers got a £1 or £2. Not 10% of the bill that Uber or Deliveroo suggests - they're not serving it!
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I met wifey when she was a waitress at a pizza place which I used to frequent for lunch in W1. Then she got a job at the Royal Opera doing the same and her tips were quite often far greater than her pay. Politicians were the biggest tippers (she said).
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>>And I don't tip in the USA either.
That can bite you in the US, not that I'm any kind of expert. I meekly cough up.
A friend of mine took some people out for a meal in NY, maybe 20 years ago. He paid the bill of $400 without adding a tip. The waiter asked him whether there had been a problem with the service, he said no. Waiter said something like "in that case sir, it is customary to add a tip for the server, about 15%". Friend told him that a tip is something freely given, not solicited, and declined the suggestion to cough up.
Subsequently he found his credit card didn't work. They had somehow got his card blocked.
Another friend was in the habit of leaving a $1 cash tip at a restaurant, Denny's or similar, next door to the motel he and his wife were staying at. After a few days of this, the waitress waited until he had reached the door as he was leaving, and called out "You call this a tip! A lousy buck!?"
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Yes, once in a bar in Key West, before I realised the US "rules", as I walked up to the bar the barman shouted out "2 beers and no tip again?". A bit humiliating to say the least.
I'm not sure we apply much logic. SWMBO will always tip abroad, even for a couple of coffees. But we never consider tipping in Costa or the local garden centre for coffees. Similarly with food, we'll always tip 10 - 15% when dining out unless it a Spoons or Burger King (not that we ever stoop THAT low LOL).
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>>Tipping in a pub
I suppose if on a night out, for a round, I'll offer the bar keep "drink" when it's my round, if they are attentive and help with my dreadful memory.
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Waiting staff in US are not at all well paid and rely on tips. That’s their system. They also often have to pass on a fixed percentage of their pre tip bill income for back room staff. So leaving no tip means they serve you at a loss.
Visiting the US I just went with the flow and tipped around 15%. What we do in U.K. is surely irrelevant to how we should behave abroad when it comes to etiquette and people trying to earn an honest crust under local norms.
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Now in the region of 25% in the USA. I hate their system with a vengeance. Takes a crap breakfast up to about £35.
The one time I didn't tip (worst service imaginable) involved quite a complicated series of distractions before leaving exact change and legging it as a group.
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>>That's their system.
Carp system it is though.
Restaurants should pay their staff a proper wage and put the food prices up to match. People think it's cheap food but isn't by the time you add the tips, so stop fannying about USA restaurants stop this malarkey.
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I’ m sure they will listen to you and change their ways but meanwhile easiest to accept how things are. If you really don’t want to tip takes your holidays in Japan where the waiter will be positively offended by the offer of a tip.
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"People think it's cheap food but isn't by the time you add the tips,"
I think people who understand the system would realise it isn't cheap food, the tip is all part of the cost.
Do you try to impose UK behaviours wherever you go abroad?
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The addition of tax to tHe displayed price often is seen U K. visitors as an attempt to hide the full cost of the item until you get the bill. In actual fact it is the view in Canada that the amount of tax you are paying is evident and prices are always displayed before tax unlike in U.K. where VAT is included in overall price.
It still comes as a surprise to me when when I pay for goods at the till over there.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sun 14 May 23 at 19:44
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I generally tip in the UK, unless the service is rubbish. I have now taken to asking the serving staff whether they get to keep the "tip" if I pay by card, if they say "no" I tip them in cash. Trouble is since the Pandemic I rarely carry much in the way in cash, and occasionally this causes angst when paying. Good service deserves a good tip in the UK.
In Berlin we found that tipping is not really expected by staff, but we did anyway. I left all the accumilated coins in our hotel room.
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>> I have now taken
>> to asking the serving staff whether they get to keep the "tip" if I pay
>> by card, if they say "no" I tip them in cash. Trouble is since the
>> Pandemic I rarely carry much in the way in cash, and occasionally this causes angst
>> when paying. Good service deserves a good tip in the UK.
>>
>> In Berlin we found that tipping is not really expected by staff, but we did
>> anyway. I left all the accumilated coins in our hotel room.
>>
Always left foreign change in the hotel rooms.
Re tipping by card - rarely do it, it's usually when having an unexpected meal out - I have a tin of bank notes that I raid before going out for dinner for tips for the very reasons you state.
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We take the in-laws out for Sunday lunch every week to the same place. Classic family restaurant...to this end any five pound notes that are aquired in the week are kept for the visit (along with some pound coins)....no tins of notes to hand !
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>> I think people who understand the system would realise it isn't cheap food, the tip
>> is all part of the cost.>>
>> Do you try to impose UK behaviours wherever you go abroad?
>>
I've been told that I tend to over tip, and it's probably because I don't like to offend.
What I don't like it how arbitrary tipping can be. For example, you tip a taxi driver and a coach driver, but not a bus driver. You tip in a restaurant or cafe (that jar near the till) but not a McDonalds, which now has table service.
I was watching an episode of Friends recently when some of the characters go to a busy restaurant and pass the maitre d some cash to get preferential treatment - i.e. to get a table before other guests.
Technically, such action could be illegal in the UK as it's offering and accepting a bribe and if a UK citizen does it abroad you could "technically" be nicked for it over here even though you did it abroad. Of course it would never happen.
And such action could lead to corruption - I'm not going to carry out your service unless I get a tip equals I'm not going to carry out your service until I get a bribe.
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Remember the "Good old days" when if you didn't tip the bin men at Christmas you spent the next few months picking up garbage that had spilled out of the bin and down your path?
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We had a taxi ride from central NY to Newark airport a few years ago - the driver was unable to name the massive stadium we passed on the way, was texting one-handed the entire journey and had several close shaves with other cars. Their lane discipline and adherence to speed limits was worse than the Greeks.
At the airport I went to pay by card and pressed "No" at the tip request; the driver lost their mind and cancelled the transaction for me to try again! My wife grabbed the suitcases out of the boot while I paid the exact fare, then we ran into the airport. Surprised the driver didn't chase us.
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>> Remember the "Good old days" when if you didn't tip the bin men at Christmas
>> you spent the next few months picking up garbage that had spilled out of the
>> bin and down your path?
They refused my bin the other week. We have re-cyclable, garden and general waste. I put some hedge trimmings in the general waste and was forunately around when they came to collect it. They initially refused it, but when I pointed out it wasn't polluting anything, like garden waste in the re-cyclable, or non re-cyclable in the re-cyclable and told them there wasn't anything on the council website to say I couldn't, they demured.
I'm waiting for their revenge!
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>> Remember the "Good old days" when if you didn't tip the bin men at Christmas
>> you spent the next few months picking up garbage that had spilled out of the
>> bin and down your path?
>>
I’ve never tipped the bin men ( I only put it out every 6 weeks) or the post person. Or the window cleaner . In 45 years of home ownership I’ve never had a window cleaner.
suppose thats saved a few beer tokens
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>>You tip in a
>> restaurant or cafe (that jar near the till) but not a McDonalds, which now has
>> table service.
As does 'spoons, if you use the app.
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Was in a local spoons on Saturday.
First time I have been in one since Covid and my stance of never visiting one again.
But a g n t and a Guinness combined came to £6.85.
Morals??? Na. £6.85 will easily override mine
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Did you leave a tip Bobby ?
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Ha ha no need.
I went to the bar and collected my drinks and took them to my seat.
I don’t tip the cashier in Aldi for serving me either.
Seriously though, in a local restaurant few weeks ago, had no cash whatsoever on us and they wouldn’t accept a tip through card. So couldn’t leave one.
As an ex retailer myself, I don’t know what is so difficult with them having a button/dept set up on their till for tips and when they cash up at end of night their till reading will tell them the total.
You would think they would prefer a more transparent like this. Unless they deliberately don’t?
This was not long after coming back from Lanzarote where tipping by card is the norm.
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>> And I don’t tip in the USA either. I rarely eat in the same place
>> twice so don’t care, and don’t get me started on added service charges in restaurants.
>> That really riles me.
>>
The USA is the one place where tips ARE expected.
Wife and pals just back from Vegas (seeing Rod Stewart!) and apparently even buying in shops they were suggested to round the amount due up to the nearest $5! Years ago we were skiing in Vail and the service at a restaurant was really really poor, so we didn't tip. The staff literally chased us down the street demanding their tip as they were totally dependent on them. My tip to them was to up their game - they didn't get my point.
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I saw Rod Stewart a year or so back, in Portugal, in a bar just up the road from where I was staying. He was at a local hotel - he's been there a few times when I've been there. I vaguely know the bar owner and when someone calls ahead and asks if he'll be showing the Celtic game then he knows Rod will be on his way. He's been absolutely normal with the regulars, joining in a bit of a sing song a etc, and more than paid his way, and with a very generous tip!!
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I spent some money in a proper climbing shop (doing a Pilgrim Route across north Wales this summer) they wanted me to round up my spend by 50p to help pay for footpath repairs.
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>> I spent some money in a proper climbing shop (doing a Pilgrim Route across north
>> Wales this summer) they wanted me to round up my spend by 50p to help
>> pay for footpath repairs.
>>
Sounds like a good way of raising money for a worthwhile cause. A lot of fims do that nowadays from Easyjet to Screwfix. A fairly painless way of helping a good cause
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Spent the weekend in Chester as Mrs FC was doing the Chester Half Marathon.
Went for a coffee afterwards at a rather nice Chalk coffee shop. On the counter was the usual card swipe machine and directly next to it was a massive swipe machine stating 'Tips'
Almost an ambush. Had to swerve with the card to avoid it :)
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I never tip by adding to the credit card payment, if I can avoid it. Heard too many stories about management 'creaming off' the tips, so I always leave cash and trust the staff to divi it up fairly.
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I thought there was legislation to stop the business owners creaming the tips off. I suppose if there is, it can't easily be enforced.
My problem with tipping in cash is that your waiter sometimes seems to put it in his/her/their pocket, where I think that there are a few people who should have a bit, not least the person who microwaved your meal, and the sommelier of course. I'd like to think there is a fairer divvy up if it's on the card, but I'm probably deluded.
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Tipping etiquette - CGNorwich
