Finally! A Guide to Tipping From People Who Actually Live There

You’d think that, in the age of the internet, it would be easy to figure out the tipping customs of the country you visit. But, on my recent trip to Ireland, I Googled feverishly while waiting for my pint of Guinness to settle and found not one but dozens of sources saying I should definitely tip, should never tip and should maybe tip at a restaurant but never at a bar.

Had I not been severely jetlagged, I might have leaned over to ask the gentleman next to me. But what if you’re trying to figure out how much gratuity to pay before you travel?

You could check out this Reddit thread, helpfully titled What is your country’s general consensus and feelings on tipping those in the service industry? It includes tipping advice from Redditors from all over the world on not only when you should tip, but how much.

In India, says one Redditor, “No tipping here in usually, only a few people tip waiters but even then it’s mostly in the high end restaurants.” In Japan , says another, tips are “borderline insulting.” The recipient might view it as a rude suggestion like, “you weren’t very good, here is some money to go study something else”. In the UK, it’s “up to you” and in New Zealand, signs in tourist areas try to trick visitors into tipping but locals rarely ever do.

You can check out the complete list of countries in the thread here. Then tell us, did they get tipping right? If not, let us know in the comments’ section.