Originally Posted by
GetSetJetSet
I wish the U.S. would institute a VAT so the price would be the price. I am tired of the entitlement addicted service industry. Wasn't 10% standard like 5-10 years ago? Now you're a war criminal if you don't tip every jerk waiter 20% for lousy service.
No, 10% was not standard 5-10 years ago; 15%-20% was already standard when I came of age in the early 1990s (at least in the Northeast and West Coast)... that's 20 years ago or a little over now... and people were already complaining then that it used to be 10%, but I'm not clear whether that was recent or whether they were nostalgic for further back
As far as I can tell, 15% is still a perfectly acceptable tip.