Originally Posted by
exbayern
My guess from previous posts and what you posted here is that you were at some very tourist oriented restaurants, and that you stood out as a North American tourist, especially if you ASKED how much to tip. Most likely unfortunately they saw you as an easy mark.
And while this really should be on the 'I Hate Rick Steves' thread, I was not surprised to see him asking on his website 'Is Europe getting away from tipping?' 'Getting away from?!' However, he explains your experience as I did:
I don't really stand out as a N American as I am a visible minority (even though I am one due to naturalisation.)
Even in HK (place of birth) they usually have 加一服務費 (service charge) of 10% added that serves as a tip (though I think that it is more easily reported this way, not that salaries tax is very high there.)
(OT: Last time I went there, I saw people leave additional money beyond this. The servers were laughing after they left. Then again, this was in a touristy part of Kowloon...)