Originally Posted by
Annalisa12
I've given a street cleaner in Luxor a gratuity. Due to a language barrier I had my guide tell him I was impressed with the cleanliness of the area. He was delighted.
That's exactly my point. It's a gratuity for exceptional work, I shouldn't be obliged to tip a waiter who barely served my table and got my orders messed up repeatedly.
Originally Posted by
BearX220
Tips are integral to service culture in places where people don't get paid a complete wage, as you do. Not so much in Australia, but definitely in the US. The problem here in the US is a propensity on the part of both businesses and staff to abuse the natural impulse to tip, in the hope that you will just reflexively hand money to everyone, regardless of whether they've actually done anything for you, or (in the case of room service) been tipped already via mandatory surcharges.
This is again what I'm asking, why should the onus be placed on the customer? To be obliged to tip someone who really hasn't done a good job at all. Like you said, mandatory surcharges essentially function as a gratuity on their own and yet I was still given a few words by room service at an unnamed American chain hotel for not tipping and citing the surcharge as a reason.