Enigma368

There's a lot of comments from Americans in this thread about how not tipping is the height of rudeness and cheapness and lots of other derogatory comments. You have to understand though that outside North America, there is not anything close to the tipping culture you get in the US or to a lesser extent, in Canada. For example, in Europe, you would almost never tip a bartender for a drink.

That is not to say that one should not learn what the culture is where you are and adapt and I 100% agree that it is not appropriate to say "well we don't tip at home for this so I wont tip here". That said most of the time it is not people not wanting to learn the culture, it is just that in many areas where and when to tip is not clear. In a regular bar where you pay for drinks, it is the custom in the US to tip on each and every drink, this is pretty much 100% established and is very clear. Not tipping in that situation - unless you really don't know this fact - is rude and inappropriate, I agree.

However the fact that this thread exists show that there are situations where when and what to tip in the U.S. is not 100% clear or agreed e.g. this thread shows that in a lounge where drinks are complimentary - people have different views on whether you should tip always, tip just on alcoholic drinks ,tip $1, $2, $5 etc. Some people feel that pouring a soda does not justify a tip, but pouring a glass of wine does (logically is there really any difference in the amount of effort). Although people don't say it, I think the value of the drink is possibly a factor here, e.g. if you are getting a $2 or $3 soda for free, then tipping $1 or $2 seems like a lot for what is supposed to be a free drink, whereas tipping $1 or $2 on a glass of wine that would normally cost $8-$12 seems more reasonable.

Anyway my overall point is that there is not a consensus here, even amongst Americans so I don't think it is helpful to put people down or insult them just because they have a different view to you on what seems to be an area that is not black and white. That said *most* people here seem to agree that you should at least always tip on alcoholic drinks in a U.S. based lounge so that is good to know (I believe I have always done that in the past).

Out of curiosity the rare time I am in ACs, I usually get one or two drink vouchers for a bottle of coke, a smoothie or water with my BA status (you can use them for alcohol too but I don't). When I use these, the bartender takes the bottle of water or bottle of coke out of the fridge and hands it to me in return for the chit/voucher. Would most people agree that tipping for this would not be expected/required?