Originally Posted by
bensyd
Maybe ask someone who works in hospitality how common tips are. You might be surprised.
The first time I visited Australia, I was with a group of Americans, all our first time in Oz. We did ask our server, in a mid-range restaurant in Sydney, if we should tip. We honestly didn't know. This was in 2003.
She said something to the effect of: 'Absolutely not, we don't expect tips and honestly we don't need them.' She had worked in the USA and knew how big the wage gap was for servers. So, I have asked servers before, not just mates. And others in the hospitality industry have posted here saying tips are unusual and/or unnecessary.
Originally Posted by
Annalisa12
I work in the hospitality industry and wages are so high that they don't need tips to survive. An adult casual is on just over $25 an hour for Monday to Friday. More for weekends.
If people say to us "keep the change" or tip I tell them that we'll put it in to our donation box and donate it to charity. We don't need extra money.
Originally Posted by
dddc
In the 4 years I worked there I got tipped 3 times. Only once was a proper tip.
This is one of the downsides of tipping, there is never a consensus about them.... so they aren't necessarily applied based on the level of service, more like random allocation.
Thanks [MENTION=50035]bensyd[/MENTION] for your side of the coin, worth thinking about for sure. But based on my personal survey and this thread (no other tippers coming forward yet!), you are in the minority.