Yup. It was about 5:00 a.m., there was no list posted in the station (as noted in my link) and I accept responsibility for being unaware of the best procedure (local customs) to follow.

It's really impossible to respond to your experiences other than to say I haven't. As I wrote YMMV.

It is more work, at least at a class of restaurants good enough that you're trying to synchronize everyone getting their entree at the same time.

Larger parties also tend to occupy a table longer, and in some groups, tend to tip less -- because people underestimate their share of tax and tip, or potentially maybe sticker shock if one person is hosting.

(The former is from direct experience, not as a server, but trying to generate spend on cards: with larger groups of coworkers, I found that if I pass around the bill to have everyone figure out their share, it was rare to get shorted on the original bill, but nearly 100% that we'd end up short on the tip -- whether precalculated by the restaurant or not. Makes it not worth it, unless you've got friends who order in a close enough range of items to do the "OK, everyone pay $xx. )

Synchronising so everyone gets their meal at the main time, It's not rocket science is it? And it doesn't matter if you screw it up because you're on a guaranteed 20%. Let's not forget those big groups knocking more booze back and the 20% on that. That's a nice earner.

Perhaps that's because you always leave a generous tip rather than tying it to the quality of the service like I do?

Just a guess, I don't really know.

If you're opposed to the American/Canadian system of "voluntary" tips, wouldn't you be better satisfied by a service charge included in the bill service compris-style? Granted, in many if not most other countries the service charge is included in the menu price, but if you read on a menu that "a service charge of 18% is added for parties of six or more," isn't that a step in the right direction for you?

Ah, it didn't dawn on me that perhaps you were the recipient of the abusiveness. I thought you were referring to numbers of scenes you had witnessed of other diners being berated.

To answer your query, I'm a generous tipper by the standards of some and chintzy by the standards of others. I have brothers-in-law who will tip 25% for excellent service while I top out around 20%.

In comparison, we dined fairly often with my late Canadian father over the years in British Columbia and Washington State, and I never saw him berated, snubbed, or slighted for his habitual 10% tips. I was watching for any sign because that tip made me feel personally uncomfortable.

Maybe people in our favored corner are just a lot nicer than everybody else, but I doubt it.

Well it has happened both ways. At least twice (that I can think of) in the last few years, I have decided to leave a minimal tip of around 10% due to extremely poor service, and been stopped at the door by the server on the way out. One was near Los Angeles and one was in a small town.

I also saw a server (or manager?) lecture another customer once on tipping. I don't know if the reduction was justified or not, but this one seemed to be getting heated so we quickly paid our check and left.

As others have posted above, that does point up the irony that presents itself when a "voluntary" payment is considered a "right" by the employee, who may in fairness is getting a low wage which the tips are supposed to balance out.

I've certainly heard of such episodes, and it can even happen to Americans in Europe, IMHO when the person providing a service expects (demands?) a big tip because the tourist is an American. For example, I've experienced unpleasantness on two occasions - with taxi drivers both in Barcelona and Naples.

Fredd -

First, 86 the Hawaiian shirt and plaid Bermuda shorts.

Then tell them " Je suis Suisse, " or " Je suis Canadien. "

They will no doubt take you for a frugal peasant en vacances, and let you go with a shrug.

Merci mille fois! ^ En actuellement, je suis un citoyen am�ricain et un citoyen canadien aussi.

Autre pays, autre coutume, n'est-ce pas?* So I'm burning the plaid bermudas tonight.

*When in Rome... which is why most of us are here, eh?

I cannot believe how out of touch the public is in this regard, and this includes Flyertalkers too.

The tip isn't 10% or 15% or 20% or more. It's whatever the meal/situation/transaction warrants. Sometimes it's a flat dollar amount, unrelated to the bill (maybe I leave $5 after sipping a coffee for a while). Sometimes it's an amount related to the occasion... where the percentage may be also much higher. Other times it may be designed to be an insult based on the dining experience (food quality or service).

There is no standard. The amount to tip is determined by the payee.


Now, do you realize just how much money a server actually makes>?>?

Just for fun, I have started waiting tables again.
Yesterday I made over $100 on a lunch shift... and $40 bucks in wages.
Don't give me the sob story that these are poor 'starving students' . IT'S JUST NOT THE CASE. If I decided to wait full time, I'd be making as more than most professionals.

Re tipping rates: the sales tax rate in NYC (and many other large cities) is in the vicinity of 8.5%, so doubling the tax = 17%, was an easy way to compute the tip (and possibly over-tip when the rate was 15%).
A recent experience: The waiter, in error, placed my salad order late, and so the main course and the salad arrived at the same time.. He neglected to provide a steak knife (I had to request one from the server). I gave him a 15% tip (which was more than he deserved--a waiter is supposed to provide competent service). Question: I was thinking of attaching a note to the bill (and tip), noting why I had "under tipped" 5%--should I have done this?

Given that 15% is well within the normal range of variation, unless you were a regular there known to usually tip at the high end of the normal range of variation, no message was left by tipping at the low end.

While neither of those are on my list of disqualifications to competent (unless there's a sign that those are the rule and not the exception), if they are for you, letting the manager know is the right thing to do. Handling complaints of subpar service is a major part of their job.

No need for the note.

In the above situation, had you left 5%, the waiter would know EXACTLY why you left what you did.

In fact, this was the actual intent of tipping. If the waitperson regularly gets low tips for poor service, they have a very big incentive to improve their competencies.

Well, that's really the crux of the matter, isn't it - management is happy with the tipping culture and so is the wait staff. Given that, there is no impetus to change anything. Customers aren't going to revolt en masse so we're stuck with it.

And presumably not reporting it to the IRS, unlike most professionals.