This weekend we entered an average-looking restaurant at Naschmarkt/Secession. The bill came handwritten on a piece of paper and was 38 euro ,with "suggested tip 10%" making it 41.8. We gave 40 and waited in vain for our change.

When asked for the change, the waitress asked if we wanted to leave a tip. We said no as the teas were already padded up substantially to the Champs-�lys�es level of almost 5 eur per small teapot. She then gave us our change and said "I will give you 50 cents extra to give to the next waiter as tipping is customary in Austria".

I was not aware tipping is required in Austria. Has there been some societal change that I have missed? If the stuff from "Waiter Rant" is moving to Europe that would be quite unfortunate.

5-10% Tipping is standard in Austria and a small minor number of other European countries (Hungary next door does as well)

http://wikitravel.org/en/Tipping#Europe

I am a regular visitor to Vienna and I have never encountered this kind of behavior. On the other hand, I would not have expected or asked for 2 euro change, but that is me.

In my experience, while tipping is fairly common in Austria and many other EU countries, the aggressive tip soliciting that is the rule in North America is not. I am sorry that you found a bad apple waitress, especially in Austria where I have always found staff to be particularly kind and courteous.

Hi, we tip here by rounding up the bill. For coffee, breakfast, and lunch, this is a nominal value. e.g. 8,40 to 9,00

For dinner, especially at a nicer plate, perhaps one adds an extra EUR or 2. We announce the total amount when handing in the payment (and expect full change if nothing is said otherwise)

I don't remember the last time seeing any "suggested" tip value on any bill.

(The waitstaff here also aren't reluctant to split a bill by items, unlike in N.Am)

Tipping is not "standard" in any country in Europe I have visited. Tipping is probably most common in the other English-speaking country in Europe.

Generally speaking, people in cities are more likely to tip than people in the countryside.

The information on the wikitravel site strikes me as quite inaccurate.

Agreed [in Austria], and Germany is similar, IME.

More so in Hungary than Austria (see below).

Wrong - tipping is standard in several European countries. In Hungary, and several ex-Communist central European countries, 10% is the norm. The locals usually oblige - the foreigners may or may not (probably depending on whence they came, or what they think they can get away with).

The only ex-Communist country I have been to is the former DDR and tipping was most certainly not standard anywhere I saw. However, I have not been further east than there.

Nevertheless, northern Europe, western/central Europe and southern Europe, I have never seen tipping as a standard by either locals or tourists. Leaving the small change from a bill, however, is fairly common, but the amounts are so small, it seems more a courtesy than a tip.

5 euros doesn't seem much for a pot of tea in Vienna I'm afraid.

I go to VIE around 3 or 4 times a year and tipping is not standard in Austria, but a small rounding up is - even students do this! Most restaurants include tax and service separately on the bill. This aggressiveness / rudeness seems to be on the increase.

I normally leave a tip. Recently however, in Figlmullers the waiter basically kept back around 10% on top of the added service charge - refusing to give it to me. I didn't argue past making the comment, because we'd just arrived in vie and this was a special request from the wife and I didn't want to spoil things for her. I posted details of the experience in some detail on TripAdvisor and the owners made contact and I gave them all the details but they didn't bother telling me the outcome. The daft thing was that he wold have got more if he'd left it to me ........

I suggest you post on TA ... she'll do it again and it will cost them business. I hate TA but this for me is when it works. My only regret is it won't allow nil stars.

Edited to add: this might be helpful

i feel both conflicted and guilty about 'americanizing' the tipping culture here in europe -- tipping up to my normal norms because:

(1) its a very small amount anyway
(2) often the rest of my meal is already comped
(3) im used to it from personal background

and once in a while am gently rebuked by colleagues not to do so

Since Wiki has been known to sometimes be false, I went ahead and dug up my Lonely Planet Austria. Lonely Planet mentions the same thing as Wiki: "It's customary to add a 10% tip"

If you look up the wiki site maybe 2-3 of the 100 European countries talk about tipping at all, I would call that a rare occurrence, but it does happen.

It is wrong. Sometimes they are.

On the basis that there is a glaring ommission in that it fails to mention that service and tax is almost always automatically added then it seems pretty useless to me.

Some sites do get it correct.

here and here ie


and here

To be honest I'm surpised that such authoritative sources get it so wrong and remain unchallenged/uncorrected. However, I hope this helps .....

I have always understand "standard" to mean something is virtually always true.

In that sense, there seems to be much mis-information quoted here. For example, in my experience service charges are not standard in European restaurants or pubs. Some may include the charge when there are a large number of guests in one party. When I have seen this, it is usually explained in the menu. There may be exceptions.

Rounding up, as UK1 wrote, is indeed quite common, but I think the German expression for it (Trinkgeld) is probably more accurate than "tip." Alcoholic drinks in Germany (especially in pubs and especially in the countryside) are very low cost. And several guests rounding up their bills would probably give the waiter enough to have a beer or schnapps after work.

Germany isn't Austria. This thread is "tipping in Austria" Austrians do not leave an automatic tip of say 10% as suggested. The norm is simply to round up if at all. It's only foreigners carefully calculate and who therefore tend to over- tip.

there's a massive tipping thread on FT. wikitravel , while its good for many things , is wrong more often than not on this subject

Er, so you'd rather take the word of a guidebook and a dubious internet source that those that live in or visit Austria on a regular basis???