I'm so sorry that your reading skills are below par. Perhaps adult education is offered in your area.
And yes, people that don't tip appropriately are cheap. That is the correct word.

Interesting. I had never heard of this but apparently leaving two pennies is a way to communicate your dissatisfaction with the service:

(from tripadvisor...not exactly a bastion of accurate information, but...)

Is this common knowledge?

Not specifically to me, but it makes sense. Indeed, any risibly small tip would give that message clearly enough though: Australia, for example, does not have "pennies" but if you left a 5 cent tip or even a 50 cent tip at the end of an expensive meal the obvious message would be that you would normally tip more (some people in Australia may not tip anyway) and, no, you didn't just inadvertently forget on this occasion.

Therein lies the rub. If the debate can be refocused on the broader issue--the exploitation of staff--it is only then that we can even begin to discuss whether a `tip' ought to be voluntary (as in some countries in the world) or mandatory (as in the US).

As long as we are made to believe that tipping a certain percentage of the bill should be the norm, then the cycle of exploitation will continue, with owners paying a pittance to their staff, and passing on their remuneration responsibilities to the consumer. And as long as we continue to be conditioned to believe that a tip be mandatory rather than voluntary, we might as well also accept that paying to check in a bag when we purchase an airticket or paying a fuel surcharge on a ticket, also ought to be the norm. I dread to think of the day when we will consider it normal to pay a surcharge to use a bed when we pay for a hotel room!

As for me, I usually tip 15% of the bill, but in the full knowledge that continuing to do so will only perpetuate a far greater crime; the exploitation of servers by their employers. And servers, having internalized this system of exploitation themselves, will turn to consumers to support their livelihood, when in reality, they should be directing their ire at their employers.

But I would rather much have a system where employers pay their employees well, consumers pay for food and beverage as per the tariff indicated on the menu, and proffer a tip on a voluntary basis as something extra for services well-rendered. This would be fair by all parties concerned. Any other system, I believe, only serves the interests of restaurant owners.

So one cannot disagree with the 'reasoning' behind a custom, he must have an ulterior motive?
People on the other side can just as easily say that you tip to feel good about yourself (which BTW I suspect is the reason some Americans overseas tip even when told not to).
If someone will eat a 500$ meal, it's pretty ridiculous to call him cheap. Likewise, if I'll order a 200$ bottle of wine instead of a 100$ one and not tip twice as much, it's not because I'm cheap, it's because it's silly.

As a student, eons ago, I worked in a restaurant in a tourist area (Canada). The waitresses there knew exactly what a one or two cent tip meant, and they fumed if they ever got one. The story then was someone could "forget" to tip, or perhaps assume others at the table were responsible for leaving the tip, so that could explain a table with no tip, but it was obvious if someone left one or two pennies that they were dissatisfied with the service.

As an aside, in those days there were some religious tracts that looked like US dollar bills. It appeared to be a folded dollar bill but when you opened it up it was a religious tract with references to various biblical quotes. Drove the waitresses crazy, and to this day I can't really figure out why someone would assume a tract like that would convert the great unwashed. There was never money left behind, just the tract (and in those long ago days a dollar was the average sized tip in Canada. The most expensive item on the menu was a $6.50 New York steak, and most items were 3 dollars or less...my how times have changed)

Of course you may disagree with the reasoning. I didn't suggest otherwise. But you should still observe the custom. Or, you can be cheap and take out your moral outrage on the waiters. Withholding a tip to express your disagreement of this custom will punish them, and not the restaurant owners with whom you disagree.
But the passive-aggressiveness of stiffing a waiter is so much easier (read: cowardly) than asking to speak with the manager or owner to express your reasoning not to tip.

Yes, there are plenty of Americans that tip in countries where they shouldn't. There are also plenty of non-Americans that don't tip when in America. I don't think any particular nationality has all perfect citizens.

Absolutely +1 pi----s me off

That is a traditional accepted way of telling the waiter his service was atrocious. You don't leave nothing, since then the waiter might think you have forgotten. By leaving 1 or 2 pennies, you show you haven't forgotten, but that the waiter's service was worth only that amount.


Regarding the topic of this thread, "aggressive tip requests," I think we should let non-US people know that this almost never happens. Except maybe in New York. I have NEVER been followed out of a restaurant and asked to increase a tip, even when tipping light at 8-10% for mediocre service (granted, I rarely do that). To visitors, I suggest you just realize that about 12-15% is the usual amount left as tip (if you check some of the waiters websites, they are usually quite complimentary of a 15% tip), up to 20% for nice service, and factor that into the estimated cost of food, which seems inexpensive in the US compared to most of the rest of the Western world right now. It is just a different pricing model.

The blame lies with your compatriots who came before you and ignored the local customs, deciding to big-note themselves.

WHY ?
If you and Cordelli say you don't like the hotel maid practice, why do you succumb to tipping a waiter because he is paid a lowly wage ? Maids get paid much more than that ?

We ate at a hole in the wall Chinese noodle shop in Montreal near the HI. I left a 10% tip for our meal. The 4 of us left and a waiter came running out after us for more tip money! Unnerving and nervy!!! -- Startled, I shoved a little more money at him. NO MORE next time for that place. ==Distasteful travel memory.

I cant explain it. If i stop one night I never tip the maid -she is doing her job. If I stop 2 nights I usually do - I do not like a tip envelope being left. No other reason.

It's even worse than you think. Many Vegas servers are union members and are paid well over minimum wage and get benefits plus tips.

So as I understand it, every sever in the US makes state minimum wage a) lower wage + tips to take it to minimum or, b) if tips don't make it up to minimum the restaurant must make it up. No one in a restaurant is making less than in the Walmart across the street despite the protests that you must tip to give them a living wage. I have never tipped a grocery store worker, or the cleaner who cleans the loos at the mall. Why is one expected and the others not?

In some states, such as California, severs make full minimum plus any tips. So when I visit there, should I tip less?

In ON, servers get full minimum wage, and their tips, and many get things like healthcare. Same as CA? Same as NY? Or just use Canadian Tire money?