Please take a look at some of the many thousands of etiquette books published in the past 100 years in the US.

Waiters are tipped 15%; Bartenders are tipped $1 per drink; Porters are tipped $1 per bag.

No other tips are "required" (and even these guidelines above are not "required"). But these are mores: social conventions that have been around since at least the Lincoln administration. So, if you are a traveler in the US, do it.

New people/ job categories who ask for tips, I have no idea -- do what you want. It is not "required." Only the three job categories above are considered "tipped" by the US IRS and hence are paid sub-minimum wages.

There are some other minor conventions around doormen in NYC, certain livery drivers, etc. But the main 3 categories that all visitors to the US should be aware of are: waiters, barmen, and porters.

Please listen to common sense, as you can't believe everything you read. Tipping is NOT MANDATORY.

Neither is not scratching your balls and picking your nose in public. Sometimes things are done (or not done) because they are appropriate, and not because they are mandatory.

I apologize for thinking you said it was okay.

The fact that this exists is proof the tipping culture is all wrong. The blame always seems to get put on the customers when it should be put on the employers who do not pay proper wages. We had this same argument going in a "should I tip the wheelchair pusher at the airport" thread. A wheelchair pusher was making threats if they didn't' get tipped. The blame is ion the employer taking advantage of a law that allows them to stiff the employee, but gets the employee's angry at directed at the customer instead of at the real source of the problem. I can't believe we all just let this keep going on and on and on.

That's the problem with allowing Luxury Travel readers to slum it here with us. They expect the same level of service. ;)

Ahh, the definition of cutting off your nose to spite your face. :)

Ugh, don't even get me started on Vegas cabs. If I hear one more excuse for why I was long-hauled, I may actually vomit in the cab.

Mike

I don't believe it's appropriate to blame employers either. They are all in a highly competitive marketplace, and they should be expected to pay a competitive prevailing wage for the type of labor they were hiring. I suspect that a Restaurant that tried to pay it's wait staff $10-12 an hour rather than 3-4 an hour would have a non-competitive cost structure. Could they charge more than the similar restaurant down the street, and make it up by suggesting that their wait staff earns a full wage, and hence, you should feel comfortable tipping 0-5%, and anything above that only for servers that go beyond the call of duty? I think they'd be pushing a rock up hill.

The problem is systemic here in the U.S. and a few brave restauranteurs are not going to suddenly change it. Oh, and BTW, good luck to the wait staff trying to explain to the IRS that they work for restaurants that discourage tipping.

This made me smile. :) I think you should try leaving a wad of CT money, just to see the reaction you'd get. :D

I get that. I'm not sure how tip culture can be changed, but I would love if it could be changed. Perhaps it starts with the IRS, who knows?

the idea would likely be to take out the exceptions that allow employers to pay the below minimum wage, so that everyone is affected the same. Expecting one employer to do it would be ludicrous as it gives the rest a competitive advantage.

Been doing this for all my years in living in New York state since the tax is around 8% elsewhere in the state as well. But this weekend we were in Hawaii where the tax is something like 4% so I had to do some mental math. The hotel automatically kept printing out those "suggested tip" amounts. In Waikiki, the pre-printed suggestions were 18, 20, and something even higher than 20. In Maui it was 15, 18, and 20.

An article today about touch screen tip amount in cabs in NYC:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...214935642.html

"...See, those screens offer you four different potions for tipping: a 30% tip button, a 25% tip button, a 20% tip button, and a keypad for entering in your own tip. It turns out that people are lazy and love using those buttons — according to research from NYC developer Joshua Gross, the average tip has more than doubled to 22% since. That's a total of $144 million of additional tips per year."

that additional tip is somewhat nice for the drivers, but I don't think they're making off with any more since uncle sam and miss liberty tax all those, where before, with cash, some tips might have gone wink wink to uncle sam and miss liberty

Glad someone got it!

I've never been hassled about leaving a tip at a restaurant; by cabbies, yes. Not as bad in the US as some places... in Bangkok, I once had a cabby threaten to take me to the wrong, domestic-only meter if I didn't pay him about twice what the meter would end up showing, and ended up dumped on the side of the road (without charge, and in an urban enough neighborhood I was able to get another cab, at least!) when I tried to call the tourist police.

15% was conventional, 18%-20% was "creeping" up when I was first an adult in the early 1990s. At this point, it's not a matter of "creeping," and some people are simply more generous than others. There's also the "before sales tax" or "after sales tax" question, that nobody seems to agree on. Around here, doubling the sales tax is really common (which gets you 16%-18% of the pretax depending on the county/city)

Anywhere in the range of 15% on the pre-tax subtotal to 20% on the after-tax is fine, normal, etc. 10% is a sign you were unhappy with the service... my own rule is that if it's bad enough I can't leave 10%, it's bad enough that I call the manager over to explain why (although I've broken it a few times when traveling with places I'll never be again.)

I don't remember a time when 10% was acceptable, except as a low/cheapskate matter, or a complaint; 15% is still just fine and has been for the ~20 years of my adulthood.

As others have already said, while that's legal under federal law, it is not legal in every state; several disallow the tip credit counting towards state minimum wages:
http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

Slightly less, actually - since we'd all not have to tip a little extra to account for the free riders.

Which is not to say that I don't tip - I do, it is how the system works here - but if a restaurant said "no tips needed, we pay our staff a fair wage" (or a commission) I'd definitely be glad to pay an amount comparably higher than what I'd otherwise be tipping, and be more likely to come back if the service and food were otherwise comparable to the tipped alternatives.

That's a 16.6% tip and more than fair, especially if it's on the after-tax amount.

I'll usually add the cost of the comp to the total I'm tipping on; eg, if it's a $5-$6 comped drink or dessert, I'll tip an extra an extra dollar, as if I'd ordered it.

I've also given up on the tip-amount rounds the bill out thing; I'd rather save the 5 seconds and little bit of mental energy and let the waiter have the extra 16c. Over the course of a shift, it might add up for them, and over the course of a year, it'll never add up to enough money that I'll care.

I'll usually still tip on those (or on an entree that's comped because of a kitchen error, or whatever), unless it was the waiter's fault.

Specifically two pennies, no, but leaving a very small tip in change (down to "one penny") to make clear you did not just forget is pretty common practice, yeah.

I've never heard of anyone actually doing it, but according to my dad the ultimate sign of displeasure was to leave a few pennies... at the bottom of your water glass.

Depends on the restaurant; if it's an otherwise full-service place, yes, although I tend to aim lower especially if it's a very simple order (it'll usually be a lower bill to begin with, as no drinks.)

If it's an order-/pickup-at-the-counter, mainly take-out place, I'd tip as if I was eating in -- a buck or two (regardless of the size of the bill) or not at all, depending on how minimal the service is.

That's because most Americans are sissies. They are so afraid of someone calling them cheap or being unhappy with them. It's like they (we) live in a LaLa land. You HAVE to be polite, you HAVE to be politically correct, you HAVE to tip 20% or else you're a bad, bad person. Enough with this B.S. Please. From now on .... if someone questions me about my tip, I'll take it back. How about that.

It's not mandatory ..... that's how they fool you (tourists) guys. Most people don't have the B*lls to question a charge.

It's pronounced "cheap" .... but what it really means is ... SMART :-) Quote from comedian Russel Peters about cheapest people in the world. (#1 Indians and they're actually proud of it. #2 Chinese. He gave Jews a #3 spot just so that they don't feel left out. :-)

In this situations I'd actually just give them $20 and be done with it.