Well by serving you they have earned their tip so I'm pleased that you have this attitude.

I know that the antipodes have a culture of paying serving staff such that tips are not required. This thread is about tipping in the US where by simply bringing you your food they have earned something as the tip is part of their salary. If they were paid minimum wage it might be another issue but they're frequently not.

Some may disagree with this but that's how it is and to take your cultural biases with you when you travel is gauche in the extreme. Glad you don't fall into this camp :)

Ha ha! That is the height of bad manners! Using tipping as an excuse to "get rid of coins"! It's basically saying that these coins are annoying me in my pocket so I'll just palm them off to someone who is so poor that they make a difference. Unbelievable.

Completely disagree. Whilst I clearly wouldn't leave a tip on the pillow in pennies, I have no qualms about leaving it in reasonable coins. If they don't want it, they don't have to take it.

Isn't it fascinating that they still get a 10% tip for downright bad service ?

Not once you accept that the tip is an integral part of the bill?

No. By serving me they are doing their job, not earning a tip.

I frequently pay the included service charge for diabolical service in Europe. Does anyone ever ask for the included service charge to be removed if the service was bad?

No its not the height of bad manners at all - it's plain common sense!

You can't usually change foreign coins back into your home currency on your return - so why not give them to someone who can use them rather than bringing them home and throwing them in a drawer to be forgotten about??

I speak as someone with a drawer full of foreign coinage some of which no longer exists (Frenchfrancs, Marks, Guilders, Pesetas, Italian Lira etc as well as many other countries. Nowadays I take a handful and pop it in the change for good envelopes on board the plane or in the collection boxes at the airport!

You can usually ask for it to be reduced or removed if the service was really bad.....

Personally i prefer to leave the tip in cash rather than adding it to the bill anyway - that way the waiting staff get it - not the establishment

I am a nasty suspicious person and am deeply distrustful of these threads which can so easily degenerate into a mud-slinging contest of one "country" (God help us) against another.

I instinctively dislike tipping - the hairdresser is OK but who tips a hygenist? It always seems to me to be a little consescending as though it is an acknowledgement that the other party is perfoming menial work.

However that said - I am afraid that I tend to be of the "When in Rome" School. That is what staff in the US expect and that is what they depend on in wages. Whether I agree with it or not, that is their culture and their system and I have to get on with it.

I tend to do 15% - and no I would not dream of tipping front desk staff. it would be like me accepting tips and upgrading people. (Actually that is a really good idea! ;) my fortune is made!!) .

I am also grateful to those who wrote your lists as it is helpful to know what the going rate is.

I will add this, I tipped 10% for years and was quite embarrassed when I found out that this was not very much. I was told (in SoCal) that waiting staff there know that UK visitors will not yield as much but actually quite like working anyway as unbelievable as it may sound, a British accent still goes a long way. I report as I was told. Personally I'd run a mile as the British abroad usually make me cringe with embarassment.

What I do dislike is being given checks for whatever I have consummed and to see written on it "15% gratuity not included". Him Indoors hit the roof when he read that one! he actually crossed out included and wrote "deserved"

I am the same - I want it to go to the person who earned it.

Yes, once. Inn the Park, Oliver Payton's restaurant in Hyde Park. The service was terrible and I pointed it out to both the person serving me as we waited 40 minutes for our starters and the Manager as our mains arrived at different times, 10 minutes apart; the former shrugged and mumbled the word sorry, the latter seemed not to care at all. The dessert took so long that we cancelled our order.

When the bill arrived, sure enough, the service charge was still on there. I asked the waiter to remove the service charge. The Manager came back and raised his voice so that people around could hear.

Manager: "Why do you want to remove the service charge?"

Me: (Raising my voice to meet his, but not shouting) "Because the service has been atrocious and in an attempt for you to turn things around, I pointed it out to our waiter and you".

Manager: "So, you want the whole meal for free then do you"

Me: "No, I will pay for what we consumed, but not the optional service charge".

He flounced off and made a big deal about taking me through the bill, line by line on his return. We paid and left.

I sent a letter to Peyton HQ making it clear that I wasn't looking for a discount in future or any compensation for this meal. I got a polite letter in response apologising for what took place.

So can we tip less if it's in cash, as presumably they do not declare this as income and don't pay any tax on it ? ;)

That is a matter for their conscience not mine - I'd leave the same tip on the credit card or in cash....

My niece who works part time as a waitress told me once that if the tip goes on the bill/ card it quite often goes into a common pool or it can take a while for the establishment to actually hand it over to the waiter/ess. She much prefers it when she can just pick up and pocket her own tips from her tables.

That may be so, but in any event it appears to not have occurred as yet.

The link I posted is from an official US government web site: (UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR)