Its a cultural difference that you don't seem be be able to understand. Perhaps it would be best if you didn't leave your culture.

I'm 100% with Pucci on this. I hate tipping. I hate prices which have little relation to what you're supposed to pay. I hate haggling in souks. But I put up with it in the US, because that's the way things are.
Mind you, I wonder whether 15% of a 60$ meal is really comparable to 15% of a 15$ meal. I also am very reluctant to tip much at breakfast buffets, where I have to do everything myself anyway, though I acknowledge it's not fair on the staff, who are presumably all on minimum wage too.

With you on that one - I don't particularly agree with the tipping culture in the US, but there it is - it's the norm and I play along. However, there is nothing more guaranteed to kill any prospect of an enhanced tip (which for me in the US is >15% on a meal) than getting a bill with a smiley face and "Thank you!!!" hand written on it, or even worse, a guide suggesting that 15% is an appropriate minimum tip for good service. At best it's begging, at worst it's implying that I am ignorant of such basic local cultures.

:td:

Here we don't have to tip and there is no talk of any "service charge". Amazingly the waiters/waitresses still get paid. Furthermore, their employers are obliged to pay social security and pension fees based on this salary.

This thread, among others, shows what the tipping system is all about. It mandates employees to beg money from the customers for their living and future social security. At the same time it annoys the customers, especially foreign ones. In my case it even makes me avoid services where I am supposed to tip. Employers are also cheated out of money, as the hotel front desk example shows. Taxes are paid of only part of the tips.

In a tipping society, everyone loses.

To go back to your question HilFly. I was dining at a local restaurant last weekend. There was a delay delivering our soup starter and it was slightly cold. We were hungry and ate it anyway. We complained and our drinks were comped. That made up for it very well ^. No need to figure out what a service charge is or would be. Btw. those that say they tip 18% must have a built in calculator in their head.

Or a brain :p - knock a 0 off the end to get 10%, half again to get 5%, add together and add another bit to a reasonable round figure.

^^^

Those that have a brain don't like tipping. :p

:D

I don't like going to the dentist...but I go anyway. Same for tipping.

Not too keen on Income Tax either.:(

The person I was responding to said it was a "great way to get rid of coins" implying to me they saw that as the main reason for leaving money and not to reward good service.

Put the loose coins in the charity envelope like you say and give higher value coins and notes as a tip. Easy.

I usually spend the loose coins in shops and give the tip in notes. I seriously wouldn't leave "shrapnel" for anybody, but that's just me.

When I lived in Norway I didn't tip anyone and I was fine with that, too.
The US is different. People have a lot more responsibility for their own lives - the state doesn't coddle us. We choose healthcare, whether or not to carry short and long term disability insurance, long term care insurance. We have to file our own tax returns and understand the tax system. If we want to make more money, we work harder and get ahead, and stash money away in pension funds so that we can retire early and live well in retirement. There is a greater sense of drive and ambition than in socialist countries where so much of life is predestined by the state. Waitstaff are motivated to give good service because their tip depends on it, as opposed to so many restaurants in Europe where service is lacklustre to downright rude, but they still get the same money, rather like the total lack of motivation in the old days of Iron Curtain Eastern Europe.

I don't tip 18% but it's very easy if you live in a state that has 6% sales tax and you can multiply by 3!!

I would tip considerably more than 20% if the service had been very good - lots of extra trips to the table, special requests dealt with efficiently, anytime tableside preparation is involved, etc.

:eek: Just the thought of having to tip in Norway - on top of the £8 beer - sends shivers down the spine.

Abroad, if I thought I wasn't going to just get away with it I would certainly move to get my wallet out whilst asking how much the fine was.

Are you expected to tip 15% of the total bill (excluding tax)? I exclude the wine personally - not sure why they deserve 20% of a $5000 bill when they have only done the same amount of work as they would had the wine cost $100.