"Abroad" is a very big place. This not very subtle move will be understood and accepted in many parts, and understood and liable to land you in more trouble in others.

Nowadays I find very little difference between London & NYC when it comes to tipping. I seem to tip as much when I'm at home in London as I do when I'm at home in NYC.

No this is NOT true.

1) Income and Social Security tax in the US is strange - the employer pays part and the employee pays part. Self-employed people essentially have to pay double on parts of their tax, to cover the employer and employee taxes.

2) The restaurant is required to pay employer taxes and the waiter is required to pay employee taxes based on their tips. This number is usually estimated as a percentage of the waiter's total sales - the restaurant will file a form with the IRS saying that the waiter should have made about $XX.XX in tips based on their sales. I think the figure used is 10% of gross sales.

3) The waiters are usually required to 'tip out'. This means that based on their sales, they need to give 10% of their nightly tips to the bus staff and 10% to the bartenders in the restaurant, and once again, this is often based on expected tips based on gross sales volume. (I think this is true for all major chains (with sit-down service), and probably most independent restaurants, too.)

4) I have called various restaurant managers and asked if the waitstaff is forced to pay taxes and "tip out" on their alcohol sales, and the answer has been yes. So if you order a $100 bottle of wine, you may not feel that it is appropriate to tip $15-$20, but the waiter will have to pay taxes and distribute money to other people in the restaurant based on the cost of your wine, and that is at least $3-4 dollars of direct cost to to the waiter. I was listening to a radio broadcast, and someone called in who was a waiter and said that everyone in their restaurant would refuse to wait on Mr. X (a famous star) because he ordered $3000 bottles of wine but didn't tip on them, so the waiters actually lost money every time the waited on him, even though he tipped generously on the food portion of the bill.

The part that I have never understood is why the waiter should get half as much tip if I order a $10 chicken entree compared to a $20 beef entree. They certainly didn't do twice as much work. :confused:

But whether or not I like it, you are correct that 15% is a reasonable and expected number based on IRS policy and restaurant employment practices. Less than 15% can actually be punitive towards the waiter, which is why this level is reserved for poor service.

More restaurants are moving towards a bill that lists suggested tips of 15, 18, and 20% (of the final bill total, including alcohol and tax, which is traditionally - decades past - not included as a basis for tip). I can't decide if this is trying to advocate for the waiters and educate consumers on the realities of restaurant economics, or is catering to Americans who can't do simple math. Either way it is sad.

There is an interesting side-issue to all this. If you believe the press, there are plenty of waiters, doormen etc in the US at high-end places earning $100,000 a year. Now, the question is - is it right (or good, or positive) that a waiter can earn $100k a year from your 20% by doing his job well, or is that just fundamentally wrong? That certainly would never happen in the UK.

Last time I was at the InterCon in London I saw an American give the doorman £5 ($8) simply for opening a taxi door for him. As a Brit I see that as fundamentally weird, and my gut feeling is that the doorman is actually laughing at the American for being so stupid, given that his British guests would give nothing. That would be my opinion should I be doing that job. But I have a British mindset about these things and perhaps the doorman thinks his American guest are the salt of the earth.

I am normally the most mild-mannered, doesn't-matter-in-the-big-scheme-of-things, steady as she goes type of person, but it's at times like this that I am forced to channel my inner New Yorker. If my experience mirrored yours, there wouldn't be much left of that manager when I was done with him.

This said, having just spent two weeks in the States (nothing new here), I see tipping here as just one of those "adjustments" one makes when passing between societies -- speech patterns, attitudes, behaviours, etc. I almost was killed in NL (where zebra crossings are more of a suggestion, and certainly a negotiation, than a hard and fast rule) after ten days in Geneva, sauntering out into the traffic without a care in the world.

Yes, please tip in America. Peoples livelihoods do, across the board, depend on it. 15% is fine regardless of what anyone says. 20% is very generous. 10% is what I tip across the board in Britain (unless 12.5% charge added à la Inn the Park, et al), but it's a bit under in the US. Society needs to stop the tipping culture, but realistically it will only be limited. But it should be limited otherwise we'll see posts on here chiding people for not tipping a third of the bill "because that's what people do".

For the record, I hate, hate, hate tipping, I think it is awkward, gauche and not a little vulgar. I love Japan and Oz for the lack of it. But be where you are has to be the mantra.

Cuba's an interesting example of this (although obviously the raw numbers are relative). The most sought after jobs there are ones in the tourism business - bellhops, bartenders, etc - because they earn tips.

I always tip the doorman @ IC London. I believe since the demise of the good old One pound note I can understand why for some it may feel awkward to give for example 2 x 1GBP coins and hence use the lowest form of note available?

I rarely see the tipping guide, but please remember: it is provided, not for the foreign visitor, who represents a small fraction of a restaurant's clientele, but for the large number of Americans of a specific generation who consistently prove themselves rude and self-centered. "I can't afford to leave a tip, but I deserve a nice night out," is an attitude prevalent among a certain set. Would that this was the only expression of their selfishness.

I don't understand, though, why you object to a server writing, "thank you," on a check. It is something I see quite often and, at least to my mind, is no different than the server's spoken, "thank you," when providing the check to me in the first place.

Tollerated by the hotels.

Dead easy to fix, you put up a sign about the policy for room upgrades and that it is recorded/audited. People can still tip these people if they want, it just removes any obligation to provide something they shouldn't in return.

Simple solution: Equip doormen with oyster card readers.

(On an assumption you are talking about tipping and not corruption: )
Where did I ONCE say I wasn't able to understand tipping?????


I think your post is out of order. Perhaps it would be best if you didn't attribude positions to other people without checking!

I totally understand the concept of tipping, and also the tragedy of their being people who are underpaid on the basis of them being expected to recieve discretionary tips.

What I'm amazed about is what I view as fraud/embezelment on behalf of hotel staff giving room upgrades on the basis of tips. That to me has gone well past 'tipping' and into something quite different.

Personally, whlie I will readilly tip in cultures where this is the norm, don't expect me to promote beyond minium necessary participation a culture I disagree with. Consider it part of my own personal ethical foreign policy...

And you call yourself a New Yorker? ... Puh-leeze! ;)

We're a dying breed!

A vote for the housekeeping staff
 

I live in New York, and also hate tipping (just to clarify that in advance).

I do believe, however, that when you stay at a hotel - in the United States or elsewhere - it's good to tip the chambermaid / housekeeping staff. These staff are overwhelmingly female, usually immigrants, and unquestionably work the hardest (which I am comfortable saying as a former hotel employee). And since the advent of "heavenly beds" and such, with their extra pillows, mattress pads, etc., the amount of heavy lifting required of the housekeeping staff has increased enormously.

Porters and bellstaff, who are overwhelmingly male, are usually tipped for taking your bags. If you can, spare a thought (and a few dollars) for the women who clean your floors, lift your mattresses, and clean your bathrooms.

Joe

Heavily Anglicised and Dutchified, I'm afraid. :p

millionmiler, your post implies that corruption is the cultural difference that David-A doesn't understand.