penguinbar

If the service is good I will leave 20-25% even if they aren't used to it.

tonrob

In that case don't be moaning on here when Europeans come to your bar and don't leave you any tip. You either respect local customs or you don't. Many Brits who come to the US struggle to stop doing what they would normally do at home and start doing what is normal in their new environment. I'm sure some of them have pissed off either you or your co-workers.

Tourists (usually from the US) throwing cash around in various parts of the world starts to bugger things up for the locals. Apart from being seen as vulgar (contributing to the poor view many have regarding Americans abroad), over time it creates an expectation that the locals can't (or shouldn't) live up to.

Bob

kayak.com

penguinbar

I'm not going to get into a tipping argument with you . I am a generous person and If I want to "throw cash around" I will. There are several others on here who have worked in the service industry who agree with me as well.

alan280170

Ahh not the case, I still convert to pounds and work it like that, can't help it was great when it was $2 to 1 GBP, not so much now lol.

alan280170

Tipping in the US is a personal thing, if the service is kak, minimal and if it is good a very nice tip. Also I tip my local bar staff way above any of my texan friends, but this has a benefit, always get served quickly, invites to free brewery stuff and no worries if I forget my tab, pay it the next time I'm in.

Jerseygirl

I think you're missing Tonrob's point. It's not a question about generousity...what he's saying is that you have pointed out in the past that tipping 15% or more is normal in the US and that's what customer's should leave...which is fair enough. He's pointing out that tipping is normally not required or expected in the UK because it's already reflected in the price of what you are eating and drinking. In the UK waiters/barmen/women get paid a reasonable wage so they are not as dependent on tips as their US counterparts.

When in Rome and all that.

Lothianlad

Very sadly that is so true, but the negative attitude often displayed to Americans generally is, from my own personal observations, more obvious in many Continental European countries than it is here in the UK, but it does occur here as well.

The last time I witnessed a sort of anti American attitude as displayed by a young female waitress/attendant and then commented on by the two American males to whom it was directed was in a cafeteria located below ground level, beneath the ancient Westminster Hall, in the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) in London (I recommend it very highly btw - great selection of food, hot and cold, and of course drinks of all kinds).

Perhaps the waitress thought that the two Americans were being over fussy over something or other as her attitude towards them was a wee bit frosty to say the least, and when she came over with the dishes they had ordered she more or less plonked them down on the table and ignored what seemed to be a complimentary comment made to her by one of the men as she merely walked away back behind the counter.

My friends and I were on the next table and we heard one of the Americans tell the other that they had probably upset her for some reason, while the other one said that maybe she reacted that way because they were Americans.

Personally I don't think that was the case - I think it was because of their rather loud and bombastic attitude and general demeanour rather than anything else.

With regard to tipping in the UK many restaurants here are, increasingly, including a % tip figure below the final total on the bill handed to you and it is up to you to either pay the amount quoted, or pay an amount you think would be appropriate, or simply pay the amount quoted for the food and drink only, ignoring the tip, but I have never yet done that - I don't think I would have the nerve really to do that.

A very cold and snowy day again here in Edinburgh. Now the snowfalls have hit London and the Home Counties and the South East of England - the poor diddums down there! If the London centric media is anything to go by you'd think it was the end of the world! Nothing new there......

tonrob

I think consistent over-tipping in countries where such a level of tipping is not the norm, over time leads to "tip creep". The expectations of the tip that should be left creep up. While at the lowest impact this can be merely annoying (I'll cite London and, to some extent, other large UK cities as per Lothianlad's example above) but it's worse in lower-income countries (e.g. parts of Asia) and can often be to the detriment of the local customers who feel the effects long after each of the individual travelers have gone.

I know that many travelers will, at times, make mistakes when it comes to abiding by local culture and customs - I know I have. It just really gets my goat when people do it knowingly (and don't give a shit about it). It was the sheer hypocrisy in this particular situation that riled me.

tonrob

In that case I'll feel free to come into your restaurant and tip as per my country's norm, safe in the knowledge that this won't be a problem for anyone.

dunroving

Don't answer this if it's personal, but it seems strange that you will only visit your dad after he has died - or is it just that you hate the UK so much you won't even go back there to visit friends and family?

penguinbar

I understand Tonrobs point. I just don't agree with it.
My friends daughter is a waitress in Ashford and only gets 6 pounds an hour. Not very much at all. I asked a waitress what she got paid by the hour in London and she said 7 pounds an hour plus the gratuity which is added on the bill.To me that is not a reasonable wage at all. Especially for London. Most places I just went
to in London added a 12.5% gratuity . I tip above and that is my perogative.

In New York City is has become the norm in restaurants in tourist areas to add 15-20% to the bar and restaurant tab. Not just for European tourists but to every tab.
I am lucky in that where I work now the clientele are mostly wealthy neighborhood people who are quite generous and business is very good.
If someone doesn't leave at least 15% the manager will go over and see of there is a problem. It's rare in my restaurant now and that is usually from a European tourist of which we don't get many
If you expect Americans to follow the norm when in the UK then UK and European tourists should do the same when they come over here which most of them don't.
As far as the image that Americans have in the UK as being vulgar. UK tourists have the image of being cheap. Neither is ok.

Sally Redux

You do seem to be rather hung up on this issue though. Why the need to tell us how generous you are all the time?

SultanOfSwing

It's all relative I suppose. £6/hr may not seem like much (and I'd agree for London that it is pretty low) but I made only a little over than for my full time job when I was a civil servant and I thought it did the job. Having said that, I had a mate who was a waiter at a hotel back home and he'd get these great tips throughout the night, only to have them distributed to everyone else because they had a 'tip jar' that would get split evenly for the shift, which is something to bear in mind as well. There could be this one ignorant little oik benefiting from large tips that the good ones receive. I don't think that is fair either.

Although that does come to a little over $9/hr. The fact that waiters/bar staff et al don't make that much here explains the higher tips (and, while I'd be the first to admit I am a tight b'stard, we do tend to leave a little more than the standard for tips here in the US, especially if we get decent service.) However, I'm not sure I'd tip quite so high if I knew the waiter was only making a few $$$ an hour less than I was (as is the case in the UK)

That being said, we don't have the money to eat out much and I don't make a habit of venturing into the sad excuses for pubs round my way, so no-one makes a lot of money out of me anyway

Yorkieabroad

As with everything, its each to their own, but I think tourists should try to fit in with the local norm wherever they are, be it Americans in London, Brits in New York or Timbucktooians in Siberia. Of those that don't, I suspect most of them don't out of ignorance of the local customs, rather than in defiance of them. If they do know the local customs and still go against them, I just think that's rude, whether they err on the low side or the high side, and just adds to the bad rep certain tourists have in certain areas.