ChocolateBabz

I'll have to ask my American buddies about tipping on the wine portion when they get from their vay-cay but she did tell me that she doesn't include the tax when calculating the tip. I add 15% generally and 20% if service has been extra special and I cut it to 10% if the service has been lousy.

Hubby was out for a business meal last month and when he went to pay the bill (on expenses) his colleague said 'I'll get the tip', hubby said 'Don't be daft, I'll just be claiming it' and his colleague said they are not supposed to claim for the tip. Hubby has always claimed the whole lot and never had his expenses rejected for claiming the tip, if they did he wouldn't take folk out for dinner anymore...well we are Aberdonian

Englishtart

I tip depending on service, if it's good it's always 15%, if it's shitty I don't tip at all (that defeats the purpose to me) I will always tell the waiter/waitress why I haven't tipped.

If the service is exceptional, the tip goes up and at these times, I always explain why it is a higher tip, I have worked in restaurants, so I know how hard it is, but there is no excuse for taking out your bad mood on the customers.

Hubby on the other hand, will tip every time and never complain

ChocolateBabz

Oh no I couldn't tell them why - I leave my paltry 10% and run before they can see what I did

Englishtart

That's another way of doing it I guess

Steerpike

Exactly! Tipping is built into to wage structure here and if you don't tip, on some crazy justification that 'we didn't do that in England', you are just screwing the servers and getting the Brits a bad name. Dining out here is WAY cheaper than in the UK, so put back a bit of the amount saved as a tip and still feel good that you didn't spend as much as you would have back in the UK.

I'm with Bob on the alcohol part - I include a beer or a glass of wine in the 'base' for the tip, but not a fancy bottle of wine. Luckily, I no longer have any desire for fancy wine, so this is no longer an issue!

NYCbound

My husband has been doing the same! As an Englishwoman married to a Scotsman I'm torn between being uber polite and tipping the right amount and being tighter than...

It was built into wage structure here aswell until it was outlawed last month
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...lord-mandelson

Bob

FIL is like that too....if the service is truely that shit and not just because the kitchen botched something for the server, I'll leave a couple pennies. They'll know why.

Generally though, service usually isn't that shit though.

Englishtart

It's not too often that we get bad service, we have had the worst service when we go for lunch at 'off times' like if we are shopping and lose track of time, then realise we haven't had lunch (around 2or3 pm)

It's usually about that time that we get seated, fed and forgotten, if there is a problem with food, or they 'forget' to refill drinks, we can never get anyone to the table until they want the check!

Seems like they are changing shifts at that time, or just chatting away and can't be bothered after the lunch crowd.

ionaskye

The diffrence here is is very much a big part of the wage that they earn,my daughter worked as a waitress and she got paid $2.65 per hour this can be done because the employer averages in the amount you will recieve in tips,
But I never tip if the service is bad , I used to feel bad about it now i only tip if I want to.