Sally Redux

Also as the tip is only 10%, it's easier to figure out there and then at the table.

Jerseygirl

Someone took a copy of my daughter's CC at a gas station in Toronto. Fortunately she was on her way home and later that day we went to the local mall. She used her CC at the mall...a few minutes later someone tried to obtain cash using her CC in Toronto. The CC company picked it up immediately and froze her account. The CC company said gas stations are the worst places for CC fraud.

tonrob

At the risk of turning this into a hotly-debated tipping thread...

There's no standard tip amount in the UK last I knew...? It's an extra amount given only if the service is above and beyond rather than the 'cost of service' model in the US. That's how I've always done it, and never based on a simple percentage.

Malashaan

Tipping seems to be becoming more expected in the UK. 10-12 years ago when I first started paying at restaurants we'd occasionally tip but didn't feel we had to. Over the last few years it seems like people have started feeling it's expected of them, certainly in Leeds anyway. 10% is generally considered the rule of thumb in my experience.

The one I really hate, which I've had happen in a few places, is when you pay by card and they bring the little chip and pin machine to the table, it adds a 10 or 15% tip and asks you if you want to remove it. The first time that happened to me I'd been intending to tip and elected to remove the tip purely because I was so annoyed at such a blatent attempt to shame people into tipping - it's a lot harder to remove a tip than simply not add one.

tonrob

Well I for one feel no pressure to tip when I'm in the UK. Might feel different if you live there of course...

Michael

I have only have my credit card information stolen over the internet and the unauthorized charges were immediately reversed. How does all that new fangled UK credit card features prevent information from being stolen over the internet?

tonrob

If you mean Chip and Pin then it doesn't.

Malashaan

A lot of sites now ask a security question when I use my UK visa card. I also have a mini card reader that spits out a code I have to enter into the website if I want to use internet banking.

Sally Redux

I've always tipped about 10% for restaurant meals.

tonrob

You have a big heart.

rculater

The fixed cameras are being turned off in some counties now due to the cost. The reason ppl are driving slower is because of no 1.

1)

Malashaan

That's not entirely true, on busy roads of course traffic moves slowly but there has been a general decrease in average speeds on open road too. I believe it's a cumulative cultural shift where speeding has become less acceptable, the prevalence of speed cameras was no doubt one of the factors contributing to this.

Steerpike

I would definitely agree with the latter comment - people got fined/ticketed into submission and now everyone seems quite happy to stick to the limits, cameras or not (that's what I get from my bro, who lives here). On the motorway, I saw these 'average speed' cameras that measure your average speed between two points several miles apart, which really makes it harder to just 'slow down a the sight of the camera'. These were EVERYWHERE on the M1. Traffic was also very heavy on the M6 going up to the Lake District, and driving through the Lake District today was slow.

I had another great meal in a hotel in the Lakes - extremely high quality and beautifully presented. I'd say one of the biggest changes over the years has been the quality of food. The only bad meal so far was at a pub in the Lakes. This place also wanted pre-payment, which was annoying - we all ordered (food and drink), then the waitress came back and announced '<blah> pounds please'. It seems odd to tip before a meal, and It make it a pain to get extra drinks - had to pay for each extra set of drinks separately. I was trying to pay for everything but this made it harder.

Also, despite all the b/s about security, I have to say leaving SFO and entering LHR were the easiest EVER, by a long shot. Security at SFO was quiet and efficient, and entering LHR was crazy easy. I used my UK passport, and went through the new machine that reads your biometric passport. I'd say from off plane to on the street was no more than 30 minutes total, most of which was waiting for bags.

Steerpike

I appreciate what they are trying to do, I just wish they'd find a way to make it less of an 'event'. If I'm taking out a group of people for a meal, I don't want the payment phase to be a break in the conversation, and I don't want to draw attention to the fact I'm paying. In the "US" model, final paperwork is delivered and you complete at your convenience (and your tipping decision is 'confidential'). In the "UK" model, they arrive at the table with a bit of machinery and you have to complete the transaction in their presence - it's that interruption, along with the fact that they are standing there while you do it, that bothers me. I guess I could get up and pay ... somewhere ... away from the table.

AdobePinon

You have to catch them first. Fortunately, many criminals are dumb.

The smarter ones know not to use the skimmed info too soon, and to make sure it gets used far away from the scene of the crime (but not so far as to trigger a block). Many just sell the information on to others.

The US has a long way to go on financial security. I know of only two places around here that will do the chip+pin thing. Ironic, since the only customers with chip+pin are foreign.

My bank, fortunately, is not one of the dumbest banks in the land, and uses hardware tokencards for internet banking. Pretty good, as long as you understand man-in-the-middle attacks and the importance of verifying the authenticity of your banking website. I'm really not a fan of most 'security questions'. After a while, every hopefully secure website knows the name of your first pet, and you stand to lose that very important information by key logging, malware, man-in-the-middle, or hackers breaking into one of your visited sites. Not to mention that most financial fraud is committed by someone known to the victim, who probably knows the name of your first pet. As a result I always give fake answers and can never remember the correct wrong answer when I need it.

As for buying stuff on the net, always use a credit card. You can dispute any charge to any card, but having a freeze on a sub-zero (no pun intended) bank account (debit card) balance is marginally useful at best.