tonrob

You'd get a dollar for that round these parts.

captainsensible

Since when did we not tip in the UK?? I need to go back and visit all the restaurants I ever visited and demand my tips back if this is the case! Always tipped a minimum of 10% (for good service) in the UK - I just assumed that this was the norm, as apparently 20% is the norm in the US.

Won't tip for terrible service though not matter where I am, and would deduct any 'added gratuity' from a bill if I thought it wasn't deserved.

Oh and since living here, have managed to do my first 'walk out of a restaurant' without paying too, which was very liberating! That was after waiting 30 minutes to be get drinks, or be asked what we would like to eat, followed by being delivered food that was, firstly, wrong, and secondly, grossly overpriced ($28 for 2 crab cakes the size of a hamsters balls?).

Never would have considered kicking up a stink and walking out in a restaurant in the UK, but over here it was surprisingly easy!

Manc

one born every minute.

Charma1ne

Tbf the point I was trying to make with that (there should have been a new line after the sentence) was since when do Scottish not tip? I ALWAYS tip even if it is a penny for bad times...

[QUOTE=captainsensible;10293158] Since when did we not tip in the UK?? I need to go back and visit all the restaurants I ever visited and demand my tips back if this is the case! Always tipped a minimum of 10% (for good service) in the UK - I just assumed that this was the norm, as apparently 20% is the norm in the US [QUOTE]

My point exactly we DO tip! It really bugged me

Cx

GeoffM

Only once in the UK. About of dozen of us went to an Indian restaurant in Wakefield. They should have easily coped with that small group in a largish restaurant. However, the food came out cold, burnt, wrong, staggered, not at all for some people, and basically crap. We offered to pay a tenner each for the drinks and some food. Manager refused and called the police. The police told us to pay a fiver each and go. They should have taken our first offer!

joto

Your last sentence. I think the Brits on home turf, are more likely to put up and shut up about poor service, poor food, or whatever displeases them at the time and then complains about it when they are away from the restaurant/shop/wherever.

Derrygal

I bet the two of you get along like a house on fire!!

Bob

That's leaving a penny on the table, so you tell them you know to tip rather just being a rude foreigner

Bob

In our old town, at one place, they were paid $2/hr and made the rest in tips...but then had the cost of using the station taken out of their pay too...plus they had to provide their own hair dryer, clippers and hair goop.

Steerpike

I eat out approx 4 times a week, and seek out 'independent', family-run type places (never chains). I eat out largely because I can't be bothered to cook when I'm by myself; I'm not looking for a romantic experience or anything - just good food. I have found several local places that serve good food and are reasonably priced; I can get a decent meal with a couple of beers for as little as $20, and I typically tip about $4-6 which I consider to be a 'good tip'. The most I spend on a 'typical' evening alone is $40, in which case I'll tip around $8.

I tip for several reasons; as a 'regular', I've found that tipping the staff ensures excelent quality service; at one place, the owner brings me a cold beer almost the minute I sit down, which I love. And as much as I agree with others that wait-staff SHOULD be paid more, I'm not going to change society single-handedly and shorting the staff 'on principle' is just not fair to the current people in the business. Anyone who says 'it's not my fault if they aren't paid enough' is justifying their meanness, in my view.

I do change my tipping habits based on two factors - amount of alcohol in the bill, and overall price. If I go out for a special occasion to a fancy restaurant, and run up a $100+ bill, I'm not going to tip more than 15% typically. Giving $15 for basic service for 2 people is, in my view, appropriate. And if someone decides to order a $50 bottle of wine, it's not clear to me why that should warrant an extra $7.50 in the tip. So my strategy is, 20-30% in cheaper places, reducing to the 10-15% range in expensive places.

Englishmum

This is a useful tipping guide for restaurants:

http://www.itipping.com/tip-guide-restaurant.htm (scroll down for fine dining restaurants)

I also have an App on my phone for tipping - you need to decide which % you want to pay and it works it out for you.

I live approx 40 mins from New York City so often go there for a few hours and stay for dinner. When I first moved to the US I was told that in New York, the custom is when tipping in restaurants to pay double whatever the tax is on the bill, and I still usually do this.

Bob

In cheapo places, you generally include drinks in the tip, in posh places you don't....

Bob

So the tax is higher than 7%? Ouch.

Lothianlad

In this part of the world tipping in restaurants is entirely discretionary...it is not obligatory, nor are customers made to feel obliged to tip. Most people tip according to their level of satisfaction with the service provided in addition to the quality of the food/drinks plus the general ambience of the place, etc.

I've never heard of any non-tippers being either glared at or verbally abused by restaurant staff in this country, and the widely accepted tipping rate for the majority who do tip is anything between 10% and 15% I would reckon.

Some establishments do add a % tip figure below the stated total cost of the meal on the bill but you are quite free to choose which amount to pay, with no obligation to tip......I think in the UK it's illegal to "demand a tip" anyway.

But, as ever, the Americans seem to do everything differently.

We are inundated in this city with foreign tourists from all over the world, and from my observation it is the Americans who seem to be the most demanding, the most difficult and, sometimes, even the most obnoxious in restaurants here in the way they treat waiting staff. Leaving a 25%+ tip would be the least they could do to absolve themselves on such occasions.

joto

When DD did waitressing for about 4 years at the same restaurant when she was in high school and college, she got pissed off with low/no tippers. She had to deal with a large table about 10/12 and did the best service she could and was running around like a blue a$$ed fly after them and their demands. Grand total of 1 GBP tip. Luckily the restaurant owners treated all the waitstaff really well and often sent her home with food as she was in college then.