USA Gratuity And/Or Tip?
Discussion
When in the US, do as the US etc, although I really cannot understand how organisations can get away with not paying people a living wage. And how customers accept that state of affairs.
But I do find the service, at least in New York, borderline harassment. They are often so intrusive that I’ve had to tell them to back off and that their constant interruptions are ruining the occasion. It seems inconceivable to many staff that I really do not go out to eat to have a conversation with a stranger every fifteen seconds. And I am quite capable of letting wait-staff, or whatever they are called these days, know when I want something.
What also boils my piss, however, is having stuff cleared away or the bill rendered as I’m still eating. This is plain rude and s
t service.
But I do find the service, at least in New York, borderline harassment. They are often so intrusive that I’ve had to tell them to back off and that their constant interruptions are ruining the occasion. It seems inconceivable to many staff that I really do not go out to eat to have a conversation with a stranger every fifteen seconds. And I am quite capable of letting wait-staff, or whatever they are called these days, know when I want something.
What also boils my piss, however, is having stuff cleared away or the bill rendered as I’m still eating. This is plain rude and s
t service. 
Matt Harper said:
I haven't lived in the UK for a long time, but I don't recall people in supermarkets and fast food joints over there being educated, eloquent and typically welcoming and engaging. Quite the contrary, in most cases, if memory serves me.
This thread has a recurring theme - i.e. British people bhing about the tip culture in the USA. It isn't a legal requirement. If the level of service does not warrant it, don't give it. If you are such a tight-fisted git that you refuse to recognize good service, then don't. If you are easily coerced into handing over a tip, despite your reluctance then more fool you.
Where I live (Central Florida), Brit tourists have a bit of a reputation for being miserly, but is generally recognized as being more a cultural/environmental difference than out-and-out meanness. Generally, service is very good here. The only time I ever got into a spat with a server I chose not to tip (Orlando Alehouse on Kirkman Rd) - the sever was Irish, not American.
Personally, I think the subject has been hammered about as flat as it's ever going to get...
Some fair points there. Mrs BC and I still live in the UK but family in Sarasota/Bradenton area so spend a lot of time here. Tipping is an uncomfortable experience for a lot of Brits but we got accustomed to it.This thread has a recurring theme - i.e. British people b
hing about the tip culture in the USA. It isn't a legal requirement. If the level of service does not warrant it, don't give it. If you are such a tight-fisted git that you refuse to recognize good service, then don't. If you are easily coerced into handing over a tip, despite your reluctance then more fool you. Where I live (Central Florida), Brit tourists have a bit of a reputation for being miserly, but is generally recognized as being more a cultural/environmental difference than out-and-out meanness. Generally, service is very good here. The only time I ever got into a spat with a server I chose not to tip (Orlando Alehouse on Kirkman Rd) - the sever was Irish, not American.
Personally, I think the subject has been hammered about as flat as it's ever going to get...
I started the thread as the introduction of a gratuity is new to me. I bet a lot of Americans will tip on top of the gratuity.
As a matter of interest do you tip where there’s no table service such as a Starbucks or self service hotel buffet breakfast where the server just brings coffee?
bad company said:
Some fair points there. Mrs BC and I still live in the UK but family in Sarasota/Bradenton area so spend a lot of time here. Tipping is an uncomfortable experience for a lot of Brits but we got accustomed to it.
I started the thread as the introduction of a gratuity is new to me. I bet a lot of Americans will tip on top of the gratuity.
As a matter of interest do you tip where there’s no table service such as a Starbucks or self service hotel buffet breakfast where the server just brings coffee?
it's interesting on cruises, you can pre-book/pre-pay the gratuities - the Americans seem to still tip on top of that I started the thread as the introduction of a gratuity is new to me. I bet a lot of Americans will tip on top of the gratuity.
As a matter of interest do you tip where there’s no table service such as a Starbucks or self service hotel buffet breakfast where the server just brings coffee?
Now in fairness I can see that if you get exceptional service then why not but the Americans seem to still tip regardless, which (to my mind) seems to render the whole pre-payment thing pointlesspsi310398 said:
... or the bill rendered as I’m still eating...
If given the choice between leaving the bill on the table as I'm finishing my plate, or finding the server nowhere to be seen when I am ready to leave and taking 10 minutes to flag someone down, then I'd take the former.bad company said:
...As a matter of interest do you tip where there’s no table service such as a Starbucks or self service hotel buffet breakfast where the server just brings coffee?
Tipping at Starbucks is an interesting one. It seems too similar to ordering at McDonalds or somewhere you'd not tip. But then it seems perfectly acceptable to tip a barman a dollar for just handing you a beer bottle from the fridge.At buffets where there is a drink service I just go with a dollar per drink, but it is tricky as often there's another team of busboys going round clearing plates so one of them is likely to grab any tip left on the table. (Perhaps they pool tips so it isn't an issue).
My favourite tipping etiquette situation is whether to tip casino dealers when you are losing.... I normally just go with a two-way hard-eight which seems to be appreciated.
bad company said:
As a matter of interest do you tip where there’s no table service such as a Starbucks or self service hotel buffet breakfast where the server just brings coffee?
Nope - and I don't know anyone that does.Your point regarding gratuity/tip is a good one to raise - for me it's one or t'other - not both. I would argue that is a sleight of hand - cynical money grab - and I'd be vocal about it.
Truckosaurus said:
psi310398 said:
... or the bill rendered as I’m still eating...
If given the choice between leaving the bill on the table as I'm finishing my plate, or finding the server nowhere to be seen when I am ready to leave and taking 10 minutes to flag someone down, then I'd take the former.Truckosaurus said:
gotoPzero said:
Am I reading that right.... $18.53 for a pint of IPA in FL?
It was 2 pints by the look of it (receipt suggest 7.50 base price). Although, of course, they seem to be allowed to use the term 'pint' to describe any sized drink between 16-22oz.The poor apparent value of food over there is mostly down to the weaker exchange rate of recent times.
I think they still have the edge on the lower end and fast food, just through larger portion sizes and more readily available free drink refills.
Their supermarket food also seems pricey compared to the UK.
Matt Harper said:
havoc said:
The one thing that struck me when I was there was that, in recreational spaces (this was in NV and CA) you'd typically encounter people very like us. Educated, eloquent, but typically more welcoming and engaging.
Some of them had rather right-wing political views, esp. one old-boy from Alabama who seemed to feel he had the right to tell me where the UK was going wrong, but he was very charming nonetheless. (His two sons seemed rather more balanced and were both decent people)
BUT...you go to a supermarket, or a fast-food joint, or somewhere equivalent, and even in CA it was like the stereotypical trailer park...people with barely 2 brain-cells to rub together and often a similar number of teeth. Your average Tesco's / McDonalds employee seems like a brain surgeon in comparison.
...which got me thinking - if CA is a state of two halves - the have's and have-not's, essentially - what the fk is the rest of the country like?!?
I haven't lived in the UK for a long time, but I don't recall people in supermarkets and fast food joints over there being educated, eloquent and typically welcoming and engaging. Quite the contrary, in most cases, if memory serves me.Some of them had rather right-wing political views, esp. one old-boy from Alabama who seemed to feel he had the right to tell me where the UK was going wrong, but he was very charming nonetheless. (His two sons seemed rather more balanced and were both decent people)
BUT...you go to a supermarket, or a fast-food joint, or somewhere equivalent, and even in CA it was like the stereotypical trailer park...people with barely 2 brain-cells to rub together and often a similar number of teeth. Your average Tesco's / McDonalds employee seems like a brain surgeon in comparison.
...which got me thinking - if CA is a state of two halves - the have's and have-not's, essentially - what the f
k is the rest of the country like?!?This thread has a recurring theme - i.e. British people b
hing about the tip culture in the USA. It isn't a legal requirement. If the level of service does not warrant it, don't give it. If you are such a tight-fisted git that you refuse to recognize good service, then don't. If you are easily coerced into handing over a tip, despite your reluctance then more fool you. Where I live (Central Florida), Brit tourists have a bit of a reputation for being miserly, but is generally recognized as being more a cultural/environmental difference than out-and-out meanness. Generally, service is very good here. The only time I ever got into a spat with a server I chose not to tip (Orlando Alehouse on Kirkman Rd) - the sever was Irish, not American.
Personally, I think the subject has been hammered about as flat as it's ever going to get...
QJumper said:
Off topic, but it reminds of during covid, where places would only take card payment because they didn't want to handle cash. No one seemed to have a problem with cash tips though.
Pub across the road went cashless during covid, and they've stuck with it. I don't tip a penny in there (we eat there often in the restaurant). If they will only let me pay on their terms then I'll pay on my terms too. Nothing extra.DodgyGeezer said:
WindyCommon said:
In parts of the US, tips are now being requested at some self-serve pumps in fuel stations, and some self-checkout tills in supermarkets…
hmmmm - seeing as you are the server does that mean you can tip yourself? 
I'll admit that the constant tipping in the US does bug me (pay your frickin' staff a decent wage to start with!) and the increasing prevalence over here grates even moreso. Apparently in Japan it's viewed as insulting to tip
Regarding costs in the US/Florida, food didn't seem (to us) to be a whole lot more expensive than when we last went 6 years ago with prices comparable to those in London/S.E. Shortly off to Vegas for a couple of days which'll be interesting from a tipping persfective...
They've got into a very bad habit post covid. What was previously common sense has gone silly.
p.s. re Japan - its like that in Thailand. I watch Russians handing a 50 baht note to the staff every time they bring them an 80 Baht drink to their sun lounger (very near the fridge), Its bloody stupid, the staff aren't going to say no of course but generally they see tipping as stupid - the idea of giving away money is daft to them - you look like a clown to them throwing money away. The craziest part is we are all already paying "farang" prices which is often 2x what Thais pay for things
phil-sti said:
Forida last year was $20 plus tip for 2 pints, I gave 2 dollars as a tip each time.
Where was that?My local bar offers a draft Amber Bock 16oz for $6.00 and 20oz for $7.00.
Bars in resorts, theme parks and tourist districts are naturally going to fleece their clientele.
Moral? Drink where locals drink.
Matt Harper said:
I haven't lived in the UK for a long time, but I don't recall people in supermarkets and fast food joints over there being educated, eloquent and typically welcoming and engaging. Quite the contrary, in most cases, if memory serves me.
This thread has a recurring theme - i.e. British people bhing about the tip culture in the USA. It isn't a legal requirement. If the level of service does not warrant it, don't give it. If you are such a tight-fisted git that you refuse to recognize good service, then don't. If you are easily coerced into handing over a tip, despite your reluctance then more fool you.
Where I live (Central Florida), Brit tourists have a bit of a reputation for being miserly, but is generally recognized as being more a cultural/environmental difference than out-and-out meanness. Generally, service is very good here. The only time I ever got into a spat with a server I chose not to tip (Orlando Alehouse on Kirkman Rd) - the sever was Irish, not American.
Personally, I think the subject has been hammered about as flat as it's ever going to get...
1) No they're not, and yet I consistently have better experiences in UK supermarkets than I did in Reno and in a few around CA. Meth-heads wandering around openly, serving staff who appear completely incapable of understanding English (and yes, I converted my words into American where required...I'm not an idiot and I'm not a 'Brits on tour' type of person) and who genuinely appear to be mouth-breathers. If it was just one experience I'd chalk it up. But it was nearly every one. And I wasn't in backwater places. This thread has a recurring theme - i.e. British people b
hing about the tip culture in the USA. It isn't a legal requirement. If the level of service does not warrant it, don't give it. If you are such a tight-fisted git that you refuse to recognize good service, then don't. If you are easily coerced into handing over a tip, despite your reluctance then more fool you. Where I live (Central Florida), Brit tourists have a bit of a reputation for being miserly, but is generally recognized as being more a cultural/environmental difference than out-and-out meanness. Generally, service is very good here. The only time I ever got into a spat with a server I chose not to tip (Orlando Alehouse on Kirkman Rd) - the sever was Irish, not American.
Personally, I think the subject has been hammered about as flat as it's ever going to get...
My point wasn't to bash the Americans, more to raise both eyebrows at how a country can have such warm, engaging intelligent people on one hand (genuinely far more welcoming than your average Brit), and utterly the opposite elsewhere (genuinely more scarily un-educated / impoverished than your typical inner-city Brit). It really did feel like they were heading towards Eloi and Morlocks
2) I tipped properly over there - 15-20%, every time, without fail. Because that's the culture, and so that's what you do...'when in Rome', I think the phrase is. I tip 10% in the UK as a matter of course unless there's a good reason to deviate up/down.
We joked, because it was true, that the hotel staff in Cancun spoke better English than the hotel staff in most of the USA.
One of the things I love about Japan is the no tip culture. And its nothing to do with wages either, most chain type places pay their staff a lot less than US equivalents. Its about if you do a job then you do that job exactly as prescribed and no one is under any illusions of grandeur because everyone does the same.
I remember being in a nice restaurant in LA a couple of years ago and got chatting to the server. He had moved to LA. In the conversation I asked him how he liked LA and he said it was great but everyone had a story and it caused a lot of issues. I totally get where he was coming from.
People are more concerned (and this goes for the UK too) about other things whilst doing their job. It seems to be the last 20 years or so people dont go to work to actually work they go to do the bear minimum whilst moaning about their kids, house, partner, health, holidays etc etc. This transfers onto the customers.
I digress...
One of the things I love about Japan is the no tip culture. And its nothing to do with wages either, most chain type places pay their staff a lot less than US equivalents. Its about if you do a job then you do that job exactly as prescribed and no one is under any illusions of grandeur because everyone does the same.
I remember being in a nice restaurant in LA a couple of years ago and got chatting to the server. He had moved to LA. In the conversation I asked him how he liked LA and he said it was great but everyone had a story and it caused a lot of issues. I totally get where he was coming from.
People are more concerned (and this goes for the UK too) about other things whilst doing their job. It seems to be the last 20 years or so people dont go to work to actually work they go to do the bear minimum whilst moaning about their kids, house, partner, health, holidays etc etc. This transfers onto the customers.
I digress...
Yep, when in Rome is my motto too. I may not appreciate it on top of what appear to be pretty high costs when compared to London, but it is what it is.
Just had 4 days in Vegas where 15-20% was generally suggested. Now in NYC and have seen a mix of suggested tips ranging from 15-25%
I've generally stuck to 20%.
Just had 4 days in Vegas where 15-20% was generally suggested. Now in NYC and have seen a mix of suggested tips ranging from 15-25%
I've generally stuck to 20%.
bad company said:
As a matter of interest do you tip where there’s no table service such as a Starbucks or self service hotel buffet breakfast where the server just brings coffee?
I don’t regularly tip at Starbucks - I just occasionally (like a few times a year) chuck a few bills into their tip jar. All the staff know me and my kids by name. They all know my drinks. No one has ever even batted an eyelid. It certainly isn’t expected.I have to say, it amazes me how worked up some Brits get about tipping in the US. Why give it a second thought? If you want to tip then tip. If not then don’t.
Speed1283 said:
Yep, when in Rome is my motto too. I may not appreciate it on top of what appear to be pretty high costs when compared to London, but it is what it is.
Just had 4 days in Vegas where 15-20% was generally suggested. Now in NYC and have seen a mix of suggested tips ranging from 15-25%
I've generally stuck to 20%.
The key word is suggested Just had 4 days in Vegas where 15-20% was generally suggested. Now in NYC and have seen a mix of suggested tips ranging from 15-25%
I've generally stuck to 20%.
And the suggestion is being made buy the business owner as that's the options they want to show you as it's the ones they show your more likely to pay as it's easier to work out
I found this news report fairly interesting on it as an American look at america
https://youtu.be/q_fMkXHYh6c?feature=shared
Trustmeimadoctor said:
The key word is suggested
And the suggestion is being made buy the business owner as that's the options they want to show you as it's the ones they show your more likely to pay as it's easier to work out
I found this news report fairly interesting on it as an American look at america
https://youtu.be/q_fMkXHYh6c?feature=shared
I have a complementary suggestion for the generic business owner. Try paying your staff a decent day’s pay for their work! After all, they are your employees …And the suggestion is being made buy the business owner as that's the options they want to show you as it's the ones they show your more likely to pay as it's easier to work out
I found this news report fairly interesting on it as an American look at america
https://youtu.be/q_fMkXHYh6c?feature=shared
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