When I was in college, I spent a semester abroad. Prior to my departure for the UK, I spent hours pouring over travel guides, studying slang, and soaking up knowledge about the foreign land I was going to visit. When it comes to dining out in foreign countries, violating a particular custom can be embarrassing for you and insulting for the staff.
I couldn't imagine going to a foreign country and not boning up on local customs and traditions, but its clear that the majority of foreign travelers visiting the US don't. I can't imagine that they do. Heck, I've lived close to the Canadian border and was appalled at how the border crossing Canucks showed a complete lack of respect for their servers by constantly tipping below the US standard. So with all my personal experience, it it has lead me to this conclusion. Either most foreigners can't/don't research their travel location, or they just feel they are above US custom. And in either case, if you're not willing to embrace our ways while your here, then stay the hell home.
I decided it was time to do some research of my own and fired up my web browser to discover that US Today has a handy dandy article that snap shots tipping percentages around the world. You can check out the full article at http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/world/2007-09-10-tipchart_N.htm. Here's what I found.
Okay, I need to digress for a moment. Maroon 5 just came on the radio and I don't care that Adam Levine sounds like Jewish boyish hitting puberty, that boy is fine. He can corner me in the employee bathroom anytime.
ANYWAY! Okay. Listen here. The United States takes the cake at the highest percentage on the planet, with a standard 15% to 20% considered customary. But here is what was more shocking. I had been told by a few Canadian servers that 15% was the standard but I just couldn't believe it. But according to US Today, it is. So what gives? Apparently, our neighbors to the north don't even follow their own rules in their own country. I guess South Park was right, Canada sucks. So quit coming into our country, buying alcohol, clothes and home furnishing as a super low price and then tipping our hard working servers for shit. You're welcome.
The Europeans are just as bad. Now, it appears that standard in most European countries is 10% when no service charge is included. And let me tell you something...based on my time in Europe, service over there sucks. Once the food is dropped you're lucky if you see your server again. Perhaps they are too busy outside chain smoking and bitching about our government policies. But I once sat at an Italian restaurant in the Soho district of London for twenty minutes not touching my entree. When my server finally came back to drop of the checks, she handed me a box and commented on how I didn't touch my meal. I retorted back, " kind of hard to eat spaghetti without a fork." When I spoke to a manager about the issue and that I didn't feel I should pay the service charge because the server never returned, I was told I should have noticed I had no silverware before my meal was served. Seriously?
Europeans are always commenting on the quality of service in the US, but don't tip for it. It's even worse as a bartender. In the UK, you buy your bartender a drink for excellent service. Most bartenders just pocket the dough, but that's hard to do in The States. Most bars, especially corporate restaurants, don't allow their staff to drink on the clock. So, you hussle to make ten drinks while other tipping customers are waiting and you don't even get the jingle left on the bar top. Not worth it!
I was shocked but not surprised when I read that tipping in most Asian countries is non-existent. I worked at a sports bar that saw a large Asian clientele from the student based housing community nearby and those math and science based freaks never tipped. I know they can do the math. And most of them paid on credit. And what revs me up even more is that there is a line between the subtotal and total that says TIP. Do you think that is there by mistake? Do I not tip you when I go to your nail salon while you try to up charge me for every service by telling me its "only five dollar more"? Jesus, "Tammy" I came in for a $15 fill, and somehow I'm leaving at a cost of $50 plus tip.
The same goes for our visitors from India. I worked at a chain restaurant near one of the seven natural wonders of the world and the summers were dominated by Indians visitors. So much so, I often wondered who was answering the phones at the call centers over there. The restaurant had a policy of adding gratuity for parties of 6 or more, and it was a sigh of relief when you counted more than 5 at the table. How can you go out to eat, see a line that says tip, and not think to yourself, "maybe there's a reason for that"?
Maybe it's like that scene in the movie Waiting...! They all know they're supposed to tip, but screw us. We're Americans. We live in the lap of luxury, in a land where endless possibility is available to everyone. That is unless of course your job has been outsourced to a foreign country that offers 6 weeks paid vacation where it's employees take multiple holidays each year and
visit foreign countries and don't tip the wait staff.
If you can't take the 2 minutes it takes to open a web browser to learn about the customs of this great country, stay in your country. I don't care how you do it in India, China, England or Germany. You're in America now bitches. Recognize!
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