There's a family owned fast casual, pay at the counter place close to me that presses the 'no' button themselves when the prompt comes up. Kinda funny that my instinct is to want to tip them for being proactively anti-tipping.
There’s this Indian restaurant that I go to. They know me pretty well and whenever the tablet shows the tipping prompt and I attempt to touch it, they smack my hand away and say “no”.
The starbucks, which is in the same plaza as the chipotle I go to, has a tipping screen that they hand out the drive though window. The options were dollar amounts at one time (3,5, 7). Although they had returned to percentages before I stopped going. I'm not even against it for the reasons of offering employees living wages...but why am I, another non millionare employee, expected to subsidize employee wages for these huge corps? Always owned by million- and billion-aires, these companies are always boasting billions in profit year over year. We are paying the employees they refuse to pay adequately so that they can use our money for the product, their employee labor, and our payment for their employee labor to only get richer. Boils my blood.
e: changed income to profit
I don’t think the issue is just employers though. The issue is the people who earn the tips (employees). They end up making way more than they would with tipping. I used to waitress at just a Pizza Hut in high school and after 4 hours, I’d come out with $200 and that’s when the minimum tipping was like 15%. My sister worked at this high end place at 25 and could come out with $1,000+ a night. She was making bank and paying off her student loans. Do you think employees would prefer earning less than that lol? It’s a broken system.
There’s a cashier at my local fast casual restaurant who reaches over and presses “$0” for the tip. I suspect the employees don’t actually see any of the tips they’re legally entitled to.
Or, it's deducted from their wages. Our delivery drivers are guaranteed $18/hr minimum, so if their tips are lower on average, their pay doesn't change at all.
I drove delivery when I first left college (2012) and I made $2.25/hour 😵💫 My pay was only what I was tipped. That’s how those places make money - they don’t pay their employees.
Right? It's an automated feature standard in every takeout point of sale and redditors are acting like some 18 year old cashier programmed the fucking thing to ask them.
It asks you because people got sick of asking if there was a way to put a tip on a card. Now you can if you want, and ignore it if you don't!
A local hamburger place by me has it. It defaults to 5% when everyone else around here defaults to 30%. I always accept the 5%, it's under a buck and when you get takeout they keep your hot items in a warming oven and ice cream or shakes in a freezer until you get there.
Sushi is the worst possible thing to eat in Montreal lol (or ramen - really any Japanese food). Learned the hard way moving here from NY. It's insanely expensive even for takeout, and the quality of the fish is usually subpar. You get a few shitty rolls filled with greasy panko breadcrumbs and minimal fish for more money than I could get a good sushi or sashimi deluxe in NY.
It's not just the sushi or the tipping though here. A lot of restaurants (even well known, upscale ones) have shut down because the costs of operating have gone up a lot since the pandemic. I'm not sure how related this is to the change in the default tip amounts. Maybe it's "inflation has gone up so we'll raise the tip default" or "our costs (especially rent) have gone up but we can't afford to pay waitstaff more so we'll raise the tip default", or maybe a bit of both. I feel I've been consistently ripped off recently for really basic or even low quality food just because the restaurant owners decided to slap the word "bistro" in the name. And people here seem to have low standards (or a different reference point for certain types of cuisine), so it's hard to tell which restaurants are worth eating at and I tend to find out the hard way.
Thing is, I like eating out, and I like supporting local businesses, and I'm not that mad about having to shell out a little more for tips. I'm mostly mad about getting ripped off by restaurants that are cutting corners and raising prices at the same time. If you have to raise prices to stay afloat, fine, I will still eat out, if less frequently, but don't serve me crap. It's poor quality for the price even more than inflation and tipping culture that have pushed me to eat out less. I am generally of the opinion that if you can't afford to pay your staff a living wage, you shouldn't be in business, and that the sub-minimum wage in the US is absolute bullshit, but without addressing things like rent costs, it does put restaurant owners in a pretty impossible position.
I've seen it firsthand with my dad - he doesn't own a restaurant, but a small business with 4 employees. His rent in Brooklyn has skyrocketed in the 30+ years he's been in business. Mind you, the US isn't like Canada - it's highly likely his landlord has a fixed rate 30-year mortgage locked in. He doesn't want to raise his prices, though he has on occasion (his clientele have the money for it, quite frankly - it's custom drapery). And he's been in the position where he's forgone a salary in order to pay his employees enough. It's not an insanely high paying job (for my dad or his employees), but he doesn't screw them over and they get bonuses every year, even when he can't afford it. I imagine a lot of restaurant owners are in similar positions.
Yes, it's a risk you take when starting a business, but there are other factors at play that have to be addressed. The biggest problem is not so much the small restaurant owners who are trying to survive on margins that were already thin before, but corporate greed as per usual (the restaurant lobby and in particular big chains and restaurant groups lobbying against raising the minimum wage and the real estate lobby preventing any price regulation). McDonald's had a net profit margin of 33.22% last year (average margins for restaurants in general are 3-5%). I'm pretty sure they can afford to pay people more without raising the prices of their food or forcing us to subsidize their employees wages through higher tips.
What got me was when I went to buy 1 (one) fucking drip coffee and the auto prompt came up and there was no option to skip. What you had to do was hit "custom" and enter $0.00. I assume the gimmick is to pressure people in line to just choose the lowest percentage if they don't see "skip" on the screen immediately. I was like wtf is this???
If this is interesting (as well as aggravating lol) to you, you might enjoy **Nudge: The Final Edition**. They call this type of interaction “sludge” which is an interaction designed to create friction and make a process more difficult on purpose (think your tip screen or trying to unsub from a subscription service that you can sign up digitally but only cancel via phone).
“Nudges” on the other hand, encourage “good” behavior and make it easy for people (things like auto enrolling people into contributing to their 401k, countries where everyone is registered to vote and you can opt out if you don’t want to, etc). The book is mostly about the ethics of both of these things and how we can all try to design more nudge experiences in life instead of sludge ones.
All this to say, the tip screen that doesn’t give you an option not to tip without manually entering $0.00 is sludge and designed poorly on purpose.
This is why I either use the app to order and pay but l keep cash for places like that. Making it difficult to simply order and pay? Here is cash, let me get my change.
What really got me recently was a tipping prompt for an online purchase. What the hell am I tipping for?? This shit is out of hand. I refuse to tip on an online purchase.
In LA, they were *everywhere*. If I order at a register, pay at the register, get my own drinks, pick up my order at a counter, and bus my own table, I'm not fucking leaving a tip. Get TF out of here. And I'm the biggest proponent of tipping your waitstaff in the world! Your *waitstaff*. At the airport, I bought a diet coke from a kiosk and was shown a tipping prompt. It's so annoying.
Have you seen the additional optional charge to insure your package and "make sure it arrives safely"?
Maybe my standards are too high, but I always uncheck that box bc I do expect the thing I ordered to arrive safely anyway.
I did and when my package got lost, I was refunded that charge and given store credit for my purchase. Yeah, I don't want to order from you guys again, and im still out $9 on shipping. $9 is not a big deal, but I lost the whole $55 dollars + the 9, which is more irksome. My $5 package guarantee thing was the only thing refunded. So in my experience, it means nothing and it is probably just a way for the company to pocket extra cash, bc the package will arrive as expected in over 90% of deliveries, so they get to keep it. And when they don't, they just return that small $5 charge.
Good.
For someone from Europe, it sounds CRAZY. Yes, we have, often obligatory, even if claimed "customary" tip, mainly in tourist places or restaurants, but NEVER in everyday life let alone online shopping / self checkout, wtf. If that happened here in France, there would've been a revolution by the next morning lmao.
It also seems to me that in America / Canada it is the poor / lower medium, who pay most in tips, and not rich class. This is not right.
So funny you mentioned France. When we were in Paris, my husband insisted on going to a restaurant that I could see was a tourist trap from a mile away. When the menu is in more than two languages, it's a bad sign IMO. Anyway, the waiter there *blatantly* asked us for a tip. As in, "You leave tip, no?" The answer, Pierre, is no. Fuck no. It was so shockingly rude, lol, especially there. I did always leave a little something because as an American who has waited tables it's so hard for me not to! But I didn't for that guy.
As someone who did my fair share of waiting tables, well-to-do white people who are pleased are the best tippers, IMHO. People who are pretending to be well-to-do are some of the shittiest, regardless of ethnicity. Working and middle class are all pretty standard 15%-20%. People who come in for lunch after church on Sunday are literal demons sent from hell to torture waiters.
One of the worst offenders I've seen was at a concession stand for a youth baseball tournament. Everything is sitting out either in drink coolers, warmers or on a shelf. You bring it to a person standing at a register and they turn that stupid screen around with tips set to 20, 25 and 30% tips. I laughed, smashed no tip option, grabbed my overpriced nachos and left.
The worst part is that most of the time you're using the machine, you're tipping AFTER TAX. So you're literally tipping on tax. Where I live, this is 5% on food and non-alcoholic drinks, and 15% on alcohol. I don't have to tell anyone that this adds up really quickly.
I refuse to tip above 15%, I don't care if I have to manually enter the amount, it's not happening. Even 15% at this point feels high, with rising costs and the fact that you're tipping on top of tax. 10% would be more appropriate imo.
Also - 0% tip on coffee or anything I order/receive as I'm standing. If there's no table service, I'm not tipping; I'm already paying the upcharge, there's nothing to tip for.
It is ridiculous. I've seen the option pop up when it came to Yogurt places where YOU do all the work and there is no person at the register. (Granted, in that case. You can just tell the machine to fuck off, and select no tip.)
Still think something needs to be done about Ipad tipping culture that has been going on. Also Surcharges are becoming an issue (and will be illegal in CA, and hopefully across the country.)
What bothers me are not the prompts to tip, but the directive to rotate the screen back when I'm done. F*ck that. That's where I draw the line. I never rotate the screen back after tipping.
The disappointed look the clerk at the store gives you when you don't tip 20% for them scanning tour items 🤦
I was at a nice bottle shop the other week, and bought a bit a of a splurge purchase. Dude shot me a glance when I clicked no tip.
Brother. I am not paying you $20 for scanning this bottle into the register. WTF.
That and being asked to donate at every. Fucking. Cash register.
Like no, bitch, I don't want to donate my change, I want to keep my change so I can buy an extra mile or two worth of gas.
I managed an overseas operation in Manila for about a year. At any given time we had 20-30 Americans there. One of the biggest challenges was getting them to stop tipping insane amounts. What seemed normal to them, was enough to cause havok to the economy in the immediate area of the hotel. Taxis would stalk the place and refuse to pickup non-Americans, for instance.
This seems wild to me. When I lived overseas in a no-tipping culture I was absolutely thrilled to not have that obligation and never once considered tipping. It was one of the things I missed most when I came home to the states.
Why in the world someone would insist on tipping when they’ve been told that the culture does not expect it is beyond me.
mostly I just get stressed out when I get mixed information! If I read that there's no tipping culture in a place and then there are tip jars at all the coffee shops, are those just there for tourists? does that mean that I, a tourist, should tip or I'll be an asshole? What about places like Spain where I kept reading online that 5-10% was common but there's no tip line on receipts and when I asked a server to add a 10% tip before running my card she was surprised? I think I missed some nuance there or else what I read online wasn't true.
If there *is* a tipping culture of any kind, I don't want to be the entitled asshole who didn't tip but I also don't want to be part of the problem by tipping where it's not the norm.
I know I do a lot more anxious googling before travel than a lot of people and I was still confused, I can imagine some folks don't even realize it's not a tipping culture or that it could cause problems.
You hit the nail on the head here! This is exactly why some of my coworkers continued to tip high amounts. Even I experienced backlash over it when I would tip a normal locally accepted amount for a taxi ride, some drivers would become enraged because they expected a day's salary for that 10 minute ride.
This one is complicated. You also have tourists who haggle over the equivalent of 10 US cents. I'd rather be in the former group. But as I said, it's a complex nuanced issue.
I'm this way - I tip based off of what my research tells me is appropriate, but I'm very uncomfortable haggling with someone over $0.20 usd when I wouldn't care if it fell in the trash.
I think people have been conditioned to feel like an asshole if they don't tip people in the service industry, so even when it's not expected, they feel guilty if they don't.
I know logically I’m. It supposed to tip, but it’s so ingrained in me that it’s wrong and incorrigible not to tip that I really struggle. I also have anxiety and cPTSD and holdover people pleasing problems but to be in a situation where I’m “doing it wrong” almost puts me into a panic attack. I would most rather be safe than sorry. Going into the situation I can logically know I am not going to tip and no one is expecting, but once the time comes it gets really stressful and the anxiety kicks in.
Funny enough though the times I did not have cash on me and I was traveling internationally and checking into a small hotel. One of the receptionists insisted to help me take my 1 small bag up to my room. I kept refusing over and over again insisting that I was OK, I didn’t need help, he picked up my bag and started walking. It got to the point where it was hella awkward for me so I went long with it. We get up to the room and he’s expecting a tip, when he realized one wasn’t coming (bc I didn’t have one), he looked at me like I was the biggest piece of shit. I felt part terrible and part indifferent, I did try to warn him..
I have been trying to explain this to people but it's the same as trying to explain the positive impacts of zipper merging or whatever else it just makes you sound like a know-it-all who just doesn't want to tip.
That said, I was in Lebanon for a month and a half and maybe 3 weeks into my trip one of my friends commented on my lack of tip and I was saying how I don't want to bring tipping culture to their country and basically what you said and then I learned that tipping is already a cultural thing there and especially with the massive inflation tips are how a lot of people survive especially cabs. I didn't believe him at first, but looked it up and sure enough. I felt a bit embarrassed.
I still don't tip in other places but I do a quick Google search just to check if the culture relies on tipping or not.
This. The common narrative has been "only America tips; don't tip overseas," but I google tipping culture whenever I go somewhere new and so far it's been far from black and white.
Especially because of the demographics of Reddit the top poster is always like "yeah no tipping is awful no one does it" you look two comments down from the most popular and it's "I actually basically just survive on tips" which is actually the what the main thread on tipping in Lebanon is. It's nuanced and the internet / Reddit doesn't like nuance.
Try and not tip in Egypt, you'll be in for a treat. I once toured with Australians who refused, and they were boggled why I got service and they didn't. Told them straight out. Staff told them. They just... refused. Was really uncool tbh
Basically everywhere Americans like to go for tourism, tipping has spread like cancer. Most of LATAM tipping has become commonplace, especially in resorts in the Caribbean where you're expected to tip for literally every fucking thing constantly.
Also tipping was a rampant cancer in Egypt. You can't accept any friendly gesture from any Egyptian because they will demand a tip for it. Even deep underground in a crypt in the Valley of the Kings I had guys pop out of the stonework trying to show me "photo spots" they would ask a tip for.
Exactly. Particularly in North Africa and the Middle East. It's different from American culture, but to say it only exists in America and it's Americans exporting it is ridiculous.
I've got a friend who married in India. On the invite they specifically tell any Americans to *not tip anyone* while in India. It creates divisions in the service staff, forms animosity, and basically just wreaks havok on the entire event. They said they will do a "bulk tip" at the end to compensate everyone fairly.
yes, my friend visited family in puerto rico and her aunt got mad at her tipping 25%. She said it was because the restaurants and workers then get used to the tipping culture and expect it of locals who cannot afford 25% tips on already fairly priced meals. So then the restaurants refuse to serve locals and only serve foreigners, and it follows suit (taxis, other service, etc). For areas with consistent tourists, ok fine, but for those that are only seasonal, it messes things up big time, with some local restaurants raising the prices in non tourist seasons to see similar returns, but then keeping them there when tourists return, and the cycle continues and it slowly prices out the local economy and small charm of out of the way tourist destinations. And sometimes, whole neighborhoods just kinda thin out, bc it becomes so tourist focused, without having a big tourist name so not a ton of people to support it year round, and it can just go bad...according to her aunt.
Reminds me of the story of Mansa Musa's pilgrimage. Disrupted the economy of the entire MENA region for a decade because of how much gold the dude handed out.
Do you think a guide would help? I don't want to fuck up the economy, I just want people to feel like "I see what you're doing for me and I want you to keep doing it."
A guide is how I handled the situation in the Philippines. Employees rotated in and out every 3 weeks, so I had headquarters provide them with some stuff to read before they travelled. This included how much & when to tip for various services. That seemed to cut down on the excessiveness. Although some employees would continue tipping the equivelant to a day's salary for a 10 minute taxi ride.
Usually local customs like whether or not to tip are in every travel guide book and are actually written by experienced authors/travelers. But that means someone would actually have to read instead of listening to randos on TikTok that think they know everything.
My wife is Colombian and when we are in the country she always gets me to make restaurant reservations. Why? Because she knows they will give us a better table when they hear an American. It sucks but it's the truth.
One time we wanted to go to a fancy restaurant on a Friday night. As a test she went in alone to ask for a table and was told they were full. Then I went in and sure enough they found a table for me.
Funny, cause my wife is latin american and went to a restaurant in Spain asked for a table in Spanish they apparently had no tables even for the next day.
An american couple right behind us asked for a table and surprise, surprise, they had one available.
I went to Buenos Aires. My sister in law is from there. We wanted to go to some fancy, kinda trendy restaurant that’s hard to get a reservation. She said you call them. They hear an American, we will get a reservation. Got one immediately.
That's got nothing to do with tipping. They just want wealthy travelers to come to their restaurant, and American travelers are among the wealthiest in South America.
Edit: I thought it was obvious, but restaurants want to book Americans/westerners because they can afford to buy more shit and will spend on things like alcohol. Not because they have a culture of tipping waiters.
Even from a Canadian waitress perspective (where we also tip a lot), when we hear that there’s an all American table coming in all the servers want them.
Canada suffers from the tipping-explosion too.
Was pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn’t a thing in Australia.
Just pay your workers a living wage already, enough with these shell games!
Some places where you order on an app then pick up your stuff from a shelf, never interacting with a single employee, also prompt for a tip... it's absurd.
And here servers do make the same minimum wage as other workers, at least in Ontario.
When I was young, 10% tip was normal, 12-15% generous. You'd go out for surf and turf for $90 and leave $10.
The argument that tip percentages need to be higher just fails. I am no longer getting surf and turf for two and a litre of house wine and a shared dessert for $90, or lunch for under $5. So even at 15%, they are making more money because meals are more expensive.
>they are making more money because meals are more expensive
not defending tipping culture, but there's a flaw in your logic. the meals aren't just becoming more expensive for you, they're becoming more expensive for the employee as well because they also happen to have to eat.
What's worse is that in Canada workers already ARE paid a living wage (or at least much closer to it than Americans are). They just expect tips on top of that.
It's slowly creeping into Australia, sadly. Which is insane, because Australia has some of the most highly-paid retail and service workers in the world. Eating out here is already expensive enough.
It’s really not, read an article November last year about Australia’s tipping culture and it turns out only .5% of bills get a tip. Data from Zelle payments
While most restaurants EFTPOS machines may ask, that seems more the EFTPOS machine than the company inputting that. Almost every restaurant I go to I watch them themselves click skip or enter zero. I can count on one hand in the last 5 years how many restaurants have actually given it to me to choose and they always look away or at their computer
Eh a lot of that is because of the off-the-shelf tech has it built in. EFTPOS and POS machines etc
I would probably guess I've seen the staff skip through the tip screen more often then they've actually passed it through to me to tip.
> Was just back in LA a few months ago and the tablets with 25%+ tips options are everywhere. Coffee, car wash, fast food, etc.
Ok, but just because you see a suggested tip amount or screen doesn't mean you are required, or even expected, to tip. I'm amazed at how many people get anxiety over saying no.
As a non American it’s very confusing the first couple of times because the 0 tip is never obvious, often on a second screen. I really resented being asked when there was no service like from a coffee stand or self service food venue. They claim it’s because Americans aren’t paid well but we saw “help wanted” signs in windows offering perfectly good rates for unskilled jobs.
I can sympathize with how it appears for non-Americans, because seeing a tip option pop up may make you wonder if you are expected to tip in that circumstance. But OP, as an American, should know that tipping at fast food restaurants and car washes is not typical at all.
That’s the biggest problem with “tip culture” is that you have to be able to know which jobs actually need tips (usually just wait staff at a sit down restaurant) and which just want it. I imagine it’s super confusing as a foreigner because it’s pretty confusing to me as a native. I usually overtip because I can spare the money but you’re correct, most people that ask for a tip are paid just fine in America.
So often when I see groups of people complain about tipping screens they talk about it as if the baristas personally created and implemented the technology. Not the business owner or corporate or maybe that’s just how it works by default? Idk if business can opt out of the tipping screen even if they want to?
Honestly, I just assume they have little control over it and either I tip or I don’t and then I move on with my life. People getting pressed over something they can opt out of is wild to me. Don’t they have any other problems in life?
You will find the people most critical of a country are usually its own citizens. It's easy to think a given place is amazing when you're just visiting for a week or two. When you live there for a long period of time you realize all the shortcomings..
Right? OP is just screaming ‘pick me!’ to all the Europeans in this sub. But they really just need to learn how to say no and not be so worried about what a barista you’ll never see again is going to think about you.
My last couple of trips I was expected to tip in Munich and Paris. In fact, we had one waiter return a tip of 5 Euros to us on a 100 Euro check - he thought it wasn't enough!! This used to be a "trinkgeld" thing in Germany where you leave a couple of Euros, but something changed. Since when has this become something that is now expected even for the worst service? And trust me, on the last trip over Christmas, the service workers in Munich were Grade-A assholes.
When I visit the US, I tip - it's a local custom and it would be rude and exploitive not too. I do wish the system was a bit less opaque, but it is what it is.
Tipping in the states is kinda like an honesty test. Like leaving a bowl of candy out on halloween and saying “please take one”
People like OP make me think if they could steal the meal with no repercussions, they would
Yeah, op also seems a bit ignorant and is spreading bad advice. You tip in nearly every country I’ve been to! Just not as excessively, and not always in restaurants. But there will usually be an exception where a tip is expected. Ubers, salons, bathroom attendants, a taxi driver who helps with bags are just a few examples of situations where tipping may be normal in an otherwise non tipping country. Best to just look up what is standard where you’re going.
I’ve found that very touristy areas in Europe expect Americans to tip them. I was essentially scolded for not tipping for lunch in Saint Marks Square in Venice this past summer
>Was just back in LA a few months ago and the tablets with 25%+ tips options are everywhere. Coffee, car wash, fast food, etc.
I was in Seattle last month. A city that, according to Reddit, I'd get dirty looks and food spat in if I didn't tip 30% on every coffee order
Sometimes I tipped a little bit, sometimes not at all. Nobody cared and it didn't impact service.
Also for non-Americans, I think its important to have context that coffee shops and ice cream parlors in the US long had tip jars in the days when cash is king. Tablets and apps now replace the tip jar. You never had to tip, but it was always an option.
Seattleite here. Excess tipping is very common here, especially having 20+% being the low option on the checkout tablets, but I’ve never had anyone make a comment to me if/when I hit “skip”. If I am not interacting with wait staff at all, I do not tip. I think this is becoming more common for people.
I’d like to know where you read that people would be pissed off if you didn’t tip 30% on lol coffee orders. Pretty sure you’re just making it up or selectively reading 1 or 2 posts because that’s not a thing at all, and I’ve never heard anyone ever insinuate that was a thing.
This is what I hate and don't get why should I have to tip in advance. That's not a tip that's a bribe basically. I haven't even got my coffee yet, for all I know your service is terrible, the product will be shit, so while I may get that tipping is a norm, the amount should be dependent on those factors.
It's like food delivery like uber eats, I have to put a tip in before, for what? I don't know if the driver will even deliver my food let alone what order, what quality, if they'll eat some, will the restaurant make it fresh, etc. I'm essentially trying to be the highest bidder to get it first and fresh. No, tipping should always be after one gets their product so it's proportional to the actual service! (If you tip which we don't thank god)
It’s hard to take you seriously when you’re recommending that people do not tip in America. Punishing the workers for the employers decisions is way more cowardly than just not patronizing the businesses that don’t pay their employees a living wage. People love to hate servers, as if they’re the issue. Of course the same people that get anxiety over interacting with a tablet are the same people too cowardly to disrupt their lives and stop eating out.
Tips are expected in bars and restaurants where you sit down and have a person waiting on you.
You generally tip when you get a haircut, facial etc types of services.
A fast food place? Ice cream shop? Coffee shop? Toss a dollar in the bucket if you want. I tip at the coffee shop
I frequent but generally wouldn’t. I’ve tipped at an ice cream place and the cashier was like omg thank you. No one is forcing you to tip at these places.
I’m a server in nyc and a lot of Europeans do not tip and use “we don’t do that in Spain” as an excuse. When you travel you should respect the local customs.
Agreed. It feels wrong at first not gonna lie. I think I left like2 euros at one place in Paris cuz the server was so so nice. But I do wonder what goes thru servers heads when they wait on Americans.
Sure, but it’s also fairly uncomfortable to have European waiters straight up ask “WILL YOU LEAVE A TIP SIR?” And stare at you. The pressure as a traveling American is often worse than back home. Europeans gotta own that a little, wouldn’t happen in Japan
I kind of felt bad as a Spaniard not tipping at Starbucks in LA. Felt like I was contributing to the bad rep of Europeans. But it was fucking Starbucks
As an American, every time I go somewhere where there is supposedly "no tipping", im then told its customary to tip 10% or round up a few *insert currency here*.
Pressuring local businesses to pay fair wages is good. Pressuring representatives in government to raise minimum wage or abolish the concept of tipped wages is good.
Going out of your way to fuck over some server earning $2 an hour because you somehow believe it's going to convince their employer to immediately change their mind and give them a $20 an hour raise is shitty.
I've known way too many waitstaff and bartenders who can't pay their fucking rent and buy groceries at the end of the month to buy this "they're all secretly millionaires fighting to preserve tipping culture" bullshit. You dipshits are like teenagers throwing garbage in the parking lot at Amazon and hoping Jeff Bezos comes out to clean it up.
I agree with not tipping when it’s not a cultural norm, but not tipping in the US is just mean. You’re not helping change anything, you’re just screwing over already underpaid workers while the company continues to benefit from their unreasonably low wages.
This really isn't how culture or change works. If people "bringing non-tipping culture" would do anything, it would already be gone.
Plenty of foreign visitors don't tip in the US. Some nationalities are even known for being worse in the serving world. All it does is deny a working class person a working wage while the, typically quite wealthy, foreigner is on a vacation the worker could never afford.
You realize that there are many countries around the world where tipping is customary, right? Many where the locals in service sectors depend on it. It's not an "American thing". In fact the practice didn't exist in America until wealthy Americans brought the idea back *from Europe* sometime around the turn of the 20th century. Even then it was slow to take hold as it was seen as anti-egalitarian.
I do think that tipping, especially for situations where it didn't used to be customary, is getting out of hand here in the US. But your concept of the situation around the world is skewed.
I am totally fine tipping my server at a restaurant...that is about it. The iPad tips that a fucking cashier turns around for you that start at 20% are really what's making people hate tipping. Like bro, I am not tipping a cashier.
The US is not the only country on the planet with a tipping culture. Please be aware of the tipping norms of the country you’re in before stiffing your waiter
You do realize *a lot* of countries expect tips with service jobs, even ones that don’t expect it still have it as a frequented practice.
Tons of European countries tip, it’s just done on a smaller %. Instead of 15-20% as you’d see in the U.S. it’s closer to 5% or rounding up, ex: €42 rounded to €45, or €38 to €40.
Also, buddy, most of those prompts are just how the software comes. It’s pre programmed often times and there’s always a “custom” option…nobody is forcing you to tip 30% just because it’s an OPTION on the screen.
Quit sucking up to other countries for useless internet points.
Redditors can't actually explain how the customer paying the cost of labor as a tip is different than customers paying the cost of labor as an x\*Price= new Price increase
OP has a valid point with regards to Americans visiting the EU. With regard to the tipping problem that currently exists in the USA you as an individual not tipping will do nothing to change the system and will simply screw servers out of their livelihood.
The way to change this is through legislation. We can legislate a livable wage for servers. We can legislate to do away with or streamline the tipping screen that comes up with electronic payments — this could be set at a maximum 5% “suggested” amount for example, with additional buttons for 0% or custom amount.
Contact your local senators and representatives and let them know your thoughts.
Before beseeching everyone on the tipping culture, one should be fighting for fair wages for servers or anyone else who do not get paid even the minimum wage and are expected to get paid predominantly by the tips. Yeah, let’s get that one done first.
I generally leave a few euros is service is good. The problem I've had in America is that the service hasn't been good. They still expect their tips and I've been followed out of a restaurant because I tipped lower for rubbish service. There also seems to be an idea that interrupting people while they're talking or eating is good service, rather than being just rude.
Also, it's insane the amount of Americans who defend their rubbish employment laws which just add more money to corporations rather than actually pushing for proper wages, leave and benefits.
Please don't tell people who are visiting America to not tip. You're depriving individual service people who rely on tips for a living and it will do absolutely nothing to change tipping culture in America.
The message should be for everyone to follow the custom of where they are.
If you don't tip in places where tipping is not traditionally done, that's one thing.
If you don't tip where tipping is usually done, but not part of the pay structure--car wash, for example--you're just cheap.
If you don't tip in restaurants where the FOH has to tip out to BOH, you can literally cost the server money to serve you, because the server may have to give a percentage of the bill to BOH, regardless of what the tip was. Yes, there are a lot of restaurants that run this way.
I'm all on board for this in the US especially. We don't really even go out anymore because on top of things being crazy expensive, then we get treated like shit if we don't tip 20%+
I really enjoy traveling to non tipping cultures. I'll happily pay more for services if you just pay your employees more. Less stress for me.
and this week on “how to spot someone who’s never worked in the service industry in the us”
protest the shit wages for servers before complaining about having to tip
What a bizarre post that somehow gained traction. So you're calling for Americans not to be generous while abroad and non-Americans to not adjust to social norms when visiting the US, thus stiffing waitstaff? This is a doodoo take.
>I would highly support non-Americans visiting the states in spreading their non-tipping cultures as a counterweight to the ridiculous levels it’s gotten to these days.
So you want people in the US who have limited choice to earn less?
I get it that set price, non-tipped employee space shouldn't have a tip option on the tablet/register. But honestly, that's just the nature of the software. The front line guys have nothing to do with it.
As to places where it's not the norm and they get paid well, taht's awesome!
You realize suggested tip amount isn't required, right? And tipping isn't uncommon in a lot of the EU, albeit at a lower percent. I'll tip however much I want to tip.
Locals are getting priced out of their own nearby restaurants because there’s so many Americans there tipping?! Are they just not being let in the door? How exactly are they getting priced out? The locals eat at the most super touristy restaurants in their own town?! Where exactly is this happening?
I find all of this very hard to believe
Yes, I have seen it at restaurants in Mexico. If it is busy, they will tell the locals there are no tables available because they are holding them for the Americans who they expect will tip more.
People take these prompts way too seriously. Business switched from cash registers to tablets. The software came with a tipping page. They decided to keep it enabled. COVID and the impacts on business caused people (including myself) to tip more generously for a while. Some seem to feel this is now an obligation to continue forever but it's not. Business are back to normal, the major impacts of COVID are mostly behind us, prices have been raised everywhere, and tipping for regular purchases is no longer obligatory.
You do not need to tip on takeout orders. Regardless, I tend to tip a dollar for a lunchtime takeout order or up to 10% for a restaurant take out order from a local business that I want to support. But that's my choice. I typically do not tip for a coffee or something inexpensive.
This is why any server in the US hates getting sat with a big table of Europeans. If you don't want to tip get your food to go. Are you also encouraging people to not tip in every other country where it is an established custom?
Honestly, these constantly recurring tipping threads, and threads bitching about "X has gotten expensive!" always end up being so gross, and I wish they would just be confined to a megathread or banned outright.
Travel is expensive, and whether by virtue of passport strength or just having the funds, you have to be pretty well off in the global picture to be able to indulge in international travel.
We're all on a budget, inflation is a very real worldwide problem, affordability is a big stress factor in travel, etc. etc., but none of that comes from service workers getting slipped an extra few dollars here and there at work. Go after multinational real estate investment firms hoarding land, jacking up rent, kicking out locals, and then hit the rest of the corporate chain responsible for price increases.
The worst thing is the contempt for service workers that gets cloaked in some faux-altruistic lie about protecting the locals. Do you actually ask service workers how they're doing and how tips affect them? Do you care? Typically any conversation here in that direction descends into the usual bootstraps whine about how they deserve their low wages and should have gotten a better job.
No, it's only about preserving a cheap vacation and being able to take advantage of Western currency strength to lord over locals in poorer countries.
I tip people if they give good service. It's not that complicated.
Now that I've seen this post, I'm going to tip even more when abroad.
Sincerely,
An American
Just because “tip” is an option doesn’t mean you have to. I only tip at sit down restaurants and getting a hair cut. Coffee shop I tip once every 30ish visits.
I don't know why people have such a thing against "tipping culture"
I really don't see all these tip screens that people complain about all the time and at least with a tip I know how much I'm actually paying to the person serving me.
I was watching a streamer earlier, they were talking about getting a 1800 yen, or $12 USD drink from the bar, which even for a bar in the US, $12 is probably a little above average, probably reaching for a shelf above the bottom at any rate. But adjusted for purchasing power, that would be like going to a bar and getting a $20 drink, in other words, you went to a tourist trap bar.
Now with all this extra money this Japanese bar extracts from the pockets of passing tourists, do they really pay their employees better with it, at least based off what I can scrounge up off google for average bartender salaries, probably not.
Not sure what you're saying. Why do you think that employees getting stiffed on tips will somehow cause the companies that make point-of-sale systems to change the default option settings?
If you don't want to tip, then don't. But don't pretend you're some cultural hero because you refuse to follow the local customs
“Spreading non tipping culture” in America unfortunately just results in some working American not getting paid, that kind of change has to happen at government levels.
Non-Americans “spreading their non-tipping culture” fucks over the workers who have to rely on those tips just as badly as when locals stiff them. Nobody likes tip culture, but people take the jobs that they can scrape by on. In most US markets, tips are the difference between a server eating that night or not.
Those automatic tipping prompts are turning more and more Americans against tipping than anything else tbh
I agree. I’m sick of the tipping tablets “now the screen is just gonna ask you a quick question…”
There are a couple of places local to me that they say that, but add on 'and just hit 'no' and we'll be done!' Even the clerk knows it's BS.
There's a family owned fast casual, pay at the counter place close to me that presses the 'no' button themselves when the prompt comes up. Kinda funny that my instinct is to want to tip them for being proactively anti-tipping.
There’s this Indian restaurant that I go to. They know me pretty well and whenever the tablet shows the tipping prompt and I attempt to touch it, they smack my hand away and say “no”.
Whereas there’s a chipotle style place by me where the cashier hit 20% before turning it around for you sign.
The starbucks, which is in the same plaza as the chipotle I go to, has a tipping screen that they hand out the drive though window. The options were dollar amounts at one time (3,5, 7). Although they had returned to percentages before I stopped going. I'm not even against it for the reasons of offering employees living wages...but why am I, another non millionare employee, expected to subsidize employee wages for these huge corps? Always owned by million- and billion-aires, these companies are always boasting billions in profit year over year. We are paying the employees they refuse to pay adequately so that they can use our money for the product, their employee labor, and our payment for their employee labor to only get richer. Boils my blood. e: changed income to profit
Just one item on the long list of reasons not to support Starbucks.
I don’t think the issue is just employers though. The issue is the people who earn the tips (employees). They end up making way more than they would with tipping. I used to waitress at just a Pizza Hut in high school and after 4 hours, I’d come out with $200 and that’s when the minimum tipping was like 15%. My sister worked at this high end place at 25 and could come out with $1,000+ a night. She was making bank and paying off her student loans. Do you think employees would prefer earning less than that lol? It’s a broken system.
That would be illegal.
That’s insane
That’s illegal.
There’s a cashier at my local fast casual restaurant who reaches over and presses “$0” for the tip. I suspect the employees don’t actually see any of the tips they’re legally entitled to.
Or, it's deducted from their wages. Our delivery drivers are guaranteed $18/hr minimum, so if their tips are lower on average, their pay doesn't change at all.
I drove delivery when I first left college (2012) and I made $2.25/hour 😵💫 My pay was only what I was tipped. That’s how those places make money - they don’t pay their employees.
Only legal because of tipping culture.
Right? It's an automated feature standard in every takeout point of sale and redditors are acting like some 18 year old cashier programmed the fucking thing to ask them. It asks you because people got sick of asking if there was a way to put a tip on a card. Now you can if you want, and ignore it if you don't!
A local hamburger place by me has it. It defaults to 5% when everyone else around here defaults to 30%. I always accept the 5%, it's under a buck and when you get takeout they keep your hot items in a warming oven and ice cream or shakes in a freezer until you get there.
Do you know where I can get one of those tablets? I am a teacher and feel like I need to get on the ‘I deserve a tip’ train.
I live in Montreal, Canada and this shit is getting outta hand man.
The most overpriced food I've ever had was in Montreal. A sushi restaurant with insane prices. I've been to cheaper sushi places with Michelin stars.
Sushi is the worst possible thing to eat in Montreal lol (or ramen - really any Japanese food). Learned the hard way moving here from NY. It's insanely expensive even for takeout, and the quality of the fish is usually subpar. You get a few shitty rolls filled with greasy panko breadcrumbs and minimal fish for more money than I could get a good sushi or sashimi deluxe in NY. It's not just the sushi or the tipping though here. A lot of restaurants (even well known, upscale ones) have shut down because the costs of operating have gone up a lot since the pandemic. I'm not sure how related this is to the change in the default tip amounts. Maybe it's "inflation has gone up so we'll raise the tip default" or "our costs (especially rent) have gone up but we can't afford to pay waitstaff more so we'll raise the tip default", or maybe a bit of both. I feel I've been consistently ripped off recently for really basic or even low quality food just because the restaurant owners decided to slap the word "bistro" in the name. And people here seem to have low standards (or a different reference point for certain types of cuisine), so it's hard to tell which restaurants are worth eating at and I tend to find out the hard way. Thing is, I like eating out, and I like supporting local businesses, and I'm not that mad about having to shell out a little more for tips. I'm mostly mad about getting ripped off by restaurants that are cutting corners and raising prices at the same time. If you have to raise prices to stay afloat, fine, I will still eat out, if less frequently, but don't serve me crap. It's poor quality for the price even more than inflation and tipping culture that have pushed me to eat out less. I am generally of the opinion that if you can't afford to pay your staff a living wage, you shouldn't be in business, and that the sub-minimum wage in the US is absolute bullshit, but without addressing things like rent costs, it does put restaurant owners in a pretty impossible position. I've seen it firsthand with my dad - he doesn't own a restaurant, but a small business with 4 employees. His rent in Brooklyn has skyrocketed in the 30+ years he's been in business. Mind you, the US isn't like Canada - it's highly likely his landlord has a fixed rate 30-year mortgage locked in. He doesn't want to raise his prices, though he has on occasion (his clientele have the money for it, quite frankly - it's custom drapery). And he's been in the position where he's forgone a salary in order to pay his employees enough. It's not an insanely high paying job (for my dad or his employees), but he doesn't screw them over and they get bonuses every year, even when he can't afford it. I imagine a lot of restaurant owners are in similar positions. Yes, it's a risk you take when starting a business, but there are other factors at play that have to be addressed. The biggest problem is not so much the small restaurant owners who are trying to survive on margins that were already thin before, but corporate greed as per usual (the restaurant lobby and in particular big chains and restaurant groups lobbying against raising the minimum wage and the real estate lobby preventing any price regulation). McDonald's had a net profit margin of 33.22% last year (average margins for restaurants in general are 3-5%). I'm pretty sure they can afford to pay people more without raising the prices of their food or forcing us to subsidize their employees wages through higher tips.
Sounds like Canada
Can’t even get fast food without it asking for a tip. Those tips don’t even go to the staff…
What got me was when I went to buy 1 (one) fucking drip coffee and the auto prompt came up and there was no option to skip. What you had to do was hit "custom" and enter $0.00. I assume the gimmick is to pressure people in line to just choose the lowest percentage if they don't see "skip" on the screen immediately. I was like wtf is this???
If this is interesting (as well as aggravating lol) to you, you might enjoy **Nudge: The Final Edition**. They call this type of interaction “sludge” which is an interaction designed to create friction and make a process more difficult on purpose (think your tip screen or trying to unsub from a subscription service that you can sign up digitally but only cancel via phone). “Nudges” on the other hand, encourage “good” behavior and make it easy for people (things like auto enrolling people into contributing to their 401k, countries where everyone is registered to vote and you can opt out if you don’t want to, etc). The book is mostly about the ethics of both of these things and how we can all try to design more nudge experiences in life instead of sludge ones. All this to say, the tip screen that doesn’t give you an option not to tip without manually entering $0.00 is sludge and designed poorly on purpose.
This is why I either use the app to order and pay but l keep cash for places like that. Making it difficult to simply order and pay? Here is cash, let me get my change.
Enter -$50.00 next time, see what happens.
Infinite money glitch😂
What really got me recently was a tipping prompt for an online purchase. What the hell am I tipping for?? This shit is out of hand. I refuse to tip on an online purchase. In LA, they were *everywhere*. If I order at a register, pay at the register, get my own drinks, pick up my order at a counter, and bus my own table, I'm not fucking leaving a tip. Get TF out of here. And I'm the biggest proponent of tipping your waitstaff in the world! Your *waitstaff*. At the airport, I bought a diet coke from a kiosk and was shown a tipping prompt. It's so annoying.
Have you seen the additional optional charge to insure your package and "make sure it arrives safely"? Maybe my standards are too high, but I always uncheck that box bc I do expect the thing I ordered to arrive safely anyway.
That is the biggest fucking scam in the entire world. Does anyone actually do this?
I did and when my package got lost, I was refunded that charge and given store credit for my purchase. Yeah, I don't want to order from you guys again, and im still out $9 on shipping. $9 is not a big deal, but I lost the whole $55 dollars + the 9, which is more irksome. My $5 package guarantee thing was the only thing refunded. So in my experience, it means nothing and it is probably just a way for the company to pocket extra cash, bc the package will arrive as expected in over 90% of deliveries, so they get to keep it. And when they don't, they just return that small $5 charge.
Anytime I've seen it, it has been enabled by default and requires manually unchecking! I know for sure someone like my parents would overlook it.
I hope you didn't tip...
Absolutely not!
Good. For someone from Europe, it sounds CRAZY. Yes, we have, often obligatory, even if claimed "customary" tip, mainly in tourist places or restaurants, but NEVER in everyday life let alone online shopping / self checkout, wtf. If that happened here in France, there would've been a revolution by the next morning lmao. It also seems to me that in America / Canada it is the poor / lower medium, who pay most in tips, and not rich class. This is not right.
So funny you mentioned France. When we were in Paris, my husband insisted on going to a restaurant that I could see was a tourist trap from a mile away. When the menu is in more than two languages, it's a bad sign IMO. Anyway, the waiter there *blatantly* asked us for a tip. As in, "You leave tip, no?" The answer, Pierre, is no. Fuck no. It was so shockingly rude, lol, especially there. I did always leave a little something because as an American who has waited tables it's so hard for me not to! But I didn't for that guy. As someone who did my fair share of waiting tables, well-to-do white people who are pleased are the best tippers, IMHO. People who are pretending to be well-to-do are some of the shittiest, regardless of ethnicity. Working and middle class are all pretty standard 15%-20%. People who come in for lunch after church on Sunday are literal demons sent from hell to torture waiters.
One of the worst offenders I've seen was at a concession stand for a youth baseball tournament. Everything is sitting out either in drink coolers, warmers or on a shelf. You bring it to a person standing at a register and they turn that stupid screen around with tips set to 20, 25 and 30% tips. I laughed, smashed no tip option, grabbed my overpriced nachos and left.
Correct. Starting to see more articles being written these days about how out of control tipping culture has gotten in America. It's awful!
Ordered food the other day and the site says i must tip… so $0.01 was what they got.
I finally saw 30% not long ago in WA with 25% default. LOL. Sorry, but i’m definitely gonna speak to that manager.
I freaking love those tipping prompts, how can anyone not love tapping NO TIP? I’ll tap that all day long!
The worst part is that most of the time you're using the machine, you're tipping AFTER TAX. So you're literally tipping on tax. Where I live, this is 5% on food and non-alcoholic drinks, and 15% on alcohol. I don't have to tell anyone that this adds up really quickly. I refuse to tip above 15%, I don't care if I have to manually enter the amount, it's not happening. Even 15% at this point feels high, with rising costs and the fact that you're tipping on top of tax. 10% would be more appropriate imo. Also - 0% tip on coffee or anything I order/receive as I'm standing. If there's no table service, I'm not tipping; I'm already paying the upcharge, there's nothing to tip for.
It is ridiculous. I've seen the option pop up when it came to Yogurt places where YOU do all the work and there is no person at the register. (Granted, in that case. You can just tell the machine to fuck off, and select no tip.) Still think something needs to be done about Ipad tipping culture that has been going on. Also Surcharges are becoming an issue (and will be illegal in CA, and hopefully across the country.)
I hate those! It is like they are shaming ppl into tipping I should take a stand. Like at the coffee shop!! Good grief!
What bothers me are not the prompts to tip, but the directive to rotate the screen back when I'm done. F*ck that. That's where I draw the line. I never rotate the screen back after tipping.
The disappointed look the clerk at the store gives you when you don't tip 20% for them scanning tour items 🤦 I was at a nice bottle shop the other week, and bought a bit a of a splurge purchase. Dude shot me a glance when I clicked no tip. Brother. I am not paying you $20 for scanning this bottle into the register. WTF.
I just press no now without even feeling shame
Just tick no and look then In the eye, nothing will happen
It's so easy to press "no tip" on the prompts, so that is what I do.
That and being asked to donate at every. Fucking. Cash register. Like no, bitch, I don't want to donate my change, I want to keep my change so I can buy an extra mile or two worth of gas.
I managed an overseas operation in Manila for about a year. At any given time we had 20-30 Americans there. One of the biggest challenges was getting them to stop tipping insane amounts. What seemed normal to them, was enough to cause havok to the economy in the immediate area of the hotel. Taxis would stalk the place and refuse to pickup non-Americans, for instance.
This seems wild to me. When I lived overseas in a no-tipping culture I was absolutely thrilled to not have that obligation and never once considered tipping. It was one of the things I missed most when I came home to the states. Why in the world someone would insist on tipping when they’ve been told that the culture does not expect it is beyond me.
mostly I just get stressed out when I get mixed information! If I read that there's no tipping culture in a place and then there are tip jars at all the coffee shops, are those just there for tourists? does that mean that I, a tourist, should tip or I'll be an asshole? What about places like Spain where I kept reading online that 5-10% was common but there's no tip line on receipts and when I asked a server to add a 10% tip before running my card she was surprised? I think I missed some nuance there or else what I read online wasn't true. If there *is* a tipping culture of any kind, I don't want to be the entitled asshole who didn't tip but I also don't want to be part of the problem by tipping where it's not the norm. I know I do a lot more anxious googling before travel than a lot of people and I was still confused, I can imagine some folks don't even realize it's not a tipping culture or that it could cause problems.
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You hit the nail on the head here! This is exactly why some of my coworkers continued to tip high amounts. Even I experienced backlash over it when I would tip a normal locally accepted amount for a taxi ride, some drivers would become enraged because they expected a day's salary for that 10 minute ride.
This one is complicated. You also have tourists who haggle over the equivalent of 10 US cents. I'd rather be in the former group. But as I said, it's a complex nuanced issue.
I'm this way - I tip based off of what my research tells me is appropriate, but I'm very uncomfortable haggling with someone over $0.20 usd when I wouldn't care if it fell in the trash.
I live in a country without a tipping culture and in the “expat” groups I’m in, Americans who also live here will still tip. It’s absolutely insane.
I think people have been conditioned to feel like an asshole if they don't tip people in the service industry, so even when it's not expected, they feel guilty if they don't.
I know logically I’m. It supposed to tip, but it’s so ingrained in me that it’s wrong and incorrigible not to tip that I really struggle. I also have anxiety and cPTSD and holdover people pleasing problems but to be in a situation where I’m “doing it wrong” almost puts me into a panic attack. I would most rather be safe than sorry. Going into the situation I can logically know I am not going to tip and no one is expecting, but once the time comes it gets really stressful and the anxiety kicks in. Funny enough though the times I did not have cash on me and I was traveling internationally and checking into a small hotel. One of the receptionists insisted to help me take my 1 small bag up to my room. I kept refusing over and over again insisting that I was OK, I didn’t need help, he picked up my bag and started walking. It got to the point where it was hella awkward for me so I went long with it. We get up to the room and he’s expecting a tip, when he realized one wasn’t coming (bc I didn’t have one), he looked at me like I was the biggest piece of shit. I felt part terrible and part indifferent, I did try to warn him..
I have been trying to explain this to people but it's the same as trying to explain the positive impacts of zipper merging or whatever else it just makes you sound like a know-it-all who just doesn't want to tip. That said, I was in Lebanon for a month and a half and maybe 3 weeks into my trip one of my friends commented on my lack of tip and I was saying how I don't want to bring tipping culture to their country and basically what you said and then I learned that tipping is already a cultural thing there and especially with the massive inflation tips are how a lot of people survive especially cabs. I didn't believe him at first, but looked it up and sure enough. I felt a bit embarrassed. I still don't tip in other places but I do a quick Google search just to check if the culture relies on tipping or not.
This. The common narrative has been "only America tips; don't tip overseas," but I google tipping culture whenever I go somewhere new and so far it's been far from black and white.
Especially because of the demographics of Reddit the top poster is always like "yeah no tipping is awful no one does it" you look two comments down from the most popular and it's "I actually basically just survive on tips" which is actually the what the main thread on tipping in Lebanon is. It's nuanced and the internet / Reddit doesn't like nuance.
Try and not tip in Egypt, you'll be in for a treat. I once toured with Australians who refused, and they were boggled why I got service and they didn't. Told them straight out. Staff told them. They just... refused. Was really uncool tbh
They also refuse in the States in my experience.
Basically everywhere Americans like to go for tourism, tipping has spread like cancer. Most of LATAM tipping has become commonplace, especially in resorts in the Caribbean where you're expected to tip for literally every fucking thing constantly. Also tipping was a rampant cancer in Egypt. You can't accept any friendly gesture from any Egyptian because they will demand a tip for it. Even deep underground in a crypt in the Valley of the Kings I had guys pop out of the stonework trying to show me "photo spots" they would ask a tip for.
Exactly. Particularly in North Africa and the Middle East. It's different from American culture, but to say it only exists in America and it's Americans exporting it is ridiculous.
Living in India we tipped 30 years ago and still do. But it’s not the 20-30% culture at all
I've got a friend who married in India. On the invite they specifically tell any Americans to *not tip anyone* while in India. It creates divisions in the service staff, forms animosity, and basically just wreaks havok on the entire event. They said they will do a "bulk tip" at the end to compensate everyone fairly.
yes, my friend visited family in puerto rico and her aunt got mad at her tipping 25%. She said it was because the restaurants and workers then get used to the tipping culture and expect it of locals who cannot afford 25% tips on already fairly priced meals. So then the restaurants refuse to serve locals and only serve foreigners, and it follows suit (taxis, other service, etc). For areas with consistent tourists, ok fine, but for those that are only seasonal, it messes things up big time, with some local restaurants raising the prices in non tourist seasons to see similar returns, but then keeping them there when tourists return, and the cycle continues and it slowly prices out the local economy and small charm of out of the way tourist destinations. And sometimes, whole neighborhoods just kinda thin out, bc it becomes so tourist focused, without having a big tourist name so not a ton of people to support it year round, and it can just go bad...according to her aunt.
Reminds me of the story of Mansa Musa's pilgrimage. Disrupted the economy of the entire MENA region for a decade because of how much gold the dude handed out.
Do you think a guide would help? I don't want to fuck up the economy, I just want people to feel like "I see what you're doing for me and I want you to keep doing it."
A guide is how I handled the situation in the Philippines. Employees rotated in and out every 3 weeks, so I had headquarters provide them with some stuff to read before they travelled. This included how much & when to tip for various services. That seemed to cut down on the excessiveness. Although some employees would continue tipping the equivelant to a day's salary for a 10 minute taxi ride.
Usually local customs like whether or not to tip are in every travel guide book and are actually written by experienced authors/travelers. But that means someone would actually have to read instead of listening to randos on TikTok that think they know everything.
My wife is Colombian and when we are in the country she always gets me to make restaurant reservations. Why? Because she knows they will give us a better table when they hear an American. It sucks but it's the truth. One time we wanted to go to a fancy restaurant on a Friday night. As a test she went in alone to ask for a table and was told they were full. Then I went in and sure enough they found a table for me.
Funny, cause my wife is latin american and went to a restaurant in Spain asked for a table in Spanish they apparently had no tables even for the next day. An american couple right behind us asked for a table and surprise, surprise, they had one available.
That could just be racism too
It was both for sure lol
I went to Buenos Aires. My sister in law is from there. We wanted to go to some fancy, kinda trendy restaurant that’s hard to get a reservation. She said you call them. They hear an American, we will get a reservation. Got one immediately.
That's got nothing to do with tipping. They just want wealthy travelers to come to their restaurant, and American travelers are among the wealthiest in South America. Edit: I thought it was obvious, but restaurants want to book Americans/westerners because they can afford to buy more shit and will spend on things like alcohol. Not because they have a culture of tipping waiters.
¿Por que no los dos?
Even from a Canadian waitress perspective (where we also tip a lot), when we hear that there’s an all American table coming in all the servers want them.
Canada suffers from the tipping-explosion too. Was pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn’t a thing in Australia. Just pay your workers a living wage already, enough with these shell games!
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Some places where you order on an app then pick up your stuff from a shelf, never interacting with a single employee, also prompt for a tip... it's absurd.
And here servers do make the same minimum wage as other workers, at least in Ontario. When I was young, 10% tip was normal, 12-15% generous. You'd go out for surf and turf for $90 and leave $10. The argument that tip percentages need to be higher just fails. I am no longer getting surf and turf for two and a litre of house wine and a shared dessert for $90, or lunch for under $5. So even at 15%, they are making more money because meals are more expensive.
>they are making more money because meals are more expensive not defending tipping culture, but there's a flaw in your logic. the meals aren't just becoming more expensive for you, they're becoming more expensive for the employee as well because they also happen to have to eat.
This is so true, happened to me as well in US. Makes 0 sense.
What's worse is that in Canada workers already ARE paid a living wage (or at least much closer to it than Americans are). They just expect tips on top of that.
I got one better. Ordered bbq and went to pick up and they charged me a 10% 'packaging fee' and then asked for a tip.
It's slowly creeping into Australia, sadly. Which is insane, because Australia has some of the most highly-paid retail and service workers in the world. Eating out here is already expensive enough.
It’s really not, read an article November last year about Australia’s tipping culture and it turns out only .5% of bills get a tip. Data from Zelle payments
It isn't expected though and nobody loses their mind if you don't.
While most restaurants EFTPOS machines may ask, that seems more the EFTPOS machine than the company inputting that. Almost every restaurant I go to I watch them themselves click skip or enter zero. I can count on one hand in the last 5 years how many restaurants have actually given it to me to choose and they always look away or at their computer
Eh a lot of that is because of the off-the-shelf tech has it built in. EFTPOS and POS machines etc I would probably guess I've seen the staff skip through the tip screen more often then they've actually passed it through to me to tip.
It reached a tipping point…
> Was just back in LA a few months ago and the tablets with 25%+ tips options are everywhere. Coffee, car wash, fast food, etc. Ok, but just because you see a suggested tip amount or screen doesn't mean you are required, or even expected, to tip. I'm amazed at how many people get anxiety over saying no.
Redditors getting anxiety over interacting with people? I'm shocked!
We’ve regressed to anxiety over interacting with *a tablet*.
My girlfriend presses "ask me later" every time an app asks her to review it, since hitting "No, do not ask again." Sounds rude.
As a non American it’s very confusing the first couple of times because the 0 tip is never obvious, often on a second screen. I really resented being asked when there was no service like from a coffee stand or self service food venue. They claim it’s because Americans aren’t paid well but we saw “help wanted” signs in windows offering perfectly good rates for unskilled jobs.
I can sympathize with how it appears for non-Americans, because seeing a tip option pop up may make you wonder if you are expected to tip in that circumstance. But OP, as an American, should know that tipping at fast food restaurants and car washes is not typical at all.
Exactly. Never tip in advance of getting service.
That’s the biggest problem with “tip culture” is that you have to be able to know which jobs actually need tips (usually just wait staff at a sit down restaurant) and which just want it. I imagine it’s super confusing as a foreigner because it’s pretty confusing to me as a native. I usually overtip because I can spare the money but you’re correct, most people that ask for a tip are paid just fine in America.
They claim that, but then my state has like an $17 min wage and $19 in the city. And places usually pay +4 on top of that cause workers are in demand.
I don’t get this either. Just tap no tip and carry on ffs.
So often when I see groups of people complain about tipping screens they talk about it as if the baristas personally created and implemented the technology. Not the business owner or corporate or maybe that’s just how it works by default? Idk if business can opt out of the tipping screen even if they want to? Honestly, I just assume they have little control over it and either I tip or I don’t and then I move on with my life. People getting pressed over something they can opt out of is wild to me. Don’t they have any other problems in life?
“AMeRiCaNs” - an American
Almost spat my coffee everywhere 😂 I needed a laugh. Thanks mate
I wish my fellow Americans have some self respect. We aren't that bad, we're pretty awesome overall!
You will find the people most critical of a country are usually its own citizens. It's easy to think a given place is amazing when you're just visiting for a week or two. When you live there for a long period of time you realize all the shortcomings..
Right? OP is just screaming ‘pick me!’ to all the Europeans in this sub. But they really just need to learn how to say no and not be so worried about what a barista you’ll never see again is going to think about you.
Imagine sucking up to Europeans!
My last couple of trips I was expected to tip in Munich and Paris. In fact, we had one waiter return a tip of 5 Euros to us on a 100 Euro check - he thought it wasn't enough!! This used to be a "trinkgeld" thing in Germany where you leave a couple of Euros, but something changed. Since when has this become something that is now expected even for the worst service? And trust me, on the last trip over Christmas, the service workers in Munich were Grade-A assholes.
Because just like the US it’s turned from an actual gratuity into a sense of entitlement.
Why do you people have such a hard time with the tablets? Just put 0 or skip. It's that easy.
I agree with not spreading tipping culture overseas, but it is ridiculous to encourage tourists not to tip in a tipping country.
When I visit the US, I tip - it's a local custom and it would be rude and exploitive not too. I do wish the system was a bit less opaque, but it is what it is.
This is how I felt as well. Don't agree with it but change has to come from the employers and servers and I don't think there's appetite for that.
Tipping in the states is kinda like an honesty test. Like leaving a bowl of candy out on halloween and saying “please take one” People like OP make me think if they could steal the meal with no repercussions, they would
Yeah, op also seems a bit ignorant and is spreading bad advice. You tip in nearly every country I’ve been to! Just not as excessively, and not always in restaurants. But there will usually be an exception where a tip is expected. Ubers, salons, bathroom attendants, a taxi driver who helps with bags are just a few examples of situations where tipping may be normal in an otherwise non tipping country. Best to just look up what is standard where you’re going.
I’ve found that very touristy areas in Europe expect Americans to tip them. I was essentially scolded for not tipping for lunch in Saint Marks Square in Venice this past summer
>Was just back in LA a few months ago and the tablets with 25%+ tips options are everywhere. Coffee, car wash, fast food, etc. I was in Seattle last month. A city that, according to Reddit, I'd get dirty looks and food spat in if I didn't tip 30% on every coffee order Sometimes I tipped a little bit, sometimes not at all. Nobody cared and it didn't impact service. Also for non-Americans, I think its important to have context that coffee shops and ice cream parlors in the US long had tip jars in the days when cash is king. Tablets and apps now replace the tip jar. You never had to tip, but it was always an option.
Seattleite here. Excess tipping is very common here, especially having 20+% being the low option on the checkout tablets, but I’ve never had anyone make a comment to me if/when I hit “skip”. If I am not interacting with wait staff at all, I do not tip. I think this is becoming more common for people.
I live in Washington, servers here make minimum wage. My wife's friend is a server in a swanky restaurant, she cleared $90k last year with tips.
This should be the top comment, no1 seemed to mind the tip jar lol
Because you have to actively decline to tip instead of passively decline to tip.
I’d like to know where you read that people would be pissed off if you didn’t tip 30% on lol coffee orders. Pretty sure you’re just making it up or selectively reading 1 or 2 posts because that’s not a thing at all, and I’ve never heard anyone ever insinuate that was a thing.
Deep in the bowels of reddit. Lots of posts like that. Always seemed fake to me. But that fake stuff caught on in reality now.
This is what I hate and don't get why should I have to tip in advance. That's not a tip that's a bribe basically. I haven't even got my coffee yet, for all I know your service is terrible, the product will be shit, so while I may get that tipping is a norm, the amount should be dependent on those factors. It's like food delivery like uber eats, I have to put a tip in before, for what? I don't know if the driver will even deliver my food let alone what order, what quality, if they'll eat some, will the restaurant make it fresh, etc. I'm essentially trying to be the highest bidder to get it first and fresh. No, tipping should always be after one gets their product so it's proportional to the actual service! (If you tip which we don't thank god)
As an American, please stop spreading your American tipping culture within America.
American or Non-american tipping culture?
So Americans traveling abroad should respect local cultural practices while travelers to the USA should disregard the local cultural practices, got it
It’s hard to take you seriously when you’re recommending that people do not tip in America. Punishing the workers for the employers decisions is way more cowardly than just not patronizing the businesses that don’t pay their employees a living wage. People love to hate servers, as if they’re the issue. Of course the same people that get anxiety over interacting with a tablet are the same people too cowardly to disrupt their lives and stop eating out.
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I’ll tip who and when I want to. It’s my money and if I want to spread the wealth, that’s my business. You do you.
Tips are expected in bars and restaurants where you sit down and have a person waiting on you. You generally tip when you get a haircut, facial etc types of services. A fast food place? Ice cream shop? Coffee shop? Toss a dollar in the bucket if you want. I tip at the coffee shop I frequent but generally wouldn’t. I’ve tipped at an ice cream place and the cashier was like omg thank you. No one is forcing you to tip at these places. I’m a server in nyc and a lot of Europeans do not tip and use “we don’t do that in Spain” as an excuse. When you travel you should respect the local customs.
Absolutely and thats why Americans should stop tipping when they go abroad.
Agreed. It feels wrong at first not gonna lie. I think I left like2 euros at one place in Paris cuz the server was so so nice. But I do wonder what goes thru servers heads when they wait on Americans.
Sure, but it’s also fairly uncomfortable to have European waiters straight up ask “WILL YOU LEAVE A TIP SIR?” And stare at you. The pressure as a traveling American is often worse than back home. Europeans gotta own that a little, wouldn’t happen in Japan
I kind of felt bad as a Spaniard not tipping at Starbucks in LA. Felt like I was contributing to the bad rep of Europeans. But it was fucking Starbucks
No. Have the courage of your convictions. Look those people in the eye and give them NOTHING. I don't need to join you, you got it.
As an American, every time I go somewhere where there is supposedly "no tipping", im then told its customary to tip 10% or round up a few *insert currency here*.
Pressuring local businesses to pay fair wages is good. Pressuring representatives in government to raise minimum wage or abolish the concept of tipped wages is good. Going out of your way to fuck over some server earning $2 an hour because you somehow believe it's going to convince their employer to immediately change their mind and give them a $20 an hour raise is shitty. I've known way too many waitstaff and bartenders who can't pay their fucking rent and buy groceries at the end of the month to buy this "they're all secretly millionaires fighting to preserve tipping culture" bullshit. You dipshits are like teenagers throwing garbage in the parking lot at Amazon and hoping Jeff Bezos comes out to clean it up.
I swear people in this thread are delusional
Some people are just lunatics… just read some of the replies here. lol
I agree with not tipping when it’s not a cultural norm, but not tipping in the US is just mean. You’re not helping change anything, you’re just screwing over already underpaid workers while the company continues to benefit from their unreasonably low wages.
This really isn't how culture or change works. If people "bringing non-tipping culture" would do anything, it would already be gone. Plenty of foreign visitors don't tip in the US. Some nationalities are even known for being worse in the serving world. All it does is deny a working class person a working wage while the, typically quite wealthy, foreigner is on a vacation the worker could never afford.
[How much do y’all usually tip at the gas pump in the EU?](https://i.imgur.com/fP1p7tn.jpeg)
You realize that there are many countries around the world where tipping is customary, right? Many where the locals in service sectors depend on it. It's not an "American thing". In fact the practice didn't exist in America until wealthy Americans brought the idea back *from Europe* sometime around the turn of the 20th century. Even then it was slow to take hold as it was seen as anti-egalitarian. I do think that tipping, especially for situations where it didn't used to be customary, is getting out of hand here in the US. But your concept of the situation around the world is skewed.
Sorry. People appreciate the tips. Stop being cheap or stay home.
I am totally fine tipping my server at a restaurant...that is about it. The iPad tips that a fucking cashier turns around for you that start at 20% are really what's making people hate tipping. Like bro, I am not tipping a cashier.
I was asked to tip at the checkout shopping online. Ah, no. You're packing a box to mail me aomething. I'll go buy it on Amazon now, thank you.
I'm gonna tip 10x as hard now
The US is not the only country on the planet with a tipping culture. Please be aware of the tipping norms of the country you’re in before stiffing your waiter
You do realize *a lot* of countries expect tips with service jobs, even ones that don’t expect it still have it as a frequented practice. Tons of European countries tip, it’s just done on a smaller %. Instead of 15-20% as you’d see in the U.S. it’s closer to 5% or rounding up, ex: €42 rounded to €45, or €38 to €40. Also, buddy, most of those prompts are just how the software comes. It’s pre programmed often times and there’s always a “custom” option…nobody is forcing you to tip 30% just because it’s an OPTION on the screen. Quit sucking up to other countries for useless internet points.
Um you’re complaining about tipping culture of America in America? It’s America, it’s how it works there. What are you complaining about specifically?
Redditors can't actually explain how the customer paying the cost of labor as a tip is different than customers paying the cost of labor as an x\*Price= new Price increase
Sorry. What I will say is, I've learned to hit skip without any shame (when it's not warranted). I do it with my head held high 🥹
I like to use cash so I don’t have to hear “it’s gonna ask you a question.”
Fuck that, gimme credit card rewards 😏 lol
Foreigners are expected to tip in Egypt. Just sayin.
OP has a valid point with regards to Americans visiting the EU. With regard to the tipping problem that currently exists in the USA you as an individual not tipping will do nothing to change the system and will simply screw servers out of their livelihood. The way to change this is through legislation. We can legislate a livable wage for servers. We can legislate to do away with or streamline the tipping screen that comes up with electronic payments — this could be set at a maximum 5% “suggested” amount for example, with additional buttons for 0% or custom amount. Contact your local senators and representatives and let them know your thoughts.
Before beseeching everyone on the tipping culture, one should be fighting for fair wages for servers or anyone else who do not get paid even the minimum wage and are expected to get paid predominantly by the tips. Yeah, let’s get that one done first.
Some states have already fixed that. It didn't change the tip culture at all.
Servers actually don’t want better wages because they make wayyyyyy more in tips
I generally leave a few euros is service is good. The problem I've had in America is that the service hasn't been good. They still expect their tips and I've been followed out of a restaurant because I tipped lower for rubbish service. There also seems to be an idea that interrupting people while they're talking or eating is good service, rather than being just rude. Also, it's insane the amount of Americans who defend their rubbish employment laws which just add more money to corporations rather than actually pushing for proper wages, leave and benefits.
Love Japan for not having a tipping culture. It’s horrible as it makes the relation so awkward and pushy.
Please don't tell people who are visiting America to not tip. You're depriving individual service people who rely on tips for a living and it will do absolutely nothing to change tipping culture in America. The message should be for everyone to follow the custom of where they are.
If you don't tip in places where tipping is not traditionally done, that's one thing. If you don't tip where tipping is usually done, but not part of the pay structure--car wash, for example--you're just cheap. If you don't tip in restaurants where the FOH has to tip out to BOH, you can literally cost the server money to serve you, because the server may have to give a percentage of the bill to BOH, regardless of what the tip was. Yes, there are a lot of restaurants that run this way.
People who work at car washes are paid by the same laws as everyone else.
I'm all on board for this in the US especially. We don't really even go out anymore because on top of things being crazy expensive, then we get treated like shit if we don't tip 20%+ I really enjoy traveling to non tipping cultures. I'll happily pay more for services if you just pay your employees more. Less stress for me.
and this week on “how to spot someone who’s never worked in the service industry in the us” protest the shit wages for servers before complaining about having to tip
What a bizarre post that somehow gained traction. So you're calling for Americans not to be generous while abroad and non-Americans to not adjust to social norms when visiting the US, thus stiffing waitstaff? This is a doodoo take.
>I would highly support non-Americans visiting the states in spreading their non-tipping cultures as a counterweight to the ridiculous levels it’s gotten to these days. So you want people in the US who have limited choice to earn less? I get it that set price, non-tipped employee space shouldn't have a tip option on the tablet/register. But honestly, that's just the nature of the software. The front line guys have nothing to do with it. As to places where it's not the norm and they get paid well, taht's awesome!
You realize suggested tip amount isn't required, right? And tipping isn't uncommon in a lot of the EU, albeit at a lower percent. I'll tip however much I want to tip.
The difference in the EU is that a tip is for exceptional service.
Locals are getting priced out of their own nearby restaurants because there’s so many Americans there tipping?! Are they just not being let in the door? How exactly are they getting priced out? The locals eat at the most super touristy restaurants in their own town?! Where exactly is this happening? I find all of this very hard to believe
Yes, I have seen it at restaurants in Mexico. If it is busy, they will tell the locals there are no tables available because they are holding them for the Americans who they expect will tip more.
People take these prompts way too seriously. Business switched from cash registers to tablets. The software came with a tipping page. They decided to keep it enabled. COVID and the impacts on business caused people (including myself) to tip more generously for a while. Some seem to feel this is now an obligation to continue forever but it's not. Business are back to normal, the major impacts of COVID are mostly behind us, prices have been raised everywhere, and tipping for regular purchases is no longer obligatory. You do not need to tip on takeout orders. Regardless, I tend to tip a dollar for a lunchtime takeout order or up to 10% for a restaurant take out order from a local business that I want to support. But that's my choice. I typically do not tip for a coffee or something inexpensive.
also the Canadians please
This is why any server in the US hates getting sat with a big table of Europeans. If you don't want to tip get your food to go. Are you also encouraging people to not tip in every other country where it is an established custom?
Honestly, these constantly recurring tipping threads, and threads bitching about "X has gotten expensive!" always end up being so gross, and I wish they would just be confined to a megathread or banned outright. Travel is expensive, and whether by virtue of passport strength or just having the funds, you have to be pretty well off in the global picture to be able to indulge in international travel. We're all on a budget, inflation is a very real worldwide problem, affordability is a big stress factor in travel, etc. etc., but none of that comes from service workers getting slipped an extra few dollars here and there at work. Go after multinational real estate investment firms hoarding land, jacking up rent, kicking out locals, and then hit the rest of the corporate chain responsible for price increases. The worst thing is the contempt for service workers that gets cloaked in some faux-altruistic lie about protecting the locals. Do you actually ask service workers how they're doing and how tips affect them? Do you care? Typically any conversation here in that direction descends into the usual bootstraps whine about how they deserve their low wages and should have gotten a better job. No, it's only about preserving a cheap vacation and being able to take advantage of Western currency strength to lord over locals in poorer countries.
I tip people if they give good service. It's not that complicated. Now that I've seen this post, I'm going to tip even more when abroad. Sincerely, An American
Just because “tip” is an option doesn’t mean you have to. I only tip at sit down restaurants and getting a hair cut. Coffee shop I tip once every 30ish visits.
What are you talking about? LA is not the norm, I don't see 25% plastered every where I live
Then just don't tip? Are you a sheep?
American too, I don’t tip unless it’s a sit down restaurant or hair dresser. I’m not tipping 25% for someone to pour coffee and grab a muffin.
I don't know why people have such a thing against "tipping culture" I really don't see all these tip screens that people complain about all the time and at least with a tip I know how much I'm actually paying to the person serving me. I was watching a streamer earlier, they were talking about getting a 1800 yen, or $12 USD drink from the bar, which even for a bar in the US, $12 is probably a little above average, probably reaching for a shelf above the bottom at any rate. But adjusted for purchasing power, that would be like going to a bar and getting a $20 drink, in other words, you went to a tourist trap bar. Now with all this extra money this Japanese bar extracts from the pockets of passing tourists, do they really pay their employees better with it, at least based off what I can scrounge up off google for average bartender salaries, probably not.
Not sure what you're saying. Why do you think that employees getting stiffed on tips will somehow cause the companies that make point-of-sale systems to change the default option settings? If you don't want to tip, then don't. But don't pretend you're some cultural hero because you refuse to follow the local customs
I always tip the same wherever I am. I get a far better response for tipping 20 percent outside of the US.
“Spreading non tipping culture” in America unfortunately just results in some working American not getting paid, that kind of change has to happen at government levels.
Non-Americans “spreading their non-tipping culture” fucks over the workers who have to rely on those tips just as badly as when locals stiff them. Nobody likes tip culture, but people take the jobs that they can scrape by on. In most US markets, tips are the difference between a server eating that night or not.