Tipping

[Truetoself]

Currently in the US Tipping has got more ridiculous in the last couple of years since I was last here. Even when you buy something from a counter, there is an option to tip. If staying in a hotel, you are expected to tip the valet, housekeeping etc.
I understand in the US these roles are poorly paid and people rely on the tips for their income. But then what exactly does the price on the menu or the hotel tariff cover? For example, different hotels have different prices based on their amenities. So why the price difference if none of the services are covered? Plis a minimum tip of 18% is expected and anything less you have to custom it which you wouldn’t generally do.
i do tip as that is what you do in the US but for a first workd country this is very backwards and third world in my opinion.

I don’t get it OP. So if a waiter carries you a plate with a 15 dollar burger and chips on it you have to give them a 3 dollar tip but if they carry you a plate with a 30 dollar steak on it you have to give 6 dollars. But the task is the same. They should just pay the people right in the first place.

I hate the tipping culture, it’s so insane.

But it’s expected to tip hotel housekeeping and valet here too and always has been - have you never done that before??
I agree about counter staff - ten years ago at a bakery in the US ordered a pastry or something at the counter to take it away and there was a tip option - I just ignored it, and frankly I think most do in these circumstances. I grew up in the US.
Just don’t forget to give a Christmas tip to the concierge at your condo complex - it’s worth it.

Never tipped housekeeping, no. They're paid a wage for a job which comes out of the nightly cost, nothing more is needed and it is madness to adopt this habit.

I saw a really good post about this distortion Americans are causing across the world by spreading the habit. I think it referenced Tanzania (maybe somewhere else) where the tourist industry is in its infancy but a hospitality worker can make 10x a nurse solely via American tips so hospitals are having a recruitment crisis. Accurate or not, it demonstrates the point perfectly. Pay appropriately for the job or service, no further tips needed.

Yes, and if there is an offer on the food, you have to tip what would be the full price. I learned this from my boyfriend in the US last month. I have to stop him from over tipping here. He's a ridiculous tipper!

I hate it. Am a regular visitor - and it really puts me off dining out so much.

The restaurants should just pay their staff better - which actually in CA they do pay the legal minimum wages. It's $15/$16 p hour which isn't a lot ot live in but to expect 20% + of the bill is insane.

I refuse to add a tip on the card machine when it's counter service - coffee shop or whatever. If the staff are particularly helpful i'll add cash to their tip jar(if they have one).

It's getting that way in the UK though. With the Service Charge added - it's not mandatory, but it does make one feel a bit of a twat requesting it to be removed.

It's a case of accepting that rules and customs are different somewhere else.

DH travels regularly and tips in restaurants and the housekeeping, you leave it when you check out. That's the only time he now gets cash out.

I am not a fan but if I travel somewhere that's the way it is.

When you are in Japan you don't tip at all. In Germany tipping is not really a big thing, you round up unless it's a large bill for a group or you had amazing service.

I actually tipped the housekeeping and valet in the accomodation- mainly because they didn’t ask for it! However, went to another hotel for a dinner where only option was valet parking and i was advised by the valet to give them $10. This I begrudged.

What I would like to know is - what does the actual price of the hotel pay for? Because therr is a separate resort fee for some amenities.

I am quite happy to leave a couple of pounds in whatever currency it is for the cleaners each day in a hotel as it’s a poorly paid job mostly done by women and it’s a choice not an expectation which makes a big difference.
However I am starting to get annoyed in UK with mandatory tips particularly the insidious 12.5% which has crept up from the standard 10% in existence for many decades. I worry it will move up to 15% and then it starts becoming like USA where you need to add 50% on to the stated price for taxes and tips and decide if you can afford it on that rather than list price.

I’ve never tipped hotel cleaners etc. Having the cash, leaving it out, how do they know it’s for them?

it’s an Americanism that is spreading though.

and I was surprised when I was in the states last, got a bottle of water out the fridge and took to cashier in lobby shop and was expected to tip. WTF?

no issues tipping waiting staff and bar staff.

But if there is an offer on food in UK you should tip on the real price.

I tip on the total bill. There's no rule. You don't have to tip at all in the UK.

@Rocknrollstar Er? No you don’t. %of actual bill - not % of what it would have been. Tipping isn’t obligatory here at all. Service charge might be added but you can remove it.

I would prefer an all inclusive price but in the USA the advertised price is an invitation to do business with the establishment. It’s just inviting you over the doorstep. It’s sad really and although I’ve been to the states a lot, I find it’s getting a very expensive place to go now with so many hidden charges.

I leave the money on the pillow.

We booked an apartment in Chicago for a week during the summer, all done online. We were invited to add a tip to our payment for the staff who’d worked on our booking (we didn’t). We had a great stay in Chicago but the tipping culture there was insane.

Tipping makes up their wages it isn't a tradition or custom or whatever it is expected, it isn't a servers fault that prices have gone through the roof.

We leave a note with „Thanks“ on it. Even when most cleaners don‘t speak a lot of English, they will know that word,

But it’s expected to tip hotel housekeeping and valet here too and always has been - have you never done that before??

In the UK? I'm not sure it's expected - I've never tipped housekeeping in the UK, and never used a valet.
I tip in restaurants if the service is decent, usually around 10%.

In the US, I've tipped in restaurants (about 20-25%), bars and taxis (pretty much mandatory!). I don't begrudge this, it's their culture and, unlike this country, they are paid with the expectation that wages will be made up in tips. I''ve never tipped housekeepers in the US - perhaps I should have - unless we've asked for something to be brought to the room, and I always carry my own suitcases, so haven't had to tip porters etc.

Visited Egypt and we were having to tip CONSTANTLY! Nightmare...expected all the time for everything. Exhausting...

@Fontetyes have experienced that in Egypt. However you can’t compare the two economies?

I get it in places like Alabama where the minimum wage for servers is 2:13 but other states have over ridden that minimum to be the same as everyone else. Yet I’m still expected to tip 20%. I do and I get that they get taxed on the expected amount so it screws them if I don’t but I hate the ‘they rely on tips’ narrative being the same whether minimum wage is 2 or 15 dollars.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped

The craziest tip I was asked for in the US was in a coffee shop in Boston. I got a can of drink from the fridge and took it to the counter to buy it to take away. The person on the till added a 20% tip to the price. He literally expected me to pay 20% more for scanning a can and handinf it back to me.

This is one of the many reasons why I wouldn't visit the US now even if someone paid me to go.

@loveawineloveacrisp We don’t find it so annoying. We carry our own bags. We eat in places where we add extra to the advertised price as we know that’s what will happen. You simply get used to doing the sums. If you assume you pay 30% on top, you are about right. Our main priority is getting good food at a reasonable price.

On our last trip we stayed in 2 self catering places and found buying food more expensive than we thought. The travel company booked it and we didn’t leave a tip. We just left the key!

My auntie has just moved back to the UK after sixty years living in Los Angeles. Everyone she encounters gets £20. The two (miserable and unhelpful) blokes delivering her Dunelm mirror, the uber drivers, a woman who helped her choose a sofa. She just does not seem to be able to not do it because to her it’s terrible not to.