Travel to the US and tipping

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Hey US of A members,

I'm spending Christmas in NYC and have to ask you; what's the tipping etiquette over there?

We rarely tip here except in restaurants, so it's a bit foreign to us.

I don't want to look like a scumbag by tipping too low, but on the other hand the holiday is costing me a few tens of thousands (USA/France/UK with the family of four) so I need to watch the budget. I'm only a lowly salaried worker...

Tips on tipping appreciated!

Stuey
 
diyAudio Moderator
Joined 2008
Paid Member
Hey Stuey, I'm of the belief that US waiters are paid according to the expectation that they will be tipped. I'd like to be corected but I think 10% is not unusual. I've found them to be easy to talk to and happy to help you understand the custom.

If I understand correctly this process would be illegal here. I always tip at restaurants and find the hosts are usually thankful if not a little surprised.
 
15-20% is normal. We usually only tip in restaurants, taxis and hotel services (room cleaning, luggage, parking). Fast food restaurants (McDonalds, etc) no tipping.

A lot of restaurants will automatically add 15% for parties of 6 or more. Check our receipt. It's often labelled "gratuity".

We almost never tip at retail stores or gas stations, etc.

United States: Tipping & Etiquette - TripAdvisor
 
When you are jealously over-attended to by one clingy annoying individual
its a safe bet that person paid next to nothing and living exclusively off tips.
Not just waiters. Drivers, satellite installers, bathroom attendants, used tire
shop mechanics, ho's, any economically challenged coincierge that works
one-on-one with the assigned customer.

Now on the other hand, you go to a fast food chain and are served at the
register by whomever, a team of faceless nobodies. They are paid with the
expectation that the opportunity to earn personal tips is unusual and rare.
Tips might not even be allowed, you have to run away before the tip can
be returned and enjoy knowing the person you help maybe got in trouble.

If you go to a fancy place, a churrascaria for example, and are served by
a professional team with overwhelming service. The minimum gratuity,
say 15%, is clearly amended to the bill. You can give more if you like,
and it will be shared (including kitchen) but these folks are not starving.

You go to a less fancy place, Denny's, it becomes complicated. Because
they are probably living off tips, and probably sharing with the kitchen
but not each other. You should tip these unappreciated suffering people
highest! Yet so often (if passing through, with no fear of next visit) the
customer leaves a dollar, or nothing. There is a reason these folks are
broken, withering, and toothless.

Stay long enough to make sure your intended recipient gets the tip,
and not stolen by another. Its an evil system we live.
 
Last edited:
Disabled Account
Joined 2004
I know waiters and I know USA. My father owned a restaurant in a Latin city very close to the US (Miami). I don't know toothless waiters though (I don't know either what kind of substance is kenpeter on). Toothless at Denny's?

Yeah waiters live on tips, similar to beggars in that sense, but they smile a lot more and some of them work very hard. Just give them something or else bad karma will follow you wherever you go. Having said that, I really have no sympathy for them. I was cheated by other waiters. I was a teenager, put to the test by my father, I was innocent and they emotionally raped me. When it was time to count up tip money the veterans would usually say "hey Al, go and fetch this, go and fetch that" always told me to go away with some stupid excuse and I was always shortchanged. Scumbags.
 
20% for waitstaff is more the norm these days. 15% is a signal that the service was barely adequate. 10% is a direct insult. If we get really excellent service, we have no hesitation to go to 25-30%.

Look on the bright side: instead of paying that percentage as VAT, it's going directly into the pockets of people who really need the money. Waitstaff here are paid rock-bottom wages, so the tips are their principal source of income.
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2004
I've seen everything: incredible tips from normal people, rich people taking away plant pots, tableware.... You learn a lot about people in restaurants. There was this doctor who liked to drink Don Perignon and chat with me. Always tipped super generously. I still remember him.
 
it's going directly into the pockets of people who really need the money

My daughter was a waitress at an Irish pub/restaurant several years ago " in a Latin city very close to the US (Ft. Lauderdale)". The waiters got paid below minimum wage, and all had to "tip share" 5% of THE CHECK back to the restaurant for the busboys and the bartenders. The place was near the entrance to a retirement community. This means that a waiter would lose money on a customer who sat at the table for two hours and left a 50 cent tip. This happened a lot on weekday afternoon. They made up for it on Friday and Saturday nights....and St. Patricks' day. She made $1200 the time the local rock radio station hosted the party.

The "tip share" policy is fairly common now.
 
$5 is what I would do. But honestly, I prefer to NOT have my room cleaned, bedding changed daily. It's not that I worry about my stuff getting stolen but it's just not needed. I lot of hotels in the US now let you put a sign on the door that says housekeeping not needed...it saves them labor/water and it's good for the environment.
 
15-20 % is normal at restaurants. At least in the Pacific Northwest. There's some debate whether one should tip on the pre-tax or post-tax amount. I usually take 15 % of the amount after the sales tax has been added and round up to the nearest dollar. It's pretty easy to calculate in your head and I've yet to get frowned at by the wait staff when returning to a restaurant. That said, I also tend to go to bars and brewpubs rather than fancy restaurants. Maybe the expectations are different at the higher-end places. Ironically, I've gotten the absolute worst service at a fancy restaurant, but that's another story.

Beware that some wait staff will automatically add gratuity (typ. 18-20 %) to the bill if they hear your party speaking in a foreign language. I've had that happen a few times when I've had family in town from overseas. That's technically illegal for small parties - at least in Washington State for parties less than six - but it's pretty commonly done regardless. Just pay attention so you don't end up leaving a 40 % tip all of a sudden.

Tom
 
Last edited:
Yeah, we don't go too fancy. Pretty plain folk. We'll have to be careful as we have six weeks away, so those meals will add up! But only seven days in the US unfortunately.

This is great, thanks everyone. It's good to get all these perspectives. I'm surprised it would be so carefully calculated, but I guess if it's like your wages, it is quite important.
 
Just to chime in with my own experience as a waiter as well as a tourist... Yes, 20% is about right (also easier to calculate in your head than 15% haha).

Minimum wage in the USA is about $8/hr. "Minimum tipped wage" is about $2. That's right; restaurants pay servers as low as $2, expecting tips to make up the difference. It's a weird system and certainly not fair if you go home at the end of the day with just a bunch of change.

What's funny is when an American like me goes to Europe. We instinctively tip 15-20% which is probably viewed as obscene or condescending, as if the American is showing off how rich he is. Haha, no, just unfanimiar.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.