Tipping point
One thing that troubled me in New York last week, and it seems to get worse every time I go, is the approach to tipping. It has become more than an expectation now.
Take the cab driver who took me from the airport to the hotel on a standard rate of $45. "Most people give me $60 or $55," he says at the end of the ride before I had even opened my wallet. I had planned to give him $50 but gave him $55 to keep him happy. He didn't say thank you; didn't say anything.
Plain greedy
Then there was the waitress with the restaurant bill for $31. I gave her two $20 bills and she asked me if I wanted any change. This sort of thing is plain greedy. I know that waiting staff are paid poor basic rates and that the taxation authorities factor in tips to their pay calculations. But tipping has to remain discretionary.
Tip expectations used to be in the region of 15 per cent but this appears to have gone up. I'm told that in some of the swankier restaurants people sometimes tip as much as 50 per cent of the cost of the meal.
It wasn't as if I had experienced great service. But I just can't get used to the American service culture. In fact I'm not sure it really exists. It's more of a money culture. I complained in a previous blog about the prices attached by the hotel to internet access and things such as the gym that normally are included in the bill. It even extended to paying $7 to leave your bags for the day after checking out. And they call this the "Land of the Free."
I notice also that in most cases the dollar has become the minimum denomination. Bars and restaurants generally don't bother returning coins.
Mean Brits
I know that the Brits can be perceived as mean. The reality is that we have a different attitude to tipping. I would prefer people to be paid a good basic wage so that they don't need to go hunting down tips. I don't need to be asked every two minutes if everything is OK. If it isn't I'll call them over and tell them.
We tip in the UK too but London cabbies don't go asking for tips in the same way. I notice now though that people are tipping in pubs. You never used to tip the bar staff. If you did that you'd be tipping the proprietor as often as not and they were already coining it in.
I think I need a tip or two on how to deal with tipping. Is the answer to swallow hard and dig deep? Or is it time to make a stand?
Take the cab driver who took me from the airport to the hotel on a standard rate of $45. "Most people give me $60 or $55," he says at the end of the ride before I had even opened my wallet. I had planned to give him $50 but gave him $55 to keep him happy. He didn't say thank you; didn't say anything.
Plain greedy
Then there was the waitress with the restaurant bill for $31. I gave her two $20 bills and she asked me if I wanted any change. This sort of thing is plain greedy. I know that waiting staff are paid poor basic rates and that the taxation authorities factor in tips to their pay calculations. But tipping has to remain discretionary.
Tip expectations used to be in the region of 15 per cent but this appears to have gone up. I'm told that in some of the swankier restaurants people sometimes tip as much as 50 per cent of the cost of the meal.
It wasn't as if I had experienced great service. But I just can't get used to the American service culture. In fact I'm not sure it really exists. It's more of a money culture. I complained in a previous blog about the prices attached by the hotel to internet access and things such as the gym that normally are included in the bill. It even extended to paying $7 to leave your bags for the day after checking out. And they call this the "Land of the Free."
I notice also that in most cases the dollar has become the minimum denomination. Bars and restaurants generally don't bother returning coins.
Mean Brits
I know that the Brits can be perceived as mean. The reality is that we have a different attitude to tipping. I would prefer people to be paid a good basic wage so that they don't need to go hunting down tips. I don't need to be asked every two minutes if everything is OK. If it isn't I'll call them over and tell them.
We tip in the UK too but London cabbies don't go asking for tips in the same way. I notice now though that people are tipping in pubs. You never used to tip the bar staff. If you did that you'd be tipping the proprietor as often as not and they were already coining it in.
I think I need a tip or two on how to deal with tipping. Is the answer to swallow hard and dig deep? Or is it time to make a stand?
Labels: bar staff, Brits, cabbies, dollar, London, New York, taxi, tipping, waitress
posted by Richard Donkin at
1:17 AM
1 Comments
