What do you think about tipping? It has suddenly become very costly.
Do you remember when you tipped for good service, in the UK and when on holiday?
These days, in many restaurants pre-add a service charge of 12% or 15%, a recommended tip used to be 10%, so what has changed? I have even seen bills with the service charge added and then a gap for gratuity – what’s that all about? And, if the added charge is not a gratuity, what is it?
I know Australians don’t tip. They don’t have a tipping culture in their country. So what happens when they go overseas?
In the USA a recommended tip is noted on the receipt, giving you details of what you should be tipping. 15%, 20% or 22%. I know this is because waiting staff are paid very low wages and the tips they receive are to make up their wages, but 22%.? You have paid for your food and now you are paying the servers wages in effect? Where will it all end.
On Cruises you can now pay a fare that includes all gratuities, but yet if you were to say that to some Cruise passengers they would say but you have to tip the crew members, waiters, bar staff, stewards etc. I know you have 20% added to any spa treatments, despite if you have pre-paid gratuities or not. Again, these are low paid workers, you have paid for the cruise and now you are expected to pay the staff wages.
I wonder what tipping will be added to next and if it is really meant to be for good service any more or just a way of the customer paying the staff wages?
I always tip, if I have had good service but my top tip is to check if it is going to the server, as so many companies don’t pass it on and just take it as more profit. I won’t name the names but I know one big high end restaurant chain does this and one big hotel company and so I almost always tip in cash and ask for the service to be removed.
Ha..just wait till you see the self service places which also prompt you for a tip when checking out..
This is why I love Japan…no tipping..
We had take out yesterday lunch, if you ordered online you had to add at least 15% but we had to order on the phone and then you could just pay the food amount 🙂 good job to as the order was wrong!
I don’t agree with extra tipping on a cruise, I always have it removed and if someone does a good job for me like the waiter and cabin steward they get a tip. I agree with you that they need to pay their staff a wage that doesn’t need to be bumped up by extra gratuities charged to guests who have already paid for the cruise, and does it really go to them??
As for the USA and the U.K. for that matter I don’t need to be reminded on their little machine that they want me to add a minimum of 12.5% I pay the bill as it stands and then like to reward the waiter with a cash amount for a good job, they did the waiting so they get the reward.
Tell you what ask to have the automatic gratuity charge removed in a US restaurant, we did it once in Perkins as the service was 2 steps worse than diabolical, and you would have thought we had told them we supported Donald Trump. I’m sure our mugshot must be at every Perkins restaurant saying not welcome, which is good coz we would never go there again ! Anyway rant over hope you are having a good time 👍