Tipping in USA

bleepandbooster

A few years ago we visited NYC a number of times staying in the same hotel (BW President) We became very good friends with the staff to the point that they refused to take any tips off us ! A few times we took them small gifts from here in Wales.

In nearly 20 years of travelling to the US, we have never had any trouble as regards to tipping. No one has ever got grumpy or shouted at us !

Cofion
David

HOK3Y

Some of the waitresses do make absolutely excellent money on tips in the US. And yes, the service blows UK restaurant service out of the water typically! I am married to an American and he always said to tip for meals 10-15% but I left that to him for the most part anyway. It definitely is a cultural difference.

jackieblack

Mr_Wang wrote: »

So that's the Middle East, Northern Africa, Parts of Central Africa, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, parts of SE Asia and Indonesia and the Nusa Tenggara right down to Timor and the S Pacific Islands all ruled out then.
And a couple of Southern US states and every council estate in Britain ruled out

Yep, sounds about right.
I also won't go to Japan or Iceland because of their policies on whaling, or China, for several reasons

Mr_Wang

jackieblack wrote: »

Yep, sounds about right.
I also won't go to Japan or Iceland because of their policies on whaling, or China, for several reasons

You must be a really well rounded person.

jackieblack

Mr_Wang wrote: »

You must be a really well rounded person.

Thanks for your concern, yes I am

It's about choice.
The world is a big place. I choose not to go to places that have customs/culture/beliefs/practices etc that I don't agree with.
There are lots of other places that I can choose to go to.

SaveTheEuro

jackieblack wrote: »

It doesn't make much sense to choose to go a place with a culture/well known practices that you find irritating and then moan about it!

It makes a lot of sense to visit a place with an open mind and express independent thought. You can enjoy Thailand without approving of prostitution or Spain without approving of bull fighting.

jackieblack

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

It makes a lot of sense to visit a place with an open mind and express independent thought. You can enjoy Thailand without approving of prostitution or Spain without approving of bull fighting.

It just doesn't make sense, to me, to choose to go to a place (out of all the places in the world there are to choose from), knowing that they have customs/culture/beliefs/practices etc that you don't agree with and then come home and complain about how annoyed or irritated by it you were.
There are so many other places you could choose to go.

I'm not going to able to visit every place in the world in my lifetime. So I choose to go to places that I believe I will enjoy, not places I know I'll be annoyed or irritated by.

Moto2

jackieblack wrote: »

Yep, sounds about right.
I also won't go to Japan or Iceland because of their policies on whaling, or China, for several reasons

I refuse to holiday in England any more
The last straw was when they refused to exile Ben Fogle to somewhere where he'd find it impossible to communicate in anyway with the media, I even suggested taking Kate Humble with him as a bonus [for us, not him] but they were having none of it.

claire16c

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

I find the tipping culture quite annoying. An usher at the theatre walks you three metres to your row and expects a dollar or more. A driver on a shuttle bus displays huge signs about the importance of tips. And restaurants let you know exactly how many dollars to add to the bill if you'd like to leave a 25% tip. After all that I was glad to go to McDonalds and be left in peace.

The shuttle bus driver only irritates me if they were to want a tip and they didn't help you - if you don't want to tip just carry your own bag.

Woolwich_Kim wrote: »

I will carry my own bags, I travel light anyway.

As for cleaning my own room, isn't the price inclusive of a maid? Afterall, if there was an option to take it out I would.

Yes people in the uk do tip, but only however much we want and we don't expect rude attitude for not doing so. Sometimes, service charge is already added to the bill, which you can ask for it to be removed.

Put the do not disturb sign on your door then.

You tip what you want in the US too. No one will physically force you. But I've rarely been anywhere I didn't want to tip there because service is nearly always great.

Woolwich_Kim

I'm sure there will be at least one culture/custom in every country on earth that I don't agree with. There are even some stuff here in my birthplace I don't like.

I am happy/willing to round up prices and the difference could be a tip but I'd be appalled if I were chased for more, of which they won't be getting if that were the case.