Tipping is a part of the American culture. It really keeps the wheels turning in many activities. Without tipping the whole restaurant industry would stop working. I know, because I live here 6 months every year. And I obey the rules and try to live up to them.
That doesn’t mean I like it. Don’t get me wrong, we have tipping in Europe as well. But it works in a different way. For us, tipping is really something to appreciate the service of the waiter and comes on top of his/hers – hopefully – reasonable salary (which is regulated in agreements with the labor unions).
In USA tipping is the major part of the “salary” for the waiters. This means that the waiters in Europe have a far better wage security. And this is not fair to the American waiters. I might exasperate the managers of a whole industry now, but it is something wrong with the US system: it is outdated. The prices in the menu only cover the cost of production of the dish I am looking forward to eat. Taking orders, the transportation to the table and the handling of payment for the article – the dish – is not specified and something I have to pay for separately. This is sometimes called false advertising…
In effect, apart from the costs for the dish I have ordered, I have to pay the wages for an important part of the staff at the restaurant as well. I can understand why the managers like this system: they don’t have to bother about the cost of wages for the waiters one quite night at the restaurant; it hits back on the waiters who can’t help if it is a rainy night… Is that a fair system?
A kind of a scam…
Seriously, is it more complicated or more troublesome to open a USD 100,00 bottle of wine, or one USD 20,00 bottle of wine, if I order the more expensive wine? For the better wine I have to pay “tip” of USD 15,00, for the simple wine it is only USD 3,00?
You may even hear the idea that you should tip at take-out places. Outrageous. It is the chef who packs the ordered food, standing at his oven. Not a waiter. Shall I tip at Subway too? Or MacDonald? Come on!
Even in a country like Spain where I have lived for 10 years, more and more restaurants include tipping in the prices from the very beginning. The price you see is what you pay. No extras. Why can’t USA try to get more modern in this respect?
I don’t foresee any immediate change in this system. And I still love this country, my second home. And I will keep on tipping. Under silent protest…
This may help you…
The lowest applicable sales tax in Florida is 6%. To that the local county can add up to 2%. So the average sales tax in Florida is 7%. Some restaurants add 7%, some add 7,5%. But sales tax in Florida (at present) can never be more than 8%.
But things being as they are, you are sitting there and have to calculate how much to pay. You look at the bottom line figure and take 10% of that. Then you add the half of that again and you have 15% tip. WRONG! What you did is, you added tip on a sum which included the sales tax! Why should yo do that? There are two different and simple ways to do it.
Look at the bill. You have the tax stated. Take the tax and double it, add to the total on the bill. Voila! You have exactly or very close to 15% tip on the total before tax! If you would prefer to add a little bit more because of good service: take the first to numbers of the taxable amount on the bill, double it, put a comma in between and add it to the total. You have paid exactly 20% gratitude!