Tips

[johncorrigan]

Then at a steak house near Broadway, our extremely camp waiter flounced back to our table with my woefully under-calculated signed credit card receipt, tossed his head and flamboyantly ripped the paper up into four pieces and let it flutter on to the table... with a "you don't seem to know that it is customary, Sir....". It was so hilarious that again I forked out gladly. And never forgot again... [/COLOR]

Good one, Cal ...it could've turned nasty, after all.
Some folks give tips at Christmas
And some of them forget
So when he picks their bins up
He spills some on the step

Now one old man got nasty
And to the council wrote
Next time my old man went 'round there
He punched him up the throat

For me, the image of the tip often brings to mind Snudge (of Bootsie and Snudge)with the hand extended backwards...'I'll be leaving you now!'

[Dave2002]

I believe that in some countries, such as Sweden, it is considered insulting to leave a tip, as that implies that the employee is not being paid enough by the employer, thus giving a slight to both.

[Serial_Apologist]

In the US, everyone seems to have the requisite 'bill-fold' in a pocket, to peel off the necessary... I've found myself ignorant, awkward and lacking in the requisite greenbacks, resorting to embarrassed shrugging... and happy to be marked down as a stoopid limey, because I actively dislike the whole feudal business.

But on my first trip to NY, NY, I was 'called out' twice in restaurants on my failure to tip, both times amusingly but in different ways. First time, at a breakfast diner on the Upper West Side, when I failed to tip, the completely charming young woman who had served us explained to me in detail the economics of the 15% for her take-home and weekly wage, leaving me gladly bunging 20% on the original. Then at a steak house near Broadway, our extremely camp waiter flounced back to our table with my woefully under-calculated signed credit card receipt, tossed his head and flamboyantly ripped the paper up into four pieces and let it flutter on to the table... with a "you don't seem to know that it is customary, Sir....". It was so hilarious that again I forked out gladly. And never forgot again...

This story reminds me of when I was waitering in the West End, back in the '60s, when it was uncommon not to tip. A party of Aussies was coming to the end of their meal, and the head of the party gave the waiter sixpence as the tip, for what at the usual 10% should have been at least £2. The waiter looked down at his hand in astonishment, then went over to one of the small children in the group, and handed her the sixpence with the words, "Here you are, why not buy yourself an ice cream?" upon which the mother replied to the child, "Say thank you to the nice waiter"!