British people are regarded in European countries as the lousiest tippers, and I avoid going out with some of my work colleagues because they live up to this stereotype. It makes me want to cringe. Germans are supposed to be good tippers, but can be rude (which compared to drunken Brits is quite an achievement). Russians are just obnoxious. My experience is that Scots and Irish never forget to tip good service.

Sorry, forgot this. A british family got compensation from their travel agent recently because most of the other guests were German, and so they could not understand any of the activities. German paper Bild has mocked the fact that none of the home nations have qualified for the European Cup, and which resorts to avoid.
PS USA travellers also best at tipping.

You'd be surprised how many people don't know about tipping in various countries. I remember a friend telling me she went to Miami for two weeks, had a great time, never left a tip. She was shocked to learn that the people who waited on her tables basically did not get paid whilst serving her.

I'm from France and I now always warn anyone traveling to the U.S. to always remember to tip the waiter at least 15-20% for average service and not to hesitate to go beyond for good service.

As a former metro DC busboy, I can vouch that this has been known for a long time. Moreover, the worst among the Europeans, Asians, Africans, Arabs, etc., are their diplomats, particularly those who are new to the US. Occasionally, you get a SOB (or a group of SOBs) who not only not tip, but skip. Then they would whip out their diplomat ID's and challenge the restaurant to sue them, saying that they were covered by diplomatic immunity.

chsw

This is only Alarming News if you've never had a friend work as a server in New York.

And if you don't have good service? If your service is shit? What then?

This is why the tipping culture is such a stupid implementation in the US. Everybody is looking for a damned handout. It's about time waiters actually got paid a living wage, and stop subsisting on tips which are variable and not generally the culture elsewhere.

Yes, if you are a good waiter, and I get good service, you bet a nice fat gratuity is headed your way. But if you're rude, the food's slow, you can't be bothered actually *serving* me, then I'll be a monkey's uncle if I give you more than the bill says I should.

Which, by the way, brings me to the next stupidest implementation of the tipping culture - the service charge. WTF? What if you don't deserve the charge? And I still gotta pay?

My solution to this problem (not that anybody would ever do this); PAY THE WAITERS PROPERLY! At least minimum wage. Like fast food joints do.

That reminds me of a time back in 1983...My brother-in-law used to race modifieds on the DIRT tracks of upstate NY and occasionally in Canada. We went to Trois Riveras for a race, and stopped at a local restaurant for dinner. Once the waitstaff heard us talking in English, they avoided us like the plague. After suffering through a mediocre meal and haphazard service, my B-in-Law decided to leave them a nice, fat tip in US currency out of spite. They practically tripped over each other to get to our table when we left.
We came back the next day for lunch and were treated like royalty...LOL

Funny, when I was waitressing in a tourist hotel in London, Americans were the worst tippers. I think they presumed no one tipped in the UK when in fact we do - we just don't expect to pay for their wages!

NYC has an up obscene tipping culture and people will tip 15-50% even for the worst horrible service.
Here most people leave good tips no matter what, good or bad service. It's a part of the culture of the city and a social status motivation to look like a good tipper.
It's not a good situation unless you are a waiter or bartender.

In the UK, if you tip with a credit card (i.e. when paying your bill), the employer is allowed to deduct the tip from your wages, leaving you with zero incentive to provide any sort of good service. Some of the better companies don't do this. Me? I always tip with cash, and, if possible, in a way that person can pocket same themself, instead of having to share it with somebody not so attentive.

Funny, when I was waitressing in a tourist hotel in London, Americans were the worst tippers.
I have NEVER heard that from servers in Europe. I've heard plenty of complaints that Americans thought that their generous tipping justified acting like entitled assholes, but never that the tips weren't themselves far above the local norm.

I have NEVER heard that from servers in Europe. I've heard plenty of complaints that Americans thought that their generous tipping justified acting like entitled assholes, but never that the tips weren't themselves far above the local norm.

Well, I was a European waitress. We all said that. Go and figure it out.

Actually, Gregory, your complaint about service is precisely why tipping is the essential method to pay for service. In one breath, you pose the possibility of poor service, bad food, etc. In the next breath, you don't see that a tip is the incentive to provide good service?

If waiters were paid higher wages in lieu of tips, they'd have no incentive to be good. You really don't see that?

Perry, I don't see that waiting staff need to be badly paid to do a good job. If they do a poor job, that should be badly tipped. I also think that the "tip kitty" in any place is bad, because waiter A recieves the reward meant for waitress B, and the asshole manager usually pockets 25% of the whole lot. Hence my surruptitious tipping policy on the staff who have personally served me.
I also never tip on my credit card (see above). I actually realise I have not disagreed with you here.
On another note. I was on Tenerife in January, and I noticed that the bar staff had a tip jar. Now, all they were doing was serving drinks; they were too busy to be particularly friendly. Tabs are not done here or many places in the UK, so it's not like you can tip at the end. I didn't tip with each drinks order (costing 7 euro), because I thought on one hand that, if I was gonna do a tip, I'd give a bigger one nearer the end of my visit, rather than 4 or 5 little ones. Any thoughts anyone?

A bit on the late side, but Perry, here's the thing.

I get paid a reasonable salary. It's more than subsistence, definitely some left over for a rainy day.

But I also have commissions for performance. And while my salary is decent, the commission is where the real money is. You bet I'm going for that.

Bottom line, unless you're in the sales business, people do not generally work for bonuses. They work for regular pay. You don't perform well enough, you get fired. Plenty more where you came from. A decent salary is NOT a disincentive to good service.

Besides, what about fast food joints? Are you saying that they don't provide good service? Decent, surely, at the very least.

Or do you tip them too? In that case, forget about me ever being in NYC, ever.