I’ve lived for decades in several European countries, but not the UK. I’ve never paid a tip or been asked to pay a tip or felt like I had to pay a tip.
Are you English speaking by any chance? In Germany I often notice that the waiters act totally differently whenever my American parents are visiting than when I’m just out with friends and speaking German.
With Germans they just show up with the card reader and we pay one by one; often people will ask to round up their bill to the nearest Euro but it’s not expected.
With my parents (or other Americans that have visited me) they often act like American waiters and bring the bill and then kind of hover next to us and wait for us to initiate what we want to do next. I think they’ve learned that most Americans will assume ‘this is the part where we work out how much tip to give’ and the waiters often end up with a (for German standards) gigantic tip. At least this always works with my parents since ‘we feel bad not tipping!’
I was literally in Bergerac a few weeks ago, and a tip of 5-15% was expected practically anywhere I ate - and that’s not exactly a bustling metropolis…
I worry that Lemmy fetishises Europe a bit too much as some bastion of freedom, great pay, or amazing rights.
Tipping is totally optional in the UK in my experience. Cafes have a tip jar but it’s up to the customer whether they leave one or not. Same with bars/pubs.
Well sure, no one tips in cafes or pubs, but it’s definitely expected in restaurants. Hell, we had the tip machines for contactless payment before the yanks did…
Are you from Europe? This absolutely isn’t the UK, nor is it many of the countries I’ve visited here…
I’ve lived for decades in several European countries, but not the UK. I’ve never paid a tip or been asked to pay a tip or felt like I had to pay a tip.
May be different in the UK.
Tipping has been implied pretty much anywhere I’ve eaten in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Greece.
Are you English speaking by any chance? In Germany I often notice that the waiters act totally differently whenever my American parents are visiting than when I’m just out with friends and speaking German.
With Germans they just show up with the card reader and we pay one by one; often people will ask to round up their bill to the nearest Euro but it’s not expected.
With my parents (or other Americans that have visited me) they often act like American waiters and bring the bill and then kind of hover next to us and wait for us to initiate what we want to do next. I think they’ve learned that most Americans will assume ‘this is the part where we work out how much tip to give’ and the waiters often end up with a (for German standards) gigantic tip. At least this always works with my parents since ‘we feel bad not tipping!’
I’ve never once experienced that in any of those countries.
I was literally in Bergerac a few weeks ago, and a tip of 5-15% was expected practically anywhere I ate - and that’s not exactly a bustling metropolis…
I worry that Lemmy fetishises Europe a bit too much as some bastion of freedom, great pay, or amazing rights.
Well, compared to the US, Europe indeed is a bastion of freedom, great pay, amazing rights, and no least, sanity. I’ve lived for many years in both.
I’ve also never experienced tipping in Europe. You have. I guess we’ve had different experiences.
Tipping is totally optional in the UK in my experience. Cafes have a tip jar but it’s up to the customer whether they leave one or not. Same with bars/pubs.
Well sure, no one tips in cafes or pubs, but it’s definitely expected in restaurants. Hell, we had the tip machines for contactless payment before the yanks did…