Restaurant tipping etiquette varies around the globe
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 11:46PM By Alexis Austin
austina@mytjnow.com
It’s not the $2.13 an hour that attracts people to become waiters at restuarants and bars. They would probably much rather work somewhere that doesn’t smell like smoke or where they don’t have to deal with people’s attitudes. What attracts most people to the job are tips.
In America, most waiters are paid a minimum wage of $2.13 per hour. However, whatever money they make in tips while working is theirs, tax free. Guests at bars and restaurants are expected to tip their waiter at least 15 percent of the total on their bill. Depending on the restaurant, if there is a party of eight or more, 18 percent gratituity is included in the bill.
While this is the norm in America, many who have traveled or lived abroad know tipping etiquette is quite different overseas.
Senior political science major Elise Gibbons learned this while studying in Italy last year.
“In Italy they typically don’t tip,” she said. “It’s usually included in the price you pay at the restaurant if you choose to sit and eat. If you stand, you don’t pay a tip.”
Gibbons also said that the only time she ever left a tip was after riding in a taxi.
France is not much different.
“In France the waitress will not be offended if you don’t leave a tip,” said Jean-Phillipe Martin, a foreign exchange student.
Martin also said the only time it is expected to leave a tip is if it is an expensive restaurant, but the customer decides how much they would like to leave.
For first year MBA student Miguel Casajuana, he said going to a restaurant in his home country of Spain is not like in the United States.
“People don’t pay with credit cards very often,” he said. “Whatever change they have left after paying in cash is what they will leave for the waiter, plus a euro sometimes.”
If a waiter receives tips while working, the extra money goes into a jar and at the end of the day everyone working in the restuarant splits it.
“Waiters get paid the same as any other worker,” Casajuana said.
As part of the Japanese culture, people do not tip, Tomo Koyano said. Koyano is a first-year MBA student.
“The waiter won’t feel it’s polite to take a tip,” he said. “They will feel like they shouldn’t accept it.”
Koyano, who has lived in the United States for 10 years, said there is a difference in what is expected from the customers and servers in Japan.
“I feel as though servers in the U.S. are nice because they want more money, but in Japan the people are genuinely nice; they don’t expect anything in return,” he said.
Despite their cultural norms, Martin, Casajuana and Koyano said they do tip while living in the United States.
“When in Rome do as the Romans,” Casajuana said.
