Do you usually leave a tip in a restaurant?
A survey in holiday hotspots around the world has found that the British are the second meanest nation for leaving a tip in restaurants and bars.
Only the French are worse than us. Brits give on average a 7% tip to waiters in restaurants and bars with the French giving less than that and 30% of all French give no tips at all. The most generous tippers are the Americans giving an average of 13% of the cost of the bill as a tip.
Part of the problem is that it can be tricky to know what is expected of you overseas. Tom Bishop, head of travel insurance at Direct Line, said “Tipping expectations vary hugely across the globe and reflect different cultures, attitudes and laws. Our reserved nature and laws preventing employers using tips to top up salaries mean that there is not an established tipping culture in the UK. Many of us feel awkward and confused when it comes to tipping practices across the world.
What’s your view? Do you leave a tip when in a restaurant, bar or a taxi? Are you a generous tipper or do you think people in the service industry should be expected to work without tips? Do you check the tipping culture of a country before travelling abroad?
What are your views?
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Cote is owned by BC Partners, a private equity group. Until recently all but a very small percentage of the service charge was being kept by BC Partners. It was not going to the staff.
A month ago this situation was leaked to the press. Under public pressure Cote / BC Partners changed its policy and the service charge now goes to the employees.
As a Cote user I am aware that the service has declined in the past month and I suspect that the restaurants have had to reduce staff numbers to compensate for the loss of profits to BC Partners.
Maybe what we should all do is only pay the service charge in cash and directly to the staff that served you.
The delights of capitalism.
I could go on about how our taxes are being used to support working people who are on minimum rates per hour and zero hours contracts (such as waiting staff in restaurants) whilst big business in the UK is awash with cash. But this is not the place to do that.
Some eateries will even tell you how much you should tip, which I think is very presumptious of them and I would never do as they tell me to.
I can never understand why we should always tip waiters/waitresses or porters, I was a nurse for 40 years earning a low wage for long hours of hard and sometimes unrewarding work! My husband worked on a farm all of his young life and wages don't get much lower than that! I'm sure he would have loved to work in the warmth of a restaurant rather than out in the cold field eating sandwiches in the cab of a cold tractor! No, I do not tip generously, in fact, very reluctantly!