Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Exactly. In the US, many waiters at the more modest restaurants earn the federal minimum wage of $4.25/hour or even less (this is allowed precisely because tips are expected and factored into the total compensation). Hence, a 15% tip is considered standard, it can go higher if you have received exceptional service, or lower (or 0) if the service was really bad. In contrast, in most European countries, waiters earn a much higher wage (for example, in Denmark the minimum wage is more than $10/hour), receive normal benefits, and the service charge is included in the bill. So, there tipping is truly optional and normally given only for exceptional service. Nathan Pascal wrote: > On 02-07-1998 22:50 Mark wrote: > > >i found that people in the bay area (at least) of california > >generally tip higher than in london. on my recent trip there > >we got many genuine thank yous and much appreciateds when i left > >15-20% tips... > > It is not customary to tip waiters in Belgium as a substantial service & > VAT charge is already included in the bill... except by foreigners who > don't know any better ;-) > > Pascal > > -------------------------------------------------------- > Check out: http://members.xoom.com/cyberplace/ > -------------------------------------------------------- > Macintosh PowerBook G3 - it eats Pentium notebooks for lunch > -------------------------------------------------------- > <<< PGP public key available on request >>> - -- Nathan Wajsman Overijse, Belgium Photography page: http://members.tripod.com/~belgiangator/index.html Motorcycle page: http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/1704/index.html