There are lots of horrible jobs on this planet, but the worst of them all have a job title that starts with the word "Assistant." That word means you get all the crappy little tasks the person who is not the assistant feels is below her... plus whatever other personal tasks they can dump on you (make coffee, clean her mess, go get her laundry, fill her car up, cover the most boring, tedious meetings, take her to and pick her up from the airport, etc, etc).

Don't blame the waitress.
In the US, minimum wage is $7.25.
A waiter/waitress/bartender makes $2.13.

The labor department is assuming that these jobs will equate to at least the minimum wage after tips are added in.
The reality is, a high school kid mopping floors at a fast food joint can make more than your waitress, depending whether or not anyone tipped her or not.

In Australia hospitality staff get paid properly so any tips are a bonus. If the service or food sucked then I won't tip anything.

In restaurants I tip on a sliding scale beyond the service (like most I shoot for the 15 to 20 percent range) but of course if I eat somewhere and the bill is 20 dollars I am likely to leave $5. If I am somewhere and the bill is heck of a lot more I am likely to leave a lot closer to 15 percent.

I don't blame the waitress at all. But that's all kind of wrong. Once the Govt. expects tips to be a part of the basic salary, then it's compulsory and not a "gratuity".

You might as well just show your bill as:

1 Beer: £0.50
Delivery charges: £0.75
Management overheads: £1.00
Tax: £3.80
Serving Staff: £1.20 (calculated at 20% of subtotal)

That's the messed up part about it. Tipping is NOT compulsory. But the law allows servers to be paid a pittance because they expect people will tip. Hence, if people don't tip, the server probably spends more money on gas to get to work than she makes at work.

Much the same here in the Frozen North, AFAIK the notion that customers have to pay half the staff's salary direct is unknown and would be regarded as barbarous.

I tip about 10% at restaurants if the service is acceptable or upwards, but there have been occasions on which I pay the bill precisely (I always use cash, never card) and add nothing but a parting glare. Taxis, I round up a bit, drivers don't expect 10% here. "A few dollars" seems excessive to me. My ride to the airport already costs 40 dollars thank you. I almost never go to pubs, so I don't know the drill; I see no reason to tip if I fetch the drink myself. The trend towards a jar at cafés has spread here, but since I have a Stammkafé I don't mind too much -- not least since we have a relationship whereby if I absent-mindedly leave without paying, they will remind me next time I come in, unless I've remembered myself in the meantime.

Let's see, what else is there.... I've never seen Benwiggy's toilet with people handing out paper towels, and absolutely don't see the point. In Spain you get an old lady sitting by the door with a saucer, you give her half a euro or so per visit, but she doesn't hover. I don't have any tattoos. Or hair. :p

We have them at nicer nightclubs here. He also has a collection of colognes that you may use. Technically free, but you're pretty much expected to drop something in the tip basket.

How To…

Or watch the Video!

I worked for minimum wages (in Australia) about 15 years ago. I got around A$9.50 per hour before tax. My partner's son works as a hotel cook for about A$30 - 40K PA minimum, but that has improved since last year.
The point being that tips are not seen as part of the remuneration stream.
Frankly, I almost never tip. Even at places I go several times a week. The staff get me my "usual" without me having to ask. That's the way it should be.
When I was contracting I declined tips and gratuities wherever I could. They are corrosive to the client relationship.
When I was with IBM we had very strict guidelines on tips/presents etc. We were supposed to decline anything other than nominal gifts (pens, glasses, mouse mats, calendars).

I have been in a meeting where representatives from a printing company offered us a large wad of cash -- £000s -- which they actually put on the table, if our publishing firm put some work their way.
Is that a tip?

As for cow-tipping, that's an "urban" myth. With the emphasis on urban.

There is no set formula for tipping and there are many ways to tip. I was just curious to how you tip. Like, I sometimes don't know what a good tip is with certain services.

In some countries you don't tip because the wages are better.

Then there is this from Reservoir Dogs. The language may not be safe for work there is some cursing in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38

hehe. I know firsthand. I can't tell you how many times we attempted to tip some cows. We'd take this big football playing troglodyte with us, and most of the time you can't even sneak up on the cows. Or sometimes they slept laying down. (I think that depends on breed?) Or if you were lucky enough to sneak up to one before it saw you, it was impossible to knock over. By the time you exerted enough force to push it's 1000lbs over, it had spread it's legs out, and was looking at you. Then the whole herd is looking at you, and then you start to get a little scared. :p

It parallels snipe hunting!

Interestingly, I have found that the "higher class" a place deems itself, the more likely the staff are to expect a tip.
I used to travel on business a couple of times a year. Wound up in a variety of lodgings. Motels never expected a tip. Neither did cafes in rural areas. Big city hotel staff were more likely to look for a tip as would waiters at restaurants. I was on "real and actual" expenses so they were all out of luck.
A friend of mine would leave an insultingly low tip if she thought the service was poor; she didn't tip otherwise.

I live in Thailand where tipping is not customary. However, it is common to leave the coins when retrieving your change after dining.

In places where we're regulars and appreciate good service we usually leave 20 baht (about US$0.60) in lieu of whatever shrapnel is left on the plate. (This is for a meal that would cost 200-300 baht for the two of us.)

I usually tip the barber 10 or 20 baht; the latter if he manages to get me in and out in less than 10 minutes. (I can't stand wasting my time in a barber chair.)

I also tip taxi drivers if they've managed to select a non-ripoff route and navigate expeditiously.

That's about it.

My experience is the opposite here in Thailand. Most places seem to expect it, except fast food, etc. I will leave 20 Baht in a bar, regardless of the bill size. Occasionally nothing if the service is bad/beer tepid. On the golf courses here, tipping is borderline mandatory. I had a right miserable cow once and did not tip at all and she went banzai.

Being from the UK, I would tip a barber, taxi driver and a little in restaurants with no service charge and good service. These auto-tips that are pre-added to the bill drive me mad. Buying a drink for your barman/barmaid in your "local" is customary, but not obligatory. "One for yourself George?" Although I have not lived there for many years, I believe many people tip food delivery staff.

I really do see it as subsidising a cheap employer. I am not sure about now, but years ago the then Inland Revenue used to tax hairdressers on an assumed rate of tips! Outrageous, IMO.

I hail from: Canada

Restaurants:
10-15% depending on bill size. For fancy restaurants or business travel %25.

Bars/Pubs:
$1-$2 per beverage. (Unless I am being charged more then $5 for a domestic beer, then they get whatever change is left by rounding up to the nearest dollar, eg, if the beer is $5.25 they get $0.75. (Their fault... for committing highway robbery))

Taxi's:
Almost never, if the fare is $19.20 i'll just leave them the $20 though. Here the taxi fare starts at $3.50 when you get in the car and goes up rather quickly. You are charged distance and time when the cab is stopped, ie, it continues to count up at a long red light. Creative driving and intentional catching of red lights inflates the price. I won't tip for that.

Hair cuts:
I have my hair done at a rather pricey salon, a mens cut & colour is usually $110 but I get a massive discount and only pay $50. My stylist has also made a couple house calls in emergencies for me and has worked late to accommodate my schedule. I bring her a Starbucks beverage of her choice every time I visit and tip $10-$15. Drinks are also on me any time she stops by :)

Delivery:
If there is a "delivery charge" already on the bill %10, if there is no delivery charge %15.

Carry-out:
Never. I used to be a cook, cooks get very little (sometimes nothing) from the tip share and in a carry-out situation they did all the work. I am not tipping the cashier for the work someone else did.

Exception to all of the above:
Bad service = %0 - I do not feel obligated to tip someone who made my experience unpleasant.

And, for the record. I think tipping is stupid, but society expects it here. I know bartenders who make $40,000/yr. and clear >$500 in tips on a Saturday... The old "I live off my tips" is generally bullshit. No waiter/waitress makes "under minimum wage" that would be illegal. They may make exactly minimum wage, but there are people working for minimum in industries without tips - suck it up.

I'm in Australia, and I'm with you entirely on this one.

I almost never tip. Not because I'm a stingy tightwad, but because here it's really not in the culture. Americans seem to forget that giving a tip is a gratuity, not a obligation. You tip if the service was great, worthwhile, pleasing and memorable. It is very common in Australia to not tip at all after a meal.

That said, I DO tip taxi drivers almost every single time. Why? Because in Australia taxi's make peanuts as pay.

Hudson's Coffee in Australia only employs fresh asian and indian immigrants, that way they can get away with paying them only $4.22 per/hour in A$ (that's around $3.90 US)

Fair?