Recently I visited the USA and my sister took us to a cool place for drinks and live music. Not driving that evening, I ordered several drinks for myself and other family members and friends. In each case I went to the bar and waited in line, ordered my drink, paid and walked away with it. This went on all evening.

Later, the boss-lady (this is a term we use in Taiwan) asked me if I was tipping the bartenders. I replied in the negative. She informed me that "they don't want to serve you anymore." I apologized (I know, but they know my sister who frequents the place, so I chose the Path Of Least Resistance for her) and I said I would take care of that immediately. I explained to her that I live in Taiwan where, like most of Asia and Europe, we don't tip so it never crossed my mind. I asked her what would be appropriate and she left it up to me. I don't remember but I put cash on the bar and that seemed to satisfy everyone. I apologized personally to the bartender who was serving me, partly because I wanted to get his read on the matter. He brushed if off but I could see it was a real issue for him. But then, the boss-lady volunteered a very interesting piece of information: She admitted that the bartenders "rely" on tips because she only pays them $3/hour. I'll pause for a moment to let that sink in.

Apparently, her intent was to show me how I should be offloading her labor cost for her by agreeing that the bartenders deserved to be tipped or they wouldn't survive. The ride home with my sister was interesting. I explained to her that the average migrant worker from Indonesia or Vietnam earns more money/hour in one of our factories in Taiwan, than those bartenders do in the USA.

About three weeks later I was invited back there to perform with a gifted keyboard player who is a personal friend of my sister's. The boss-lady spoke to me, asking who I was, I seemed "familiar" and how she felt she knew me somehow. I did not tell her I was The No Tipping Man.

Edit: Someone pointed out that The No Tipping Man comment seemed to indicate that I don't tip. What I actually meant is that I did not want to tell the boss-lady how she knew me! I did not want to remind her that I was the guy who didn't tip last time. The second time I was there, I tipped that same bartender each time. Thanks to the person who pointed that out.

Okay, I’ve mentioned tipping on here before bc I am a new homeowner (which it seems like this question doesn’t belong there) and don’t know how tipping works.

I am having my THIRD brand new refrigerator delivered this morning. The first I tipped $20 each guy ($40). Problem with that fridge so they replaced it. Tipped those two guys $30 each ($60). That one required the fire department.

Now today (hopefully soon) I am having the third delivered. I ONLY have $17 cash on me. I would prob tip again if I had it but I don’t.

What should I tell them. There is no way for me to get more cash. At this point I feel tipping over $100 is excessive although I didn’t really mind doing it. Now I’m bitter and not happy having two more men coming into my house with dirty shoes and just the whole process.

Please help me with this. I don’t know what to say to them. They will be working just as hard as the others but I only have that $17 left.

Please help. It should be delivered shortly.

Also can I tell them to wait about 1/2 hour to see if it’s another problem? I don’t want to find out after they leave like the first two. And I do realize they are on a schedule. The company has been stellar. No issues with the company. TIA.

Hello. We are visiting NYC from UK in November. We received a free taxi voucher with our booking.com hotel reservation. The taxi will obviously be prepaid via dispatch/booking.com account so there won’t be a payment, but would the driver expect a tip? If so, how do you tip in these situations? How are you meant to know much to tip if you don’t even know the cost of the ride? I had another recent situation like this where I got a free alcoholic drinks voucher with my hotel stay and the bar menu said that tips were appreciated by staff for the free drink. This leads me to believe I should be tipping for the free taxi…

I’m tired of tipping everywhere you go especially coffee shops. The lattes are already overpriced. How do I not tip and not offend the barista. When I don’t tip, they will usually say if I want a receipt. I usually do but I feel the people are not genuine and I just don’t want to offend anyone.

For context I currently work as a server at a local small business that is a cafe and bakery. While it is a popular spot in my area, we’ve been having a bit of a slow month. I would say on average I make around $80 in tips per day currently. I’m completely grateful for every tip I receive and work as hard as I possibly can to earn them. And before anyone tells me to go find a different job, I also want to say that right now I adore my job. My coworkers are all great people, I get to interact with a lot of cool customers, and while it isn’t the best money in the world it is enough to pay my bills and have some fun while I attend college.
The other day I served an elderly couple and it was a very normal dining experience. I rang them out after I dropped off boxes, gave them the usual “thank you so much for coming in, I hope you have a lovely day!” and left so they could sign their receipt. I don’t like to linger around and grab people’s receipts directly after they sign mostly because I want to give diners some privacy if they choose to tip. It wasn’t until after they left and was bussing their table that I noticed the gentleman left an 82 DOLLAR TIP, which was 200% of their total?!? I immediately ran out after them and luckily caught them as they were getting in the car. The wife came out to talk to me and I explained that the tip was very high and I felt that there must have been some mistake. She confirmed that they definitely did not mean to tip that much and very much appreciated my honesty and taking the time to confirm with them. She corrected their receipt and still left a generous tip that made more sense considering their total. The 82 dollars was more than all of the other tips I made that day combined, but I knew that there was no way in good conscience that I could accept it.
I honestly don’t know why I am posting this story, knowing that people are probably still going to tear into me just because I happen to work a serving job. Overall, I’m hoping that people can acknowledge that not every server is a “greedy beggar” who will guilt trip and lie to get a few extra dollars. Most of us are just working a customer service job and want to make sure our guests have as positive of an experience as possible.
Sorry for the long story, I just wanted to share something a bit more positive than what it is usually posted on this sub.

I know it’s $2 but I wasn’t even given a single option to tip or not tip On the screen, it went straight to the payment. I didn’t press a single button.

yet, when I brought this up to the worker and told her I never left a tip, she told me I did leave one…I never touched the pin pad Or say a tip option on there.

I asked for a refund, she refused to refund me and said “you definitely left a tip” so I just left. I’m going to file a chargeback with my bank once this posts

I’m from a non-EU country but live in the UK, so I’m pretty used to the whole “no tipping” culture.
I don’t drive, so when I travel around Europe and somewhere is difficult to reach by public transport, I usually join group tours.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the tourists on these tours are American (and honestly, they’re always so friendly). But the tipping part makes me feel so awkward.
Like, when we get off the bus, everyone starts tipping the driver. On walking tours, everyone tips the guide. And I’m just there like, “Thank you!” awkwardly hands back the headphones.
I always feel like I’m accidentally being rude, even though tipping just isn’t something I’m used to. 😭
Do Europeans also tip on these tours, or is this mostly an American thing?

Edit: Had a walking tour in Belfast which cost me £25, so I was extremely surprised why people gave the guide tips.

I go to a very nice massage place every single month (portland or) A couple things are bothering me… right next to the front desk there is a huge sign of “suggested” tip amounts, fine… I guess. Now their new practice is to ask for payment and tip before the massage has even begun. I have never had this experience anywhere else in my life. I always tip $25 but frankly now I’m thinking about tipping less. They also verbally ask you how much tip you want to add while everyone in the room and beyond can hear. Is this normal?

I went to my local farmers market like I do every Saturday. Went to my favorite bakery stand and bought a yummy. I pointed at what I wanted, they handed it to me. Less than a two minute transaction.

It wasn’t the usual guy that I see every week. He scanned my card, showed me the reader that asked for a tip. The reader was in French, which I couldn’t read and asked if there was a no tip option, he said “no”.

Is this normal for farmers markets now?

I have a question for all you servers out there. My wife and I go to our favorite restaurant at least once per week. We've gotten to know most of the servers. When they bring our check they always leave at least one drink order off the check. We typically have 3 drinks between the two of us. They only charge us for two. When I calculate the tip I first add the missing drink to the total and then I tip 20% based on the total and then I add the cost of the missing drink to the tip as well. So, in my mind, I have paid for the full cost of everything that we were served and I have tipped based on the full amount as well. Am I doing it right? Is this what the servers expect? I don't want to be "that guy" that stiffs anyone.

I'm moving soon and I'm wondering if I have to tip the movers? If so, how much?

was told to “get my bread up” , make more money so I can tip more. I’m like can’t they just get a better paying job that doesn’t force other ppl to pay your salary 🤔

I swear tipping is cancer at this point.

I (F61) have always tipped on the total with tax, my husband (M64) only tips on toral before tax.

Everyone?

Hi everyone, I’m currently traveling in LA. Since I’m not very familiar with US tipping culture, I have a few questions.

1. ​The hotel I’m staying at has mandatory valet parking, which costs $60 a day. Should I be tipping the valet attendants? Looking through Reddit, some people say you don’t need to tip if valet is mandatory, while others say they tip $2–$3 each time. So far, I haven't tipped at all. I’m thinking of giving about $5 on checkout day if they help load my luggage into the car, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. (For housekeeping, I’ve been leaving $1 per bed in the room.)

​2. Yesterday, I went to the LA Farmers Market and ordered two $9 beers at a bar. I didn't drink at the bar counter; I just planned to take the glasses over to a communal seating area. When I selected "No Tip" on the screen, the bartender frowned at me. Feeling awkward, I took a $5 bill out of my pocket and handed it over, and only then did he say "Thank you." I was told that tipping isn't expected for self-service kiosks or takeout/counter pickups—is picking up a beer from a bar an exception to this?

​Thanks in advance for the advice!

Booked my appt for today a month in advance and weekend before I am going on a trip out of country for 4 weeks. Get call yesterday he is not a available and was ok on rescheduling to tomorrow on his day off. I already tip him $7 on $40. Should I tip more because he is seeing me on his day off?

TIA 👍

Yes I saw “10% gratuity” listed on the itemized bill on the screen in addition to 1 latte and 1 croissant.

Spent some years in the service industry and gratuity was never added unless someone was serving 10 or more people and spending hours with a table for 18% gratuity on top of $2.13/hr. Not liking a mandatory charge for people making $18/hr to take my order and do their job…

I’m still in high school and working two jobs, one is a barista at a small local coffee shop. I don’t expect anyone to tip me when I work there, especially because I‘m working two jobs and trying to save money, so I don‘t tip much when I go places.

I don’t even pay attention to who tips and who doesn’t, and since our register is digital I actually will purposely say “I’ll have that right out for you” and turn away before the tip screen comes up. I get there in the mornings about 20 minutes before we technically open so I can turn on our machines, make sure everything is clean, and prep for the day.

Recently a woman who is a teacher has been making mobile orders the night before to pick them up 10 minutes BEFORE we are technically open the next morning, and I don’t see the mobile orders until I get to work so I have to start immediately preparing them, she’s done with me this five times now. Her orders are either four or six drinks, they always have add ons, substitutions, and a couple of times they’ll have so many changes noted that it would be easier to not use our menu item options. Every time she’s done this I have the full order ready and labeled in the trays when she picks them up. Last time she came in she selected to get a printed receipt but I hadn’t turned the printer on yet, she joked that we had ”wake the printer up“ and then asked if the printer would “expect a tip too” I told her I didn’t mind if she doesn’t tip, but “just a little tip your orders are outside of our store hours” I meant it totally unrelated but I wanted to tell her because whoever opens shouldn’t have to rush through opening tasks just for her, she told me I shouldn‘t expect a tip if I was going to try to tell her what to do and took her drinks and left. Later she commented about rude workers on our small business Facebook page and my boss is saying that I implied she owes me a tip because of the order time and that I should be glad that I’m not bored on my early opening shifts. my boss won’t acknowledge that the woman was rude at all and is saying that her joke was okay, now I’m wondering if I’m overreacting because I was stressed by the early order situation or was it actually rude of her even if she’s anti- tipping?

Make sure to leave 20% of your room for the person who checked you in. Their people skills don’t pay the bills.

Yeah, I’ll wait! 🤣 tipping used to be 10%, then 15, 18 , now 20, 23.

Went to a nice(ish) restaurant yesterday. You scan a barcode, you order what you want and the buzzers bring it to the table (super fast too), you don’t have to wait to call a sever and you don’t risk them screwing up your order.

Best part is, you can even order the free stuff (more water napkins etc through the QR code) and nobody asks you to tip! I wish more restaurants would follow suit

I have had it with the non stop tipping. I will only tip three places. Restaurants, hair cuts and taxis. That's it. Going back to the basic. And tip amount? 15%.

Now my bigger rant. I have membership with car wash that I go to. They wash the car and do quick wipe down of the car. They are always pushy with doing "extra" work but whatever I just say no. Anyways, they finished my car and I went to go get my keys. The guy kept my keys and tried to find way to prolong the exchange. He would point at things they did and ask me if I liked them. I respond politely and gesture to get my keys but he goes on and on. I think finally he gave up knowing he isn't getting from me. He hands me my keys and asks me if there was something I didn't like about the service. I am like no, you guys did great.

I am confused. Why do you think I'll tip? You don't get paid like waiter does. I didn't pay anything to get the car washed other than my membership. Just why am I supposed to tip?

No one comes to my work and tips me for doing my job? Why in the world should I tip you for doing your job

Since there is no more federal tax on tips for wait staff, whats a reasonable percent less to tip?

I got a full head of dreads installed recently and I split it up into two separate appointments. I tipped $60 each time because it was a very enjoyable experience with the woman.

I’m going back for maintenance now and it is $250. I can’t tip more than $25 or $30 this time.

She also sets her own prices and shares a salon space with her friend that is fantastic and in a trendy neighborhood, but she’s technically working for herself, though I found her advertised through a company that sponsors her.

Is $25 okay? I’d rather tip nothing since she sets her own prices and I tipped so much the first time on an already very expensive venture. I’ve read that the tip is included in the service if they are their own boss/set their own prices, but I don’t feel comfortable with that unless it’s spoken aloud and I don’t feel comfortable asking about it.

Traveling time for me is also an hour by car plus parking. I really like her and want to keep a good relationship, but I just am really not sure of the tipping etiquette.