cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
A Traveler’s Guide To International Tipping - Forbes
Nothing, save drinking the water in Tijuana, causes travelers more anxiety than the vagaries of tipping. I have sat across dining tables with some of the best-traveled, most sophisticated people in the world who start to tremble when they have to write in a gratuity on the bill. I’ve seen CEOs who barely shrug when faced with a Senate sub-committee investigation in the afternoon go to pieces contemplating the tip at dinner that evening.
I admit, tipping is a tough business. And a completely stupid one, defended on the one hand by those who choose not to pay a decent wage to their employees, and on the other by those same employees who both need the money and who love the feel of straight cash in their pocket. (For the record, I have waited tables and loved the cash, too.) But why do we tip waiters, porters and valet parkers but not flight attendants, salespeople at a shoe store, check-out workers at a supermarket, or attendants at a full service gas stations—none of whom makes much more than minimum wage? There seems no rhyme or reason to it, except entrenched tradition. ( By the way, the word “tip” is not an abbreviation for “to insure promptness.” “Gratuity” precedes “tip” in print by two hundred years, around 1540.)
Nothing, save drinking the water in Tijuana, causes travelers more anxiety than the vagaries of tipping. I have sat across dining tables with some of the best-traveled, most sophisticated people in the world who start to tremble when they have to write in a gratuity on the bill. I’ve seen CEOs who barely shrug when faced with a Senate sub-committee investigation in the afternoon go to pieces contemplating the tip at dinner that evening.
I admit, tipping is a tough business. And a completely stupid one, defended on the one hand by those who choose not to pay a decent wage to their employees, and on the other by those same employees who both need the money and who love the feel of straight cash in their pocket. (For the record, I have waited tables and loved the cash, too.) But why do we tip waiters, porters and valet parkers but not flight attendants, salespeople at a shoe store, check-out workers at a supermarket, or attendants at a full service gas stations—none of whom makes much more than minimum wage? There seems no rhyme or reason to it, except entrenched tradition. ( By the way, the word “tip” is not an abbreviation for “to insure promptness.” “Gratuity” precedes “tip” in print by two hundred years, around 1540.)