Asklemmy

43940 readers

702 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

259

Visiting the US soon - do I really have to tip? (feddit.de)

submitted 1 year ago by kilgore@feddit.de to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

275 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey Folks!

I've been living abroad for over half my life in a country where tipping is not the norm. At most you would round up. 19€ bill? Here's a 20, keep this change.

Going to the US soon to visit family and the whole idea of tipping makes me nervous. It seems there's a lot of discussion about getting rid of tipping, but I don't know how much has changed in this regard.

The system seems ridiculously unfair, and that extra expense in a country where everything is already so expensive really makes a difference.

So will AITA if I don't tip? Is it really my personal responsibility to make sure my server is paid enough?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Sal@mander.xyz 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

My view is: I don't like this cultural element, and I am glad that I live in a country without it. But if I am a visitor from abroad I would not resist the local culture and try to impose my own values. If I am aware of this cultural element and I dislike it, my options would be to either avoid restaurants and other tipping situations as much as I can, or simply account for the tip when making my financial decisions, and pay it.

If I live in the country then it is different, because then I am more entitled to be a driver of change. Personally, my approach would be to support businesses with explicit no-tipping policy, and to refuse receiving tips myself.

[–] randomguy2323@lemmy.fmhy.ml 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No one can force to tip and as Americans we hate the tipping culture too.

[–] nii236@lemmy.jtmn.dev 15 points 1 year ago

Some people love it, namely the ones that have most to gain.

So business owners, and extremely attractive waitstaff

[–] qjkxbmwvz@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

Sort of

there are definitely restaurants which include gratuity, either for all parties or for parties greater than X people (e.g., 5 or more).

[–] kilgore@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

One of the best answers so far, thanks! I'm not a foreigner, but I've been gone for over half my life, so it certainly feels like it. Coming back it always a culture shock.