lunch. I ate at Quiznos today and got really annoyed by the line on my credit card slip for a tip. It's a fast food deli! It's not even a locally owned deli. (Keep Austin Weird!) I am with the author on this one. Why the hell are we tipping for services we already paid for?!? And if these people are asking for tips for reasons other than supporting the business or supplementing the lower than minimum-wage income of the employees, it's not a tip. It's charity! Let's call it what it is and if you're brave enough to ask for charity money, be brave enough to explain where my hard-earned money is going.

Okay - I'm through with my rant.

Amy

Hi, Tipping in Australia for most things is not mandatory. Of course if you get good service at a restaurant etc you can opt to tip. I think tipping is an American thing. I tip if I feel I have received good service on things. Susannah

I think tipping should be used for GOOD service. Good service rarely happens anymore!!

I am with you! Way too much tipping happening out there, and usually the service is non-existent or just plain lousy. Enough already.

My biggest tipping issue is at the State Fair. My sister and I go every year and a couple years back our state started this tipping in the bathroom thing.... they have a table with a tip jar there. When you get up to the front of the very long line the stalls all have numbers on them and the attendant in the bathroom will say whatever number is open. WEll I too can see as the person in stall #3 comes out so I KNOW stall #3 is open and that lady really does not need to tell me. If they actually provided me with some sort of service that would be one thing but this is tipping gone wild in my opinion. - I dont tip the bathroom ladies. p.s. Are the bathrooms any cleaner you ask..... a great big NOPE to that.

Most stores, hotels, and restaurants in the Islands add the tip into the bill, which obviously does not give employees/owners incentive to provide excellent service, which also shows in the poor service in most cases.

For watstaff, bartenders, hotel staff, and taxi drivers, tipping makes sense. When I was a bartender I was paid $2.00 an hour, the rest of my income came from tips, and I made a hell of a lot more cash that way. In many industries, the tipping makes sense.

But when it comes to the Baristas at Starbucks and the guy the the deli? No way.

The other thing that kills me is the valet parking. Here in Miami, there are some places where you can ONLY valet park and I hate valet parking my car. If I choose to use a valet, I will tip them. If it's my only option, I refuse.

I remember seeing a tip jar at a Baskin & Robbins ice cream parlor about a year ago. I thought that was ridiculous. What am I tipping for? Is it for doing a good job scooping my ice cream? For making a good sundae? Do some of these places know what customer service mean? Is it wrong to think that we should at least get a minimum amount of customer service without paying anything extra? If I don't like the way the sundae is made or if it is not made how I ordered they'll make it again (although i haven't been to an ice cream parlour since being banded).

Another place I don't go to anymore is buffets. I don't understand why the tables are set up buffet style for people to get their own food and then the drinks have to be ordered. Now am I suppose to be obligated to leave a good tip based on whether or not my drink is brought to the table? Now that's difficult.

I really really hate tipping. I think it is a system that does not make a bit of sense. Waitstaff should be paid a living wage by the establishment, we should not have to support them. I work in retail and i think my job is every bit as demanding as waitstaff but i don't get tipped.

I really really hate tipping. I think it is a system that does not make a bit of sense. Waitstaff should be paid a living wage by the establishment, we should not have to support them. I work in retail and i think my job is every bit as demanding as waitstaff but i don't get tipped.

I kind of agree with you. I used to work in retail and that was basically the only way that you really kept your job was being extra good in your customer service but we never recieved a tip. So I guess either we start tipping our salespeople or we start paying the waitstaff a decent wage. What do you think is more likely to happen?

I can't see either changing anytime soon. We can dream.

In countries like France the tip is folded into the bill in all restaurants. And you really don't have to tip when on those all-inclusive vacations but my husband and I will sometimes tip when we feel that we have received especially attentive and caring service and we are inclined to leave a little something every day for the room maids.

I am personally uncomfortable with tipping but it is entrenched in our system and so I feel that I must tip since the tip is part of the hospitality worker's wages. I will stiff a waiter/waitress/cabby or whomever for his or her tip when I have received lousy service and I will sometimes give an explanation for this. I won't stiff a waiter for his tip when the food is bad because this is something over which he has no control and it is not fair to punish him. I simply never return to the restaurant is all.

As for those toilets where you have to tip an attendant, well, many foreign countries have this set-up and it was a nasty shock to me the first time I encountered a Madame Pipi, as the French call these attendants. Still, I guess it does keep people employed though it is not an attractive career path.

Australia's tip-free approach sounds like commonsense heaven to me.

"Madame Pipi?" That's awful...

In Miami the tip is often included, as well. Of course, many places don't clearly point it out to customers and they end up double-tipping on their tabs. Caveot Emptor to those of you vacationing in South Florida.

I completely forgot about the fee-to-pee in Paris. It's like that in Italy too. We had just landed in Italy and had to pee like mad! We had no Italian money though and the lines for currency exchange were horrible. I almost peed myself.

Amy

Fee to pee! Love the expression, eh. Thanks for posting this. Yup, there is a fee to pee in many countries. :phanvan

My husband and I went on a tour in Turkey a couple of years ago and sometimes you had to pay and occasionally you didn't. Of course when you did this meant small change and this often resulted in polling your friends for coins. One of our friends, a Kiwi with a great sense of humour, liked to hand out coins while saying "have a pee on me."

Toilet rules when you are away from home in a foreign country are probably the most stressful part of travelling. This is because we are all so embarassed about talking about that stuff in the first place and then there is the additional problems of language and culture to contend with. I have been lucky enough to have had quite a bit of experience with foreign travel but the toilet biz always promises to be humiliating, possibly nauseating, and definitely weird. And then your guts never co-operate either; it is either constipation or da trots. :help: Waaah!

I always tip at Coldstone Creamery but only because they sing when you tip them. At the one by my house they really get into and and the show is worth the dollar.