# Tipping - a primer for a US tourist **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** vacation-travel\ **Created:** [May 22, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444 "2023-05-22T22:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/21 "2023-05-22T23:38:57Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > So did you tip them, or what? No, they kept me waiting 15 minutes _without_ a huge fridge. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/22 "2023-05-22T23:40:37Z")
Bastard. đŸ€Ș ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/23 "2023-05-22T23:41:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, this includes (though not yet explicitly mentioned in this thread, as far as I can tell) delivery drivers for restaurants. Yes! Food brought to your table, food brought to your door. Tip. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/24 "2023-05-22T23:48:04Z")
At a sit-down restaurant, I tip the traditional 15% of the pre-tax total, rounded up to the next dollar if I’m paying with cash. (No idea why so many people say 20% nowadays.) I’ve never tipped anyone else, and I definitely won’t drop anything into the tip jars that have become common at fast-food places. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/25 "2023-05-22T23:49:10Z")
Do you never get a pizza delivered? Tell me you tip the pizza guy. (I was the pizza guy. This is important.) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/26 "2023-05-22T23:53:07Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I was the pizza guy. This is important. It’s important for the consumer too. Getting a reputation for a being a non-tipper for delivered pizza may get you extra free toppings. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/27 "2023-05-22T23:53:08Z")
Are you talking to me? My wife does the online ordering. I think she adds a tip when she gives them the credit card number. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/28 "2023-05-23T00:04:44Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Getting a reputation for a being a non-tipper for delivered pizza may get you extra free toppings. We had a regular delivery customer who not only never tipped, but demanded every penny of change. Every time, and she was a regular. If the pizza was $19.95, and she handed you a $20, you better have five cents for her. Once, in a cold Chicago winter, the owner of the joint boxed up her order, and I put it in the insulated bag. I brought it out to my car and headed down the road. (I didn’t “add” anything to the pizza but cold air. Really cold air.) I took the pizza box out of the insulated bag, opened my passenger window, opened the box, and held it near the open window till I got near the customers house. A few blocks from her house I closed the box, closed my window, and put the near frozen pizza back into the insulated bag. We did the usual exchange where I gave her every penny of her change back, and I headed back to the pizza place. When I got there, the boss was on the phone with an angry customer who was delivered a cold pizza. He was dumbfounded and swore to her that he himself took this pie out of a pizza oven not five minutes ago, and there was no possible way that her pizza was as cold as she claimed. Oh, it was that cold. It was very cold. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/29 "2023-05-23T00:17:54Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Absolutely - you should feel no compunction about undertipping from the baseline or not tipping at all if service was terrible. You are sending the message that you were unhappy with service if it’s one of the firmly established traditional tipping situations. But it definitely has no significance if you say “no tip” on the bullshit tipping screens that are now appearing everywhere you pay for anything at a counter. You might be thinking that’s the message you’re sending but that’s not the message received. Most waitstaff who get a poor tip just think the customer was a cheapskate rather than looking inward to figure out how they could improve in the future. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re getting bad service there’s nothing wrong with not tipping, but you’re not really sending a message that other people are going to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/30 "2023-05-23T00:35:01Z")
Sure, no doubt you’re right, but I don’t think I particularly care about that distinction. I’m not seeking to put the world to rights, I am just paying them what their service was worth. If they choose to pay as little attention to learning from that as they paid to serving me, that’s up to them. I’m probably not going back anyway. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/31 "2023-05-23T00:51:21Z")
If I’m at a bar, I usually tip a relatively large amount for my first drink. I find that I don’t have to wait long for subsequent orders. I tip a more standard amount on the subsequent orders. This is one of the very few times you can tip ahead, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/32 "2023-05-23T01:05:03Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Masseuses get tips. This is one that gets me. I understand a masseuse at a hotel spa for relaxation getting a tip, but if my back is acting up I go to a Registered Massage Therapist I’m not tipping. I wouldn’t tip my physiotherapist either. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/33 "2023-05-23T01:11:12Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > if my back is acting up I go to a Registered Massage Therapist I’m not tipping. Yeah, I don’t think I would either. I’m sure my insurance is adding a big hefty tip, right?! 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/34 "2023-05-23T01:12:23Z")
When I visited Ireland with my mom some years back, at the first restaurant we stopped at, she asked the waiter what the local tipping customs were. He said “Oh, I always just recommend that people follow whatever the custom is back where they’re from”. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/35 "2023-05-23T01:13:59Z")
Heh, heh, heh 
 now you’re just trying to get me shot in the street. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/36 "2023-05-23T03:43:01Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > If you are walking up to the door of a convenience store, like a mini mart or gas station, and someone holds the door open for you, you should tip them. > > They are probably on their way in to rob the place and may not shoot you if you tip them first. Good thing to know in unfamiliar territory. Does that mean that if they are fleeing, having successfully completed their robbery, you should expect a tip if you hold the door open for them? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/37 "2023-05-23T03:50:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > As a tourist, you’ll likely never go there again, so it’s not like someone will spit in your soup. They spit in everyone’s soup just in case. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/38 "2023-05-23T10:00:23Z")
Thank you all. Very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/39 "2023-05-23T10:42:07Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > If I’m at a bar, I usually tip a relatively large amount for my first drink. I find that I don’t have to wait long for subsequent orders. In a bar I run a tab. They know me and know I’ll be tipping them well and they usually “forget” to charge me for a round. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2023, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444/40 "2023-05-23T10:52:53Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > There’s a line on your credit card charge to add a tip, if desired. In a restaurant, it’s generally 20%, but basically you can give nothing if you wish. As a tourist, you’ll likely never go there again, so it’s not like someone will spit in your soup. > > I don’t tip anyone outside of restaurant staff. It’s gotten out of hand and I just refuse to participate. > > If you under-tip, nothing will happen other than you’ll have more money in the bank when all is said and done. Nobody will follow you home and knife one of your children. Tipping is _always_ optional. I’ve seen a few places that add something like 15% to your bill so that their employees can “earn a living wage”. They say it’s not a tip and instead call it something else. Hey, if it’s over and above the cost of the food, it’s a fucking tip, IMO. Just to clarify because the OP is visiting from a foreign country where tipping customs are different: Tipping (usually 20%) in a restaurant or bar is NOT optional. Yes, technically you can leave a zero tip and there won’t be any real consequences, but you will look like a cheap asshole. I don’t want to get into a philosophical discussion on whether restaurant tipping is right and just. There are plenty of Americans who will argue that point. And it’s a stupid one that is not going to be settled by the end of your meal. In the United States, the custom is to tip 20% and the wait staff is depending on those tips. All refusing to tip does is short change people doing their job and makes you look like a jerk. So bottom line, when you go to eat in a restaurant, assume you are going to pay 20% more than the price on the menu and that’s just the cost of doing business. If you can’t afford that don’t eat there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-primer-for-a-us-tourist/984444.md?page=3)