I travel to the UK fairly often for business. I also work in my room in the evenings so I have dinner there. Room service always auto-grats.

Auto-grat. always sux.....another good point is to try and tip in cash...wait staff appreciates it and the restaurant owner doesn't have to pay the credit card charges for the tip.

I always try to pay at my favorite restaurants with cash..again, the credit card fees for the owner are ridiculous. I have customers that pay over a grand a month for fees...think about how many plates of food it takes to just pay those fees....sometimes hundreds of plates.

the wait staff appreciates cash in large part b/c it allows them to do some tax evasion

so think about how you feel about that

Another point on tipping-

I vary tipping by the situation, but by god I always tip my bartenders well. I know how hard it is to get stuff straight at a bar in a club when the music is 180dB and your ears are bleeding after a night's shift.

The worst is I know some guys from the UK who, when they got here, just didn't tip. They'd go up to the bar, get a beer, pay the exact amount in cash, and walk off. Of course this annoys the bartender girls as being a bartender living in Manhattan Beach means you rely on tips to pay the majority of your rent. Then my UK friends would complain about the lack of quick service at the end of the night and suggest another bar for next time. Then they would go on and on about how bar service sucked compared to where they were from. I was a bit put off. And explaining the concept to them was a waste of my time. I don't bar hop with them anymore.

I have a good friend from the London area...moved here quite a few years ago - got married - 3 great kids - has his dual citizenship - lives in Michigan. We get together now and then but he always leaves decent tips. Maybe since he lives here he looks at it differently than your friends.

On the bar scene - I agree. My technique includes leaving a FAT tip right off the bat on the first drink.....it sets a nice tone for the evening IMO. :)

I am local and dine out with customers quite a bit. Where did this happen? Definitely post if on yelp.

Most pubs inthe UK don't allow tipping. Bartenders will politely refuse the tip.

Tipping is a ridiculous tradition that has no valid argument in my mind. Waiter's get paid an hourly rate based on the job they do, if they don't like how much they are making, take it up with THE OWNER. Just because I give good service to all my companies customers doesn't mean I have my hand out at the end of the day for some extra cash.
If that means the owner has to raise the price of food, so be it. If the service sucks or food is too pricey, people won't come and the market self regulates.
I'm not sure where along the way tipping became a mandatory thing, with waiters giving people the stink eye or plotting against the customer the next time if they don't..

Now it seems like its infecting every industry with a "tip cup" everywhere you look.

me too, but I've also found my charges come up a buck or two short from time to time.

Every place I've ever gone where they've added a gratuity always also still has the blank line for gratuity.

Do you stiff waiters and bartenders because you don't like the system. You may not like it, but that's how it is. You could always move to a country where they do it differently.

Waiters and bartenders make LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE. The theory is that you pay for good service. It's supposed to motivate them to give better service.

That is a lie. In California, waiters, bartenders and ANY employee for that matter make the same minimum wage.

"For bartenders and employees in all other occupations, the 2011 minimum wage in California is $8 an hour. Employers must pay at least that rate to bartenders, and may not pay a subminimum wage on the assumption that bartenders' tips will take their total compensation to the minimum wage or higher."

Check your facts

Not sure how the rules changed regionally and nationally, but waiters used to get paid 1/3 to 1/2 the minimum wage. A quasi-commision arraingment. The difference was to made up in tips.

Then, they started getting taxed at an assumed 15% based on ticket sales(regardless of how much in tips they actually collected), AFAIK.

California may have changed their minimum wage laws based on that.

Did you pay with a coupon? I noticed this is common with Groupon (18% add on)

I always tip on the pretax amount, as you aren't supposed to tip on total.

The only way I'm OK with gratuity included is if everybody did it. When I lived in Italy, I was used to grat. included. It never bothered me.

In Italy, they also included the tax into the menu prices. I'm not sure I liked that, I never knew how much tax I was paying.

Yup.

I'll tip in a tourist joint but not a locals joint.

Was at a pub around the corner from my London office. A block away from Harrods so assumed it was a touristy area.

Tipped the barmaid and she got pissed off, I'd insulted her.

how was the service?

wait staff get paid a special low min. wage in most states (state law) - the idea is that they will make more as a result of the tips so do not need the same level of protection as other hourly wage earners

in Oregon and Calif. (and Wash.??) wait staff get the full min. wage (which is among the highest in the US)

the IRS also taxes wait staff on an income assumed basis -- if they want to pay lower taxes, they have to get forms filled out by the owner of the eatery on sales results & etc. and prove to the IRS that the employees made less than the assumed amount
- as you can guess from the IRS treatment, wait staff do not have good lobbyists in DC


wait staff can make a LOT of bucks & it beats digging ditches for a living, even tho they often have to deal with _itches for a living

cash tips are often not reported as income to to the IRS, just like the contractor you pay in cash

if you dont read the bill how do you know what to tip? that line has been there for years. have you ever noticed most room service already has tip included but they have a tip line too.

the tip line tends to be a default setting on the recipt printer. it is almost always there, no matter what the party size is and if they add gratuity to the bill or not. the tip line is there to add more if you feel it is deserved.

+1. I worked far too long as a bartender in my past life. I approve of the automatic gratuity on parties of 6 or more but it should be made known prior to getting seated. Prior to this policy I have seen large parties 10+ occupy waiters, bussers, bar for an evening and the host opting to skip the tip claiming their distant European heritage and that tipping "just was not done". Totally sucked and happened more than you think.

Those of you who feel the need to skip the tip remember that servers are taxed on a portion of their total nightly sales assumed they get as tip. If you can't afford the tip then stay home.