Laduque, I feel your pain on getting stiffed on the Spaniard table. We have two Spaniards that come into our Spanish restaurant every Friday night after their futbol game. They sit for hours eating tapas and having drinks and usually ring up a $100 bill. The bartender is fortunate if he gets a dollar from them! This isn't just a Spanish thing though because 99% of the time I have a table with customers from Latin America we can usually bet on getting 10% or less even if they had a wonderful time. This to me is soooo frustrating. Min. wage for servers in the US is around $3.00. A gratuity is not an additional gift like it is in other countries.
I would be less annoyed by this under tipping practice if I thought that these people don't know because their new to the country. However, most of the Spaniards and Lat. Americans I know that do this have lived here for years and are familiar with the practice.

I also think it would be strange for any restaurant to add 30% onto a bill. This has never happened to me in all my years of dining out. I even believe it would be illegal. Many restaurants do charge a "service charge" of 15% to 20% on checks that have parties of more than 6 or 8. They do this because having a large table consumes all of a server's time and if they get stiffed they have made no money for the entire evening.

[Jaime....who has been waiting on tables for way to long ]

Ouch! 3 dollars they earn?????

Here the least a waiter earns is 600$!!!! (plus tips).

Don't think that latin americans have the same customs as spaniards, yes, we share some common points, but in other we are quite different.

I was charged an extra 30% (15% for taxes, 15% for tips) in the Washington DC's Planet Hollywood. As you may guess (I didn't know about the wages) I felt angry when the bill reached to me...

Why this customs are so different in every country? We could avoid this embarrasing situations

Fernando

Fernando, I should have clarified that it is 3 per hour. Although it could be as low as $2.70 or so. As you pointed out, Lat. Am. culture is very different than Spanish but the tipping practice is the same. The servers in other countries are paid a higher wage so that the gratuity is not the majority of compensation (I agree with this). When I was in Spain I carried over my American tradition of tipping and always gave around 15% if service was decent. Although,on the way to the airport to go home, I did give the rest of my pesetas (a lot) to the first honest taxi driver I had. I think he almost had a heart attack

In my oppinion it is unfair the way of tipping in the USA, specially when they include the tip in the check. Restaurant owners should increase the amount they pay to their waiters and not trust in the tipping. I had felt really bad sometimes when I have not received a good treat on a restaurant and found that a 15% tip has been included on the check; with the tip we are paying the service, so if service is not goog, why should we pay it and in an amount decided by the restaurant owner?
Personaly i think is better the way it works in Spain.

Actually I like our custom here in the U.S. For good service, we reward the server with 15% to 20% as a tip. For bad service... nada, or at the very most 5% to 10%.

The reason I like this approach is that it should make the wait staff a little more attentive to their customers. If they aren't, the tip suffers. As an example, when my wife and I order ice tea, we expect that the wait staff will ask us if we want refills. Just yesterday, while we were eating out, we ate our whole meal, and couldn't attract the waitress' attention to re-fill our ice teas. Then, when she tried to "sell us on a dessert," we said we weren't interested, and my wife asked her directly why she didn't bother to check on us during our meal. She just shrugged, and said, "Busy!"

My wife just shrugged, and put down a penny for a tip, and said, "Tip!"

The waitress walked away red faced, and very much aware of the way we felt.

Wolf

Not to turn this into the server's venting corner but here I go....Felix, if you feel the service was substandard and you are automatically charged for the "gratuity" then you have the right to flag down the manager or the server and say you don't want to tip that much because the service does not merit it.
On the other hand, if in the menu it states there is a "service charge" which is a mandatory percentage placed on the food, then this is a part of the cost of dining there and restaurant owners are obliged to pay tax on it. However, I bet if you thought the service was bad in this situation and you told a manager they would refund a portion of your check or try to make you happy in some way, if they want your business in the future.

Wolf, I agree that tipping makes the server more attentive but I hope you consider a few variables before being harsh on your server.
If you're service hasn't been that great take a look around the restaurant. If its packed and they are clearly understaffed, this isn't the fault of the worker but that of management. Now if the restaurnt is dead and you can see your server chatting with friends and ignoring you then you are more justified in giving a crappy tip. I can't tell you how many times I have been responsible in coming into work and had other employees just not show up, call in sick etc...leaving me understaffed and overextended. Many customers are kind in a situation like that because they too at some point probably had to put themselves through school waiting on tables. On the other hand, you can have the demanding impatient jerk who doesn't care if you're running around with your head cut off.

I think everybody should have to wait on others in some point in their lives because it would certainly make everyone alot more patient and understanding.

Sermon over

At restaurants over here if there is a service charge then most people consider that to be the tip and wont leave anything else over that-in effect youd be tipping twice.If theres no mandatory service charge then we tip dependant on quality of food and service.Seems reasonable to me.

I also worked i restaurant during high school and for a little while in college. Frankly, I was a terrible server, and probably wouldn't do it again if I could help it. I think a lot of people don't understand how difficult it is, especially in the States, where meals are faster and there is more turnover. You run your butt off. I used to go home and almost cry with relief when I took my shoes off - my feet were so swollen.

Anyway, I am a particularly good tipper, because I saw people get stiffed so many times for things that weren't there fault. In some ways I prefer the European and Latin American systems, because the servers don't have to try to ingratiate themselves so much to the customers (I am picturing myself waiting tables having to smile and be nice to people that treat you like dog crap, so you can have grocery money that night). People here often have all sorts of strange rules that they concoct for tipping - most of them completely arbitrary.

Anyway, I usually try to look at service as a whole and make my judgement on that. I am so well trained though, that it is really hard for me not to over-tip in other countries, even though I know it isn't appropriate.

[ 10-13-2001: Message edited by: Nicole ]

I see that this thread is about 6 years old so I thought I'd ask if standards have changed now that the Euro is king?

Is it still basically, round up on small checks, and 5-10% on a dinner bill?

sorry late response, tipping is personal. Depends on the service and the place you are at,the frequency you go there ,etc.
generally speaking i round up to the euro bill;unless its a place i frequent than i tip 10%.
look to see if the tip is already included on the total bill.