h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, another November and here we go again. The same as every year so far: Youngest son's birthday, people visiting graves, foggy and damp. It would be a public holiday if it was a weekday, but as it's a Sunday, we have the day off anyway.

Whatever.

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We spent practically the whole of October in California, so I can fill this month's reports with anecdotes from our time there.

We were lucky we had plenty of people to explain how things work over there before we went.

For example, we had been told that it was customary to leave a dollar note in the hotel room each morning as a tip for the chamber maid. That isn't very much, really. We nearly always remembered to do this, even if we were leaving that day. From many conversations here on hootoo, I know that tips are expected and form the major part of people's incomes.

In one hotel, the tip was still there when we arrived back that evening. I wonder if the chamber maid had been instructed not to take the tips, or if she worked so superficially, she didn't even see it? We made up for it, as, at the same hotel, there were two hotel employees cleaning cars in the courtyard - as we walked past just as they did our car, so we gave them a tip.

Tipping is a strange thing. So many people have speculated on who do you tip and who don't you tip. We probably got it wrong whilst out there. In the end, I just asked people if they were allowed to take tips.

In self-service restaurants, it is almost impossible to add a tip when paying, and, anyway, they're not doing more than a shop assistant would do, and you don't tip them, do you?

The chappie who turned up when we handed back our car at the airport and offered to wheel our baggage for us to the transfer train to the terminal said his service was "complimentary" and even on his shirt it said "Courtesy service". Does that mean he shouldn't be tipped? I gave him a tip anyway.

The (extremely entertaining) guide who explained San Francisco to us on the open-top bus actually mentioned that gratuities were OK during his spiel, and I gave him a tip as we got off the bus, because it was worth it, but my husband said no one else did. My husband didn't enjoy the ride so much (except for the amazing sights) because he couldn't understand the guide much, and although he had the headphones for the German commentary, there was practically no commentary, it was all music.)

In restaurants in Germany, you round up to the next round figure when tipping. I wasn't sure whether to add a round sum to the figure on the bill - resulting in an odd amount being paid (say the bill was $41.62 - if you add $10 it's $51.62. In Germany you would pay cash anyway, and just give them a €50 note and tell them to keep the change. (Actually you would probably only round it up to €45, but things are different here)

I'm looking forward to your journals this month, the US anecdotes sound like they'll be entertaining.

Tipping seems to be a very loaded subject if you're not American. For my part, I tip in restaurants (unless the service has been bad), taxi drivers and my hairdresser. All of this is pretty much based on a rounding up principal, although in restaurants I try to at least round to 10%. So a £40 bill would lead to a tip of £5 but a £43 bill would lead to a tip of £7.

Deb

Hi TC - you may be interested in these guide entries:

A5200011 - Tipping Etiquette in the USA
A640018 - International Tipping Etiquette

I follow your 'German method' in UK restaurants, if the service has been good and prompt.

In this county (the various Bay Area counties may have higher sales tax rates) I tend to just double the sales tax rate, then round up to the next 10 cents--so 15%. If the service was better than average, or if we've left a huge mess (less often now that Notepad's 6) we'll leave 20%. I hear that, in larger areas, 20% is now the average restaurant tip...

I leave a tip of around 15%. I know there are people who leave hardly anything, and others who leave 20% or more. I'm not in competition with either of those groups.

In restaurants in Ireland, I tend to calculate 10% of the total and leave that in cash where possible. I do the same in take-away coffee shops. I don't tip in any other situation.

It was very useful in some restaurants that they printed the sum at the bottom of the bill with 15%, 18% and 20% already calculated so you didn't have to get out your calculator. We never did work out a policy, but having read A5200011, I think we were OK.

I'll continue on this subject for the next journal, I think.

Thank you TC for sharing such a highly informative and very interesting account of your time in California.

I rarely go to restaurants or cafes and find working out how much I give as a tip at the end of the meal confusing which is not helped as I am not very good at maths.