Today I fucked up, although this was a couple of months ago now.
For some context, I am an Australian who a couple of months ago went on a trip to the USA with a friend. Both of us being aussies, we are inexperienced with tipping so went with the advice of “always tip at least 15%”
One night during the trip we decided to go to a steakhouse. The two of us went all out, an appetiser each, big fat steak, cocktails throughout the meal. The food was great however the service wasn’t anything special so we decided on the standard tip of 15%. The waiter came around for payment and handed me an ipad-like device to pay on. I swipe my card to pay and a tip screen comes up and, thinking I’m doing the right thing, I type in 15 (on this screen there was no indication that what I was typing was dollars, cents or percentage), signed and handed the ipad back to the waiter.
The ipad had a receipt printer on it so the waiter printed the receipt, looked at it and then handed it to me with a huff and walked off. I looked at my friend with a look on my face thinking “that was rude” but thought nothing of it and walked out.
It wasn’t until we both got back to our hotel rooms when I noticed that instead of tipping 15 percent as I had previously thought, I had accidentally tipped 15 CENTS on an order that was above $200. Usually I would have gone back and apologised, but by the time we were back at the hotel it was well past closing time of the restuaunt and we were leaving early the next morning, so there was no chance to apologise or fix my mistake.
I took this as a learning experience to ALWAYS double check how much I am tipping and check the receipt before I leave resuraunts
TL;DR: I accidentally tipped 15 cents on a 200 order at a steakhouse and looked my waiter in the eyes as he gave me the reciept, didn’t realise until it was too late to apologise or fix my mistake
Comments
I mean you can probably call the steakhouse and have them correct it
You could have fixed it the next day by calling. You chose not to.
(u/bot-sleuth-bot)
Eh if the service wasn’t good I wouldn’t sweat it, I assure you the waiter won’t remember it by tomorrow.
You didn’t FU. The proper Tip! r/endtipping
This is why i will probably never travel to the USA
As a fellow Aussie (Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie), I have palpitations with the tipping culture. It’s not something we do or are used to.
Contentious point coming.
The customers/patrons should not be held responsible for topping up to provide the staff with a livable wage.
It will be like a nurse asking you for a tip at discharge.
On $200 Id have given probably a $40 tip, $50 if service was excellent. Don’t worry about it, they knew you were Aussie and are now telling everyone how stupid Aussies are for not knowing how to tip. Don’t sweat it.
This is kind of funny.
Honestly, tipping that low is a bit worse than tipping nothing because a very tiny tip can be used as a way to passively-aggressively say “I thought your service was terrible, and it’s not just that I don’t tip because I’m a foreigner, I thought about it, and your time is worth this much.”.
Oh my god, I did this with Uber in Japan—it gave me a decimal so I assumed that like 15.00 yen would be $10? nope.
Don’t worry about it too much, there is absolutely zero requirement to tip. Not your employee, not your wage to pay.
Honestly, it’s not your fault the tipping culture in the US is fucked up.
So you messed up because you didn’t pay more than the agreed price for your meal and service? Honestly, I will never wrap my head around American tipping
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We had a pizza delivery guy punch our hotel room door for tipping something like $3 on a $40 order. It wasn’t a tip, just the change from the money my friends all chipped in. Wasn’t thinking, would have happily gave him more if he didnt act the way he did about it.
I think coped well with tipping generally when I was in the US visiting, but we went into a Starbucks on a hot day and bought 4 iced drinks – probably around $5 each so not exactly cheap – and I was surprised when the till prompted me to add a 20%, 25% or 30% tip (may have even been higher).
Now even in a diner I was getting much more attentive service than in the UK – I rarely had a drink go empty, my orders were always correct regardless of any substitutions or removals, staff nearly always friendly, etc. I dont mind tipping for that. An extra $5 for pouring out a few strawberry açais, though? Seems extreme
Ur math is off if you were thinking of tipping 15%. To be honest 15% tip is weak if you enjoyed the meal and service was good.
I’ll never not laugh at tipping culture in the US. Waiters more inclined to get mad at clients than owners for paying them shit salaries.
Don’t worry about it. Tipping culture is fucked anyways.
My brother and I spent $7 on two SMALL cookies, and then a tip screen came up.
Tip screens at these Cafés, soda places, and fast-food restaurants are out of control.