The American exception
The United States is the outlier. Servers here are paid a low base wage on the assumption that tips make up the rest, which is why eighteen to twenty percent at a sit-down restaurant is an obligation and not a compliment. Canada works much the same way at fifteen to twenty percent. Almost everywhere else, staff earn a regular wage and a tip is a small thank-you.
A rough map
- In most of Western Europe, service is built into the prices, and rounding up or leaving five to ten percent for good service is plenty.
- In the United Kingdom and Ireland, look for a service charge of ten to twelve and a half percent on the bill, and tip about ten percent only when there is none.
- In Japan, tipping is not done and money left on the table may be returned to you, and South Korea is broadly similar.
- In Australia and New Zealand, tipping is optional and reserved for very good restaurant service.
- In Mexico and much of Latin America, ten to fifteen percent in restaurants is normal, and some countries print a ten percent service charge on the bill.
- In Egypt, Morocco and much of South Asia, small tips for small services are part of daily life, so carry small notes.
Reading the bill
Before you add anything, look for a line that says service. In France the menu price includes service by law. In Italy the coperto is a per-person cover charge for bread and the table, and it is not a tip, while a line reading servizio is one. Where a service charge has been added, nothing more is expected.
How to hand it over
Tip in local currency, and in cash where you can, since a tip added to a card does not always reach the person who served you. In Germany and Austria you do not leave money on the table. You tell the server the total you want to pay as you hand over the cash or card, so that a bill of twenty-seven euros becomes thirty. Guides, drivers and hotel housekeepers have their own norms nearly everywhere, including countries with no restaurant tipping, and tour operators usually publish a suggested amount.
Note When you are truly unsure, ask the hotel desk what people who live there do, and then do that. Custom shifts over time, particularly in tourist cities, and a local's answer beats an old guidebook's.
