Tip top
Tipping. In some countries it's expected, in others it's frowned upon. Despite the lure of advising us how to tip around the world, all that Mike MacEacheran delivers—other than a vague direction to do your research before travelling, duh!—is five examples of where expectations differ.
But one country he doesn't cover is the UK. I guess he assumes that most of his readers are British, and are familiar with how tipping works at home. Or, at least, they think they are.
When I lived in the UK, I would tip depending on the quality of service. Adequate service received 10%, while excellent service received 15–20%, both rounded up and paid in cash for [cough] tax efficiency
. Terrible service received nothing, although in fairness that only happened once.
Personally, I think tipping should be discretionary. So it came as a none too pleasant surprise to see service charges of around 12.5% being added to some restaurant bills on a recent trip to London. Not all eateries did this though, so the practice seems a bit haphazard. Typically British.
But any retail outlets trying to emulate the USA by adding an optional service charge to once straightforward counter sales
can go screw themselves. Making customers feel obliged to pay extra for routine transactions is one way to lose business.
realise that while tipping is legally voluntary in the US, hourly wages for wait staff and other frontline tourism workers is often sub-minimal
Mike MacEacheran, How to tip around the world, BBC Travel
If sub-minimal
is a euphemism for below statutory minimum wage, then those employers are breaking the law—clue: that's what statutory
means! My tip to their staff is to sue 'em! (oldman)