Quote:
Originally Posted by Crocus
Thanks for asking this - I was curious but thought I was probably the only person who didn't know :-) Here, we tip waiters at restaurants, and bartenders, and café staff, if the service has been particularly good... and we might tip a taxi driver, but I can't really think of any other situation where a tip would be usual. (And it is illegal to make somebody depend on tips, or to work without pay - I'm not saying that people are never illegaly employed at below-minimum wage, it's a considerable problem, but it's not an accepted part of how the system works. Which is how I interpret the USAnian situation - I could be entirely wrong.)
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We tip all those regularly, including taxi drivers. Hairdressers, doormen, valet parkers, the guy at the hotel who gets you a taxi, delivery people, full-service gas station attendants (which really exist only in New Jersey), exotic dancers (well, I haven't had the chance
), the supermarket bagger if they carry your bags out for you. It's expected depending on the quality of the service, so leaving no tip or an insultingly low one - I left a penny once in a bad diner - is a big deal.
Workers who are regularly tipped like waitstaff make a significantly lower minimum wage by federal law with some variation between states. (Can you say big corporations passing labor costs on to the consumer?) Which is why I refuse to put money in a tip jar - a Starbucks barista is making a higher non-tipped wage already.