MyriamC

The siutation of locals and visitors is so different. Guidebooks are written for visitors. It may very well be possible that in guidebooks for Belgium it is advised to leave a 5-10% tip. This is a GUIDELINE for visitors. No-one expects from me (a local) anything bigger than a euro or two, or even nothing if I pay by creditcard. The same applies in the Netherlands, in Germany, in France. Ask any local. And with 'local' I mean people who have been born and raised here. Not expats who have lived here for a few years.

lincasanova

Re "tipping in guidebooks".

guidebooks are way off in some countries for tipping, and they always have been. it is a shame that they donīt spell out what the locals do.. because this is one misrepresented point that has initiated alot of this attitude towards american tourists.(Believe me, a waiter wouldnīt DARE approach a local with that comment)

ask the locals how they tip.. period.

hanl

While it helps to do as the locals do, you can't always be sure that they will all tip in the same way. You get stingy and generous people in every country.
If somebody asked my French husband how he tipped they'd get a completely different answer than if they asked his mother!

blackduff

Once in the bar at a Meridien hotel in California. The waiter wanted to be paid immediately, so I payed with my credit card. He didn't bring my card back and I asked about bringing the card. He said he want's to assure that he'll get his tip.

I gave him a good tip. "Give me my credit card, since's I'm leaving". To me, this was being storm-armed.

So Belgium isn't alone with this type of practice.

In Spain the Spaniards normally give just small change from what was paid. Being a foreign, I determined I should leave nothing more than 5%. If you give more, the waiter smiles and thinks about his customer is a &^%£$%***! You have to find the local customs.

Blackduff

Pvoyageuse

The waiter was wrong, the tip was meager but what would have worried me most was having my credit card vanish out of my sight for 15 minutes.

BTilke

Hopscotch, I am in Vienna for two weeks business every year. I spend a lot of time dining out with Austrians and THEY have always left a 5-10% tip for dinner in a nice restaurant. We also spent summers in Austria at an event with mostly other Austrians. They ALSO tipped 5 to 10 percent at meals.

Moreover, the guidebooks I referenced were not just the ones written for Americans. One of them is overseen by the vice mayor of Vienna. Are you suggesting he also is wrong about the tipping policy.

We have relatives in Germany and THEY tip more than just a euro or two. My father-in-law in German and he always tips in the 5 to 10 percent range when traveling in Austria.

Frankly, Hopscotch, your suggestion of shouting down the place seems off as well. I would never get "satisfaction" from shouting in a restaurant and causing a huge scene that disrupts the dining experience for others.

BTilke

However, Hopscotch, next time you're in Vienna, if you have a 100 euro lunch at Steirereck or Meinl am Graben and want to leave a 1 euro coin on the table for a tip, go ahead.

MyriamC

@ BTilke
Re Steirereck: Not all of us eat in this kind of places. Aux Armes is nothing upmarket. A regular 'Belgian' tip is more than sufficient. As another posted wrote, this waiter would never have acted the way he did towards a local.

blackduff

In France, the most common word for a tip is "pourboire". It means you should buy a drink to the waiter.

There isn't any percentage in pourboire. It's enough money to buy a drink.

Blackduff

ira

>...virtually every tipping guide I've read for Vienna ....

Since this incident occurred in Brussels, practices in Austria might not be completely germane.

In Austria, I would leave 5-10%.

It should also be remembered that a "tip" is a gift. It is in addition to the "Service Charge".

BTilke

Myriam, if you read my first post on this thread, I certainly did NOT defend the waiter's actions. I also suggested Dave try dining in a less touristy restaurant in Brussels where no waiter would have tried such a thing.

BTilke

Ira, I was referring to the Hopscotch post where he said that one or two percent is fine in Austria (as well as Belgium) and where he further advised "shouting down" the waiter to get satisfaction.

pagile

The waiter was wrong. In his defense, if you want to leave a tip to the waiter, hand it to him. If you want to tip the owner, put it on the charge slip. It's not right but waiters seldom see a tip if it's included on the charge slip. My college roomate was a waiter in Brussels and told me it's common in Belgium and probably other European countries, that the waiters lose out on many tips that way. But once again, the waiter handled it incorrectly.

hopscotch

I am a generous person, but I am not a sucker. To double tip, and then to tip on top of the first tip and the bloody tax is not my game.

And true, never put a tip on your credit card. And don't leave it on the table for the clean-up crew. If you had great service seek out your server and put the money directly in his/her hand, with a smile and a thank you.

If you leave the tip on the table or bar the server will not know what to do. A good friend of mine in Holland is absolutely shocked that we Americans leave our money on the bar as we drink, and let the server scoop up the cost of the next beverage.