I was looking for something else entirely and came across this article on tipping, amusing and informative

Http://travel.independent.co.uk/news...p?story=420378
or
http://tinyurl.com/pajd

Thanks, Sylvia, for this interesting article. I'm not sure I agree about "furious" (restaurant) servers in the US who might not get tipped since many of them where I live do get a small salary and I also feel that tipping should be based on service rendered. My old adage when the service is not good...tip accordingly or as a friend of mine does, leave the following note on the bill: "I looked for you all through the meal. Now you look for the tip."

Very interesting......I liked the part about being careful about "overtipping" in some places. I made the mistake last month while in a fancy bulgarian hotel. I had only large bill's of the local currency (leva) with me. When I ordered the room service the caterer had no change with him so I just left in a 10 lev tip ($5) This caterer almost had a heart attack. He actually argued with me about taking the tip. The look on his face was memorable. To me it was no big deal for excellent prompt service. I found out later I just payed 2 days wages to him with that tip. In a way this can be negative because later these people come to expect that as the norm.

Been out to dinner with my French relatives many times and they are adamant about not tipping except maybe for small leftover change. Waiters may work Americans for tips but unlike the US they get paid well, the reason you see the same waiters at the same places for years and years. The mandatory 15% service charge pays them. I just know ordinary French people rarely tip in my experience - maybe my relatives are cheap skates but I don't think so.

Well, Bob, if your French relatives are cheapskates then so are ours! If the tip is included with the bill, i.e. service charge, which it generally is, they do not tip.

We generally don't tip in Europe since the service is included in the price but do leave the small change on the table. However if we get really good service we might leave at little more.

Last year in Rome at a small cafe on the Campo di Fiori we paid by credit card. The receipts were still showing both Lira and Euro, I guess to help the locals understand the costs. My husband looked at the wrong numbers and tipped way too much, about 40% which he realized later that day.

When the credit card bill came after we came home we saw that the restaurant adjusted the bill and only took a reasonable amount (around 10%) for the tip. We were amazed but very pleased. After the stories you hear about how tourists can get ripped off we thought this was an incredibly nice gesture.