kja

As you know -- or SHOULD know -- the dynamics are much more complicated than that.

Please don't troll on a thread about a topic of actual importance to travelers!

menachem

Not trolling, honest, Guv'nor.

I also want to add, reading people who say you should not tip or tip very little in Europe, because "servers get a living wage". They don't. Someone posted minimum wages. Even (especially) in wealthy Netherlands many waiting staff are under 18, that's the preferred age, for €4.33/hour. And many employers use tactics so they never pay their serving staff minimum wages. Even then it's usually a job on the side, so no way someone makes "a living wage", serving you.

Just to set the record straight on low wage Europe.

kja

I fail to understand how, exactly, information about the Netherlands would be useful in response to an inquiry about Ireland, but that issue aside ...

My recommendation is to do what other experienced travelers have urged: When in Ireland, do as the Irish do! Tip taxi drivers only by rounding up, if at all, and don't feel the least bit guilty about it. If the driver helps by hoisting heavy suitcases, you might add a euro (or less) per (big) bag. And if anything, feel glad that you aren't "showing off your wealth" by "throwing money around" unnecessarily.

Macross

I always tip my bartender in Ireland a euro or two depending on the amount we drink. We were talking to two tourism guys from Ireland in Brussels and they were appalled by NYC prices and then they expected a tip for a 16.00 pint of Guinness. We got into the whole tipping discussion and it was rather funny.
I got my hair cut and styled in Paris last week and the stylist had a piggy tip jar. I watched people leave tips after they paid and did the same. Even if you make 10 euro an hour it isn't a living wage and feel they appreciate it now more than ever.

Cowboy1968

That is easy to explain: OP asked about a certain situation in a certain country, i.e. taxi drivers in Ireland.
Some responded in a more broader way saying that in "Europe" tipping is not really necessary as everyone in the service industries makes OK money - other than in the US, for example.
So what is correct in Ireland must not necessarily be correct elsewhere in the EU.

xcountry

I appreciate the additional information. Mind you we should also be looking at effective tax rates of the tippees, as some countries where the minimum wage is low (like Romania) have high effective tax rates (over 40%) while countries with a high minimum wage (like Ireland) have lower effective tax rates. The Romanian servers are getting screwed. Assuming tax is being paid.

Then there’s the cost of living ...

thibaut

My daughter also works as waitress in a small restaurant and when we go there we don't even leave a tip for our own daughter. Not that we don't love her, not that she doesn't work hard, we simply never leave a tip, so don't think of it.
But this is in (northern) France, not in Dublin, where I've never been.

thibaut

ACtually contrary as to what I wrote above, we always tip the hairdresser, and about everybody does. I suppose it is because we talk and expect the hairdresser to be discreet about what we said if we leave a tip ;-)

thibaut

I once looked at those kind of sites and what they said about France and Belgium where I often go to restaurants was totally inacurrate. I would not trust these sites.
Nobody from Ireland here ?

VonVan

If we're tipping, whatever percentage, bartenders, taxi drivers and hairdressers, PLEASE remember your invisible but hardworking hotel chambermaid.
Talk about a thankless job!

bilboburgler

Hard I know but if we could focus on Ireland and taxis.......

Tipping a barman in Ireland (I've run businesses there and never tipped one) no it is only done by non Europeans.

suze

<I would not trust these sites.>

Well your trust issues aside that came closest to an answer of any of the post and discussion.

Cowboy1968

So far, I have not tipped any remarkable amount in Ireland. Neither at pubs nor at restaurants. In cases I wanted or had to pay cash, I‘d ask the barman to keep the change if a pint was €4.80 and I gave him a €5 bill.

I‘d avoid strict percentage rules but rather stick to rounding up to the next reasonable amount IF you feel like tipping.
If your meal was €28.70, I’d round up to €30 and not €31.50 just to accommodate a non-existing 10% „rule“.
In the age of cashless payments rounding up is a bit old-fashioned anyway.

suze

Really??? You tell a bartender to "keep the change" when it's ~22 cents?

Cowboy1968

5 minus 4.80 is precisely 20 cents. It's just change
And if I don't want to accumulate small coins why shouldn't I say so?
Or just say "no thanks" when he/she tries to give me that 20c coin.
Neither is the bartender nor am I assuming that I was giving him a "tip" since the normal behaviour in a British or Irish pub would have been to not "tip" at all.

janisj

>>Really??? You tell a bartender to "keep the change" when it's ~22 cents?<<

yes suze -- really. That is how its done -- a few coins.

janisj

Cowboy -- didn't see your post >>since the normal behaviour [sic] in a British or Irish pub . . . <<

What is that supposed to mean? Maybe you need to go to nicer places

Cowboy1968

I rarely go to places in the British Isles where tipping is "expected".
I guess some pubs in Temple Bar are used to "fat tips", though.

janisj

No, tips aren't expected. I was just asking what you meant by 'normal behavior' like it was sketchy or something

bilboburgler

Yep I would pay E4.80 for a E4.80 bar bill in an Irish pub. Keep "the change" seems extraordinary but I understand some people do it. One of my Uncles used to do that sort of thing and we had to shush him or bundle him out to the car when it happened.