A resident of Manhattan claims he was charged a "foreigner tax" because he an his friends were thought to be foreigners.

http://tinyurl.com/y3ncxd

Talk about bad PR!

It's in the news again today ... the practice of adding a gratuity to a table on non-Americans apparently is not unusual because many foreign tourists simply do not tip.

It ain't right, but it's also shameful and ignorant for visitors not to know the local custom.

(Also foreign visitors need to know that American restaurants generally turn tables ... you are generally not welcome to sit there for hours ordering nothing.)

They do this to everyone in some parts of Miami. I'm a great tipper, and I almost always would have tipped more than the percentage added. What I mind is that they never point it out, and it is easy to miss when you are not looking for it.

Since this is evidently illegal in NY will the restaurant have any legal problems?

no .. restaurants will just change their policies and try to contain rogue managers/servers ...

no prosecutors will get involved, fortunately

I travel internationally quite a bit, know most local tipping stuff, and would have no problem with a "typical" service charge added to my cuenta.
If they tried to rip me off - as happens with the dynamic conversion - I refuse to pay and tell the owner/manager to call the police.
They always back down. lol.
M

It's a difficult situation for all to deal with. I was recently taken to lunch by 2 university students from Germany - we had been showing then NYC for a couple of days through a business contact.

At the end of the lunch they made no effort to tip - and I explained the tipping rules in the US to them (they're going to be traveling around the US for about a month). Even after I told them what was expected they said they shouldn;t have to tip becaue they were only students - and didn;t have a lot of money. (They are both from well to do families and lack nothing, including sufficient spending money.)

When I pointed out it was likely the waitress was working to help pay her way through school (this was near Columbia) they still saw no need to tip. I told them if they didn't tip I would - AND DID.

I also pointed out there might be places they would have problems if they refused to tip (especially if they go back to the same place). But - they insisted they shouldn;t have to. Stupidity? Cupidity? Refusal to adapt to another culture? Or just the selfishness of spoiled well to do young people?

I don;t know. But I do know the waitress worked her butt off for them - and she shouldn;t have been stiffed. There has to be a way to enforce tipping in a situation like that.

It's difficult to enforce tipping- on one hand, it's a good incentive for the server to give good service, on the other, servers shouldn't automatically expect a tip if they didn't perform well, but "well" is a relative term. I work at an Olive Garden, and my friend waited on a 5 person table for three hours, with a check over 200 dollars- and was tipped three dollars! They even made a point to personally shake her hand and commend her-three bucks! She was in tears.

Well I guess this post shows that Americans are not the only ones that don't find out about customs in other countries. Interesting posts.

and so much for limiting the phrase to "ugly Americans" ... 'Eurotrash' can be just as ugly evidenty ....

Whoa! I never have heard or seen this.

Well - IMHO - sincce in the US waitstaff is not paid a living wage I would be in favor of a service charge for everyone (as long as it goes directly to the staff). But - I'm afraid the owners would try to get their hands on it.

In any case - the system we have at the moment is tipping and IMHO - the only possible excuse for not tipping pproperly is if the waitstaff is either rude or grossly incompetent. (Mistakes from the kitchen are NOT their fault - and they shouldn;t suffer. If we ever run into that we talk to the matire d - or equivalent - rather than torture the waitstaff.)