Some US restaurants have started 'helping' foreign diners with cards that explain tipping. Is this a step too far? Or only fair, given the cultural differences when it comes to tipping? (Debate over at Zagat)
My gut feel - it seems a little gauche. I'm fully empathetic to the plight of the service industry, and how annoying it would be to have ill-tipping (through ignorance or spite) diners, but tipping is still ostensibly optional. Tipping is something a social contract, not a legal one - else it would be embedded in the cost of the meal itself (like in the UK). To remind diners of the 'rules' of tipping is like a pregnant woman aggressively demanding that she get a seat on the train. Yes, she should have one, but the act of asking makes everyone defensive about it...
Comments