Tipping : 1. Sorry, handsome waiter.

It isn't any trouble for English people and foreiners living in England either studying or working, but for travellers, tipping is a very big problem. For instance, suppose you take a taxi. According to guidebooks, you should pay a 15% tip. I'm not good at calculations, so how much I should pay is troublesome. When approaching the destination, I start calculating how much I should tip. “The fee is XX, so the tip is YY. Therefore, I should pay ZZ”
Sometimes, the taxi fee is up immediately before I get out of the taxi. Wow!
Actually, I am a poor traveller, so I rarely use a taxi. Therefore, for me the place where I most often tip is at a restaurant.
In America, at least a 15% tip is common and if the tip is less than this standard range, waiters or waitresses will complain about it. They count on their tips for their living. However, my English teacher, John P. says that in England, a 10% tip is sufficient. Therefore, calculation is easy.
However, I once had another problem concerning tipping.
"How can I give a tip when I pay with a credit card?"
It happned when my cousin and I went to the Dorchester Hotel to have afternoon tea. My cousin said, "My mother said that she would treat us to afternoon tea".
How generous she treated us to tea even though she wasn't there!
Thanks to her, I enjoyed having afternoon tea at the Dorchester.
However, when we paid, we had a problem. My cousin wanted to pay with her credit card, but we didn't know how we should pay the tip. Of course, we could leave a tip on the table in cash, but we didn't have the correct small money. We couldn't ask for change for the tip.
"How can we pay?" We didn't have any idea.
Surprisingly, we left the Dorchester Hotel without leaving any tip although their service was really good! Wow!
The waiter who was in charge of us probably muttered, "Japanese!" when he found out there wasn't a tip on the table. I was terribly sorry.
If you don't receive good service at the Dorchester when you have afternoon tea, it may be because of us!
Therefore, soon after I came back to Japan, I asked my friend who had studied in England before what we should have done in such a case.
The answer given was :
When a waiter comes to your table with your payment slip, you can add a reasonable tip to the total amount and change the total, then sign on it.
Usually, you'd better add a tip to make the total amount a round number.
I see.
My English teacher, John P., agreed with this answer, but he continued to say, "However..I don't know how they will receive their tip when the tip was paid by a credit card."
That's right. Does it mean that tip should be paid in cash? It is a question.

On a payment slip in America, there is a colum for tipping shown on the right.
It is clear how you should pay the tip with your credit card, because there is a column for it.
As may be expected of America! America is a country where the tipping system
has developed.
However, if a tip should be paid when the customer was satisfied, is it
reasonable that there is a column for tipping?
Don’t you think that it presses you for payment of the tip?
I think so. However, the same friend who had advised me how to pay for a tip
said, “In England, There is a column for a tip too.”
There is a column for “gratuity” in stead of “tip”.
I’m not sure, but probably, our failure in the Dorchester Hotel was caused
by the fact that we didn’t know the meaning of “gratuity”? Ha ha ha.
Anyway, I'm ashamed at my lack of knowledge.

(2004.7.17)

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