The Mastercard survey was done how? Asking people? Customers or servers? Or was it based on tips on credit card charges (which likely ignore cash tips that I would wager make a huge difference)? If they were just asking people, well we're finding out in science that is based on people self-reporting that people are goddamned liars and I expect they would be even moreso with regards to money (especially if it comes to money they can get away with not reporting).
I feel the outrage towards the Japanese is a little unfair, tipping isn't really done in Japan. There is a cultural connection between money and duty there that you don't really see anywhere else. It's a bit like judging American cops as lazy suspicious pricks because they don't emulate their Japanese counterparts wrt to an intoxicated person who can't drive but needs to get home (Japanese cops will loan you cab fair almost no questions asked)
I think this is less a story about the tipping characteristics by nationality and more a view into the reality of working for places like casinos, run by those who don't take great care of their employees.
Exactly. And America is rife with stupid inconsistencies with regards to a lot of so called "societal/cultural norms" that make it nearly impossible to actually know (not to mention how much of it literally comes down to someone's personal opinions). Tipping is major one.
That's an interesting thing. Not sure it holds up here since there's usually a fair amount of services that offer free rides if you're intoxicated, and yet people still regularly ignore it. But DWI is a big revenue generator for some places.
I agree with that last part.
Regardless, learn the cultural norms of the place/country you are visiting.
That's basic travel etiquette.
Like others pointed out, so exactly what norm in the US are you talking about? I've seen people say everything from 10-30% (seems like most servers say at least 20% and anything mostly legal or in writing uses 15%) and 25-40% (Isn't 35% the common forced gratuity for groups?) for large groups should be "standard tipping etiquette" there's hardly anything more than personal opinion.
How many episodes of Seinfeld featured disputes about tips being a focal point too?
We need our resident tipping expert to come in and explain why dealers can't perform at a high function without tips.
That brings up an interesting point. Perhaps the custom in other areas of the world, in casinos it isn't that they don't tip they just tip only certain people and that's where the incongruity comes from. So servers here might get screwed but certain other people might be getting tipped and not including it (or the casinos intentionally not including that, I'm not going to just take their side of things on face value that's for sure). Not to make gross assumptions either, but plenty of places "tips" are in actuality bribes, so knowing who to "tip" makes all the difference.
Is it really surprising that foreigners don't understand our customs when, according to this thread, the people who live here don't know how our tipping system works?
If a server doesn't get a tip, they have to pay out of their pocket to serve the table.
Why is this?
There is no way to prove the tip received by the server. Therefore, tip-outs (money paid to bartenders, food runners, bus boys etc.) are based off sale amounts. The system is assuming that a server will receive at least 15%.
So let's say a table's bill is $200. They spend $120 on food and $80 on alcohol.
Food @ 3% = $3.60
Al @ 5% = $4.00
(not sure what bussers usually get)
So at this point, the server has to pay at least $7.60 for a no tip table.
In addition, most POS systems require that 9% of sales is claimed. That means the server has to claim that he made $18 and pay the tax on that amount in addition to paying $7.60. So in addition to serving your table, the server is paying $10 for doing the service.
I'm guessing that has to do with places passing laws saying that if the earnings on tips + wage doesn't equal the minimum wage then the business has to pay to makeup the difference, and so the casinos are assuming they're meeting that level (and its their fault if not)?