The little things.
This will be a short one. I was talking to a coworker today, who is a native of this EU country, about the holiday. I had some visitors, and we went to a cafe at one point for a €4 cup of no-free-refills coffee. After a 20 minute game of "where is the waiter" the subject of tipping came up, and I explained that the server made more money than most of the folks I know at home, certainly more than our front line troops in Iraq, so you generally just round up or leave €1.

Tipping became the focus of today's conversation. My Euro coworker complained that in the U.S. the servers are always bothering you to pump up their tip. I countered with the fact that you have to really struggle to get help here, and that the lower hourly rate and dependence on tips in the U.S. helps to ensure good service. The reply to this:

"All of the servers should go on strike until the government forces the restaurants to pay them more."

Work for your money? Why bother.

You have reached the end of this rant, ignore the link below.

12/28/2004 10:12:00 PM posted by Dr. Demarche