I live in Melbourne, Australia. We don't really tip here, unless service is beyond amazing. It's not expected and not at all required. Melbourne is the cultural and dining capital of our country, and the service at restaurants is usually great. We have a minimum wage here of $16.37 p/h. I can't remember a time when…

In Latvia service employees get a wage (although often a minimum one) and are tipped only if their service is particularly good and/or the diner is feeling generous. Which is ok since tips here are not taxed in any way.

Same here. It is far better. For one, the concept of "my table" is far less important. Multiple people can wait on you because there is no threat of stealing a tip or missing out on a tip. Tipping wage is BS.

Just got back from Paris where you aren't expected to give more than 5%, if anything... never saw a difference in service and the 'tip' that you'd leave really meant that you were very pleased.

"It's a fashion club now," Turney said. "The days of wearing our old workout shorts and ratty T-shirts are over."

I find service *better* where tipping isn't mandatory. I found in the states the service was alright, but not better than other places. In Switzerland and the UK (to some extent), I find the service better, people know if they give very good service they will get a tip. In the US it seems like people expect a tip…

I'm American, and I had a British friend who was amazed and slightly creeped out by the friendly intrusiveness of what constitutes "good service" in the US.

In my ten years in France, I can't remember ever having bad service - well, bad enough that I'd complain or consider not tipping in the US (Having worked as a server in the US in my 20's I had a harder time getting used to NOT tipping here!). We've given tips between 2€ - 10€ for over the top exceptional service, but…

It really comes down to the culture. If it's Japan, they are polite to a fault, and make us foreigners look like barbarians with our crude ways. In Korea, it's not the most foreigner-friendly place, so your mileage there will enormously vary.

The way I see it is that if people are paid well and have access to education and healthcare, they take pride in their job and do it professionally. But that doesn't mean they gush and smile all the time at the people they provide their services to. If wait staff in Europe don't always seem friendly, it's probably…

Tipping is not done in Japan, and service is fine to excellent depending on where you are. Granted, the Japanese restaurant culture is very different than the States. There are a lot more tiny mom and pop diners that don't even really need waitstaff than there are huge restaurants with large numbers of front of house…

you don't smile all the time at strangers like we Americans often do or try to do.

It's fine. But this opens up to the much larger topic of differences amongst cultures in the whole concept of customer service and beyond—to interactions with strangers in general. In some cultures, you don't smile all the time at strangers like we Americans often do or try to do.

The manner of service is a cultural thing and isn't tied to the amount of tips; the kind of service I'd get going into a restaurant where tips are somewhat expected (albeit nothing like to the extreme level of in the US) is pretty much the same as the kind of service I'd get going into a bar, where at most "keep the…

There's no tipping in Korea and the service was always great. The food was amazing too; big servings, always hot, and free little amuse-bouche type appetizers that were constantly refilled.

In Trinidad, it's perfectly fine. Service industry types in general suck, (it's a cultural apathy thing) but for sit down restaurants, which is what we're talking about, it's perfect.

Because the expectations of "friendliness" differ widely by culture, I think it's more effective to look at the quality of service in non-tipping venues in the U.S. Think of the service you get from coffee shops, or restaurants where you order from a counter, or fast food restaurants. Service seems to be highly…

actually come to think of it they try to push you out the door less- it's more standard to ask for your tip, than to be handed it, which is nice

it's fine. In Germany you pay a tip but it's not wages it's like "thanks," so smaller %. I can't recall ever getting truly "bad" service anywhere there. (small differences might help, you pay for tap water there so that's one less service provided as far as constnat refills go)

This one no doubt got that MJ vibe going on. Already way better than anything on that last posthumous album.