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Culture Shock: Tipping

A Comparison between Countries

By Natasja RosePublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 3 min read
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Culture Shock: Tipping
Photo by Aviv Rachmadian on Unsplash

For my age and economic situation, I'm a fairly experienced traveller.

My Dad worked in Bletchley Park with the people who invented the internet, and about once a year, a work conference would be expanded into a family holiday. I've been to at least half of the US states and a few European countries over my childhood, and once I grew up and had a steady job, I started touring the places I wanted to go. Switzerland, Italy, UK and Ireland, Austria, France, Germany... COVID-19 may have interrupted several more plans, but only temporarily.

But there's one thing that always baffles me when I travel overseas: Tipping Culture.

In Australia, the minimum wage is $20.33 AUD per hour. (Roughly $12.24 USD, $12.53 Euro,, or $10.82 GBP) That's the minimum anyone on an award contract can earn per hour, pre-tax. People paid off the books, or through agencies like AirTasker, where the price of a task is agreed between the customer and worker, might vary more, but not to a great degree. Retail and Hospitality might be hellish jobs in a lot of other ways, but it is possible to earn a living wage working them.

Most places, particularly bars and restaurants, have a tip jar, but it's more like a recpetical for spare change that you don't want to bother with when other customers are staring holes in the back of your head, that gets divvied up between all the staff at the end of the day. Some places have charity boxes near the counter for similar purposes.

Particularly in the USA, but also in other places, tipping is seen as a moral obligation, rather than an option for exceptional service.

I read stories of servers being paid as little as $3 per hour, "Plus tips", allowing their contract to bypass minimum wage laws. With that in mind, I can understand why workers would rely on tips to make ends meet, and why someone neglecting to tip would be such a big deal. I can see why Hospitality would be a last resort for a lot of people, or require working two or three jobs at once.

It doesn't stop me from needing to be gently reminded by other people to leave a tip when I pay for some halfway decent soup and a drink at a chain eatery, chosen largely because they were the only thing open when I arrived at the airport due to a late-night flight.

Oh well, it's a good way to get rid of the couple of dollars and change that isn't enough for the money exchange.

By Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

That's the attitude toward most tipping in Australia.

If you do an exceptional job, then you may get tipped personally. Otherwise, it's a matter of the small change when you pay with a large note, and don't want to hold up the line.

In many ways, Australians actively avoid tipping.

It makes the occasions when you do tip more meaningful, avoids the awkward situation of someone having to admit that they can't eat out and tip a significant amount if they want to make rent this week, and shows that they trust their preferred dining places not to underpay or mistreat their staff. Staff that have to hint at tips are staff who are being underpaid, and a sign of bad management of cutting costs. For most Australians (the majority of politicians and megacorporations aside), nothing gets a boycott faster than evidence that the people in charge are not "giving a Fair Go".

By Michael Longmire on Unsplash

That's not to say that tipping is a bad practice; there is no minimum-wage job that can't stand to be paid more than they are.

However, tipping shouldn't be an obligation. It definitely shouldn't be the difference between whether or not a hospitality worker eats properly that week. Hospitality, like most essential jobs, is hard work that doesn't get the credit or appreciation it deserves.

Be polite to your server, and if you live in a country where tipping makes a difference, be as generous as you can afford.

By Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash

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About the Creator

Natasja Rose

I've been writing since I learned how, but those have been lost and will never see daylight (I hope).

I'm an Indie Author, with 30+ books published.

I live in Sydney, Australia

Follow me on Facebook or Medium if you like my work!

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