Question on restaurants in Europe

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:37:04 -0600, "Pat" <Orion.TakeThisOut@starrynight.com>
wrote:

>Here in the USA, restaurant employees are paid half of the minimum wage and
>are expected to make up the remainder of their salary in tips. I believe it
>is the only industry where the patrons are expected to pay at least half of
>the salaries of the workers employed. How is it done in various countries
>in Europe?
>
>Pat in TX

No minimum wage in Germany, although the issue is being hotly debated.
However, it seems that staff are often paid a wage that they can live
on. Also, in the summer, lots of students work as waiting staff.

Tips are relatively modest - the convention is to "round up" - so if
your bill comes to € 18,20 you round it up to (say) €20.

However, if the service is lousy, you don't tip at all. Couple of
nights ago I was eating out with friends and had to ask for the bill 3
times. No tip.

I believe the word is derived from "To ensure Prompt Service." No
prompt service = no tip. Same goe for the UK.

>


Keith (formerly of Bristol UK)
now moved to Berlin/nach Berlin umgezogen
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On Dec 21, 6:01 pm, Keith Anderson <ke....RemoveThis@privacy.net> wrote:
----snipped------
> No minimum wage in Germany, although the issue is being hotly debated.
> However, it seems that staff are often paid a wage that they can live
> on. Also, in the summer, lots of students work as waiting staff.
>
> Tips are relatively modest - the convention is to "round up" - so if
> your bill comes to EURO 18,20 you round it up to (say) EURO 20.
>
> However, if the service is lousy, you don't tip at all. Couple of
> nights ago I was eating out with friends and had to ask for the bill 3
> times. No tip.
>
> I believe the word is derived from "To ensure Prompt Service." No
> prompt service = no tip. Same goe for the UK.
>
It's never neccessary to give a tip in Germany because a 10% service
charge is always included in the price paid. Rounding up the bill or
small tips, however, is a common practice. And of course you are
always free to give a large extra tip if you really enjoyed the
service.

George
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On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:01:01 +0100, Keith Anderson <keefy.DeleteThis@privacy.net>
wrote:

>> I believe the word is derived from "To ensure Prompt Service."


"Teps"?

This is well established as false--folk etymology. See, for example,
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.asp

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
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Keith Anderson wrote:
>
> I believe the word is derived from "To ensure Prompt Service."

Myth.
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On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:32:26 +0000, Mike O'Sullivan <mike.TakeThisOut@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>Keith Anderson wrote:
>>
>> I believe the word is derived from "To ensure Prompt Service."
>
>Myth.

Yes. Here is one source's answer:

Could I first dispose of the odd belief that it is an acronym for the
phrase To Improve Performance? Modern folk etymology has a curious
idea that the source of almost any short word lies in an acronym
(perhaps because we’re surrounded by them), but the truth is that few
such inventions are found before the 1930s.

Actually, this is a most interesting word. There are three distinct
senses of tip in English: the one for an extremity probably comes from
Old Norse; the one with the sense of overturn possibly also comes from
a Scandinavian language, though nobody is sure. The one you’re asking
about may derive from the German tippen, or possibly also be connected
with the idea of an extremity, though authorities in language history
are hedging their bets through lack of evidence.

It turns up first in the thirteenth century, meaning to touch lightly
(as in the game tip and run). By the early 1600s, it had become
thieves’ cant with the sense of handing something over, or passing
something surreptitiously to another person. This may derive from the
idea of lightly touching somebody’s arm in order to communicate. (This
is supported by other appearances of the word in phrases like tip the
wink and tip off and the noun tip for a piece of inside information,
say on a horse race.)

One specific thing that was passed was a small sum of money. By the
beginning of the eighteenth century it had taken on its modern meaning
of giving a gratuity for a small service rendered; the first recorded
use is in George Farquhar’s play The Beaux Stratagem of 1706 (“Then I,
Sir, tips me the Verger with half a Crown”). By the 1750s, it could
also mean the gratuity itself.
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"Keith Anderson" <keefy.DeleteThis@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:trrnm3p7k5h1lv5r8kgplpkbkb5bs6a9qd@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:37:04 -0600, "Pat" <Orion.DeleteThis@starrynight.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Here in the USA, restaurant employees are paid half of the minimum wage
>>and
>>are expected to make up the remainder of their salary in tips. I believe
>>it
>>is the only industry where the patrons are expected to pay at least half
>>of
>>the salaries of the workers employed. How is it done in various countries
>>in Europe?
>>
>>Pat in TX
>
> No minimum wage in Germany, although the issue is being hotly debated.
> However, it seems that staff are often paid a wage that they can live
> on. Also, in the summer, lots of students work as waiting staff.
>
> Tips are relatively modest - the convention is to "round up" - so if
> your bill comes to ? 18,20 you round it up to (say) ?20.
>
> However, if the service is lousy, you don't tip at all. Couple of
> nights ago I was eating out with friends and had to ask for the bill 3
> times. No tip.
>
> I believe the word is derived from "To ensure Prompt Service." No
> prompt service = no tip. Same goe for the UK.
>

Few acronyms predate the 20th century. A dictionary says it derives from
16th century German.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore
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"Pat" <Orion DeleteThis @starrynight.com> wrote in message
news:5t28dsF1bf2b1U1@mid.individual.net...
> Here in the USA, restaurant employees are paid half of the minimum wage
> and are expected to make up the remainder of their salary in tips. I
> believe it is the only industry where the patrons are expected to pay at
> least half of the salaries of the workers employed. How is it done in
> various countries in Europe?
>

In the UK catering staff, and everyone else, is entitled to the minimum
wage, which is about double that paid in the USA.

In cheaper places the practice of tipping has almost disappeared. People
tend not to give a gratuity to people who earn as much as they do.

A service charge is often added in more expensive restaurants (and in the
West End just about everywhere)

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.
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William Black <william.black DeleteThis @hotmail.co.uk> wrote:

> "Pat" <Orion DeleteThis @starrynight.com> wrote in message
> news:5t28dsF1bf2b1U1@mid.individual.net...
> > Here in the USA, restaurant employees are paid half of the minimum wage
> > and are expected to make up the remainder of their salary in tips. I
> > believe it is the only industry where the patrons are expected to pay at
> > least half of the salaries of the workers employed. How is it done in
> > various countries in Europe?
> >
>
> In the UK catering staff, and everyone else, is entitled to the minimum
> wage, which is about double that paid in the USA.
>
> In cheaper places the practice of tipping has almost disappeared. People
> tend not to give a gratuity to people who earn as much as they do.
>
> A service charge is often added in more expensive restaurants (and in the
> West End just about everywhere)

It's technically removeable if you're not happy with the service, but I
imagine that people rarely muster up the guts to do this.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"He can't be as stupid as he looks, but nevertheless he probably
is quite a stupid man." Richard Dawkins on Pres. Bush"
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Martin <me DeleteThis @address.invalid> wrote:

> On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:19:03 +0000, d4g4h4 DeleteThis @yahoo.co.uk (David Horne, _the_
> chancellor (*)) wrote:
>
> >William Black <william.black DeleteThis @hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >> "Pat" <Orion DeleteThis @starrynight.com> wrote in message
> >> news:5t28dsF1bf2b1U1@mid.individual.net...
> >> > Here in the USA, restaurant employees are paid half of the minimum wage
> >> > and are expected to make up the remainder of their salary in tips. I
> >> > believe it is the only industry where the patrons are expected to pay at
> >> > least half of the salaries of the workers employed. How is it done in
> >> > various countries in Europe?
> >> >
> >>
> >> In the UK catering staff, and everyone else, is entitled to the minimum
> >> wage, which is about double that paid in the USA.
> >>
> >> In cheaper places the practice of tipping has almost disappeared. People
> >> tend not to give a gratuity to people who earn as much as they do.
> >>
> >> A service charge is often added in more expensive restaurants (and in the
> >> West End just about everywhere)
> >
> >It's technically removeable if you're not happy with the service, but I
> >imagine that people rarely muster up the guts to do this.
>
> It doesn't take much courage.

Have you done it? I think not tipping (which I've done) is easier than
taking the effort to specifically ask that a service charge is
removed...

> I have never paid a tip via credit card and I
> don't tip unless I think the service deserves it. It rarely does in the
> Netherlands.

I don't think I've ever had bad service when the service charge was
added... but I can't remember for sure.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"He can't be as stupid as he looks, but nevertheless he probably
is quite a stupid man." Richard Dawkins on Pres. Bush"
 >> Stay informed about: Question on restaurants in Europe 

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On the particular moment of Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:37:04 -0600 in
relation to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "Pat"
<Orion DeleteThis @starrynight.com> put forth:

>Here in the USA, restaurant employees are paid half of the minimum wage and
>are expected to make up the remainder of their salary in tips. I believe it
>is the only industry where the patrons are expected to pay at least half of
>the salaries of the workers employed. How is it done in various countries
>in Europe?

In Italy, tipping is not so common.

Good service is the norm, and they do their best to ensure you eat
well. The tip is irrelevant to the service you can expect upon the
next visit.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--
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