Da Bunny's visiting New York.

Kicky's the expert on arepas.

The first one I had did happen to be from a cart vendor during a street fair very close to Tompkins Square Park. kicky, dag, littlek and I were wandering around after a lunch at 1A, before Little Italy and a jaunt to Bernie and Lola's (the night of the Australian phone call). Mozzarepas was the vendor - sooo good. I've had a few in Toronto since - very nice, occasional treat.

I'd definitely consider more central/south American food when visiting New York. I think the best salads I've ever had were in tiny Chilean restaurants.

I doubt Germans have to beg?

Just out of curiosity, what would a typical tip be in Australia?

buy gold...

I never thought of tip-taking as begging. It's a performance bonus. Lots of professions have variable bonuses as part of their salary.

A lot of people vu them as emotional forms of extortion.



Not always; I 've given 300% when the chick was cute enuf.





David

I don't think there is one.

You don't have to tip at all.

Tipping might be done by some all the time....I have dined with people who clearly would NEVER tip.

I tip if I think service has been good and I have enough money. I'd be embarrassed to tip below a couple of bucks.

When I was waiting, years ago, I was tipped from nothing, to more than the value of the meal.

Don't know what other Ozzians think?

Doesn't sound like that from what you said...it sounds as though it is expected unless you have seriously under-performed.

Just don't get me started on this.....I think people should get decent money for what they do and there's an end of it. I find tipping, especially tipping to bring people up to decent pay for what they do, appalling.

I am happy to tip for really good service, but not because it is expected. The US drives me crazy that way, because I have to make myself remember, and i am not part of whoever decides that service people get rotten pay, but I still have to make up for it.

Arepas?

Tipping isn't charity, nor begging. It's applause.

I've been to the same restaurant several times and tipped differently more than half of the time.
The waitress/waiter who recites the specials, takes the order and brings the food gets 10-15%.

The waitress/waiter who recites the specials-answers questions clearly and cheerfully, takes the order, brings the food, actually CHECKs to see to everything is correct (I've had waiters ask "how is everything? as they speed by at 15 miles per hour. No one has any time to say anything.) Then stays alert to any other needs we might have --gets 20%. Maybe more.

They don't have to try to be my best new friend, they just need to make me feel like a guest in their restaurant.

If all the waitstaff is paid the same, there is no incentive for them to do anything but slog the meal to the table. Really good waiters/waitresses can be a fount of information: about what specials seem to be better than others, about what's in a sauce and how long something might take to prepare (in case you are trying to make an 8PM curtain at a theater six blocks away.) In other words, they can improve the restaurant's chances of having a returning customer.

No tips? What do they care about whether you got that second beer?
They make the same money.
Oops, they didn't make sure that you got your side salad. So what? Take it off the bill, Okay.
They still make the same money.
You're not coming back, but they still made the same money.
~~
We had a really rude waiter one night at Sarabeth's http://www.sarabethswest.com/ That NEVER happens. He was just awful. Got the orders wrong, disappeared for a long time, never brought the check. A bunch of stuff. But when he showed up after the check had been brought and actually looked at the tip amount we had left and COMPLAINED about it, my host said "Oh, yes, let me fix that."

And he took the receipt and carefully scratched out the tip amount and then wrote ZERO next to the blackened square.

Joe(we applauded him.)Nation

I know that's what you think, but I totally disagree.

Anyone who does anything in the US expects a goddam tip.

As you say, bad staff expect a tip.

You have just grown up in a tipping culture that pays lots of jobs **** money.

I don't notice the COST of anything reflecting the shitty wages by the way.

I pay no less for a US meal where I am EXPECTED to tip, no less for a taxi ride where I am EXPECTED to tip than I do in Oz, where the waiters and taxi-drivers earn a decent wage, and I am NOT expected to tip.

And I get perfectly decent service.

I never expected a tip when I was waiting or cleaning etc.

I did the best job I knew how and looked after my customers because that was the JOB I was being paid to do, not because I was hoping to snag extra money. If you did a lousy job you got fired. End of story.

It's no different ion my job now...I do the best I can because that is what I expect myself to do.

Anyway. please lets stay off the topic.

Look what I got in the mail this afternoon!!

This year's special Time Out NY Cheap Eats 2010 edition!!

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/86921/cheap-eats-in-new-york-city

It's not a "performance bonus"in the US. It's organised begging for a livable wage.

What would happen if I didn't tip? Do I have that option? Do the wait staff depend on tips? I could just walk out without incident?

I'm active on a number of travel sites, and quite often the question of cost of eating out is raised, and Americans complain that it's higher here than in US. Apart from then population factor, the main differential is that wait staff and others are paid a proper wage, and all taxes are included in the quoted price of a ameal. You can just walk out without tipping. But you also don't get that obsequious and grovelling behaviour - which Australians find pretty offputting anyway!

Aand, because tipping is not part of our culture, we all struggle with the tipping mindset in other countries.

And where was your option just to pay for what you received. Not to pay extra because you received it?

I'm no maven on all this, but in italy, in my times there, servicio was added automatically to the presented bill. People were welcome to add on, or not.

I gather, lire were added, lightly, usually.

If you didn't tip at all, you would be communicating that you were very unhappy with the waitress's service. From the waitress's side, nothing would happen immediately. Perhaps the next time you came, the smile on her face might be a little sour.

Yes, you do have that option.

Yes they pretty much do depend on tips. In the US, the federal minimum wage for 'regular' workers is $7.25 per hour. For tipped workers, by contrast, the minimum wage is either $7.25 minus the tip or $2.13---whichever is higher. (That's what the Department of Labor says, anyway.) So yes, American waitresses pretty much depend on tips.

Yes, you could walk out without incident.

Kewl!

Our accommodation for our first few days in London:



Only 30.00 pounds each a night ==$54.00AUD at this stage.

Ooh London!

I really want to start traveling again. Can't do a bunch of it just financially but the kid's old enough now I think.

The friends we are staying with part of the time in England still don't know where they are going to be.

I really hope they know soon...I don't have the budget to pay for ALL the accommodation!!!

I stayed at another University Hall last time I was in London...no frills, but cheap, comfortable enough, and very convenient.

The only problem was it was near Tower Bridge and the Tower of London...and the IRA were still active in London then, so the tube kept stopping for various lengths of time in the tunnel before I got to Tower Station, because it was a favourite spot for IRA bomb threats.

Bit spooky.

At least the IRA often GAVE warnings.