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Comment by WarDekar | Hacker News Reader

I'm a native Ohioan and have (had?) lived in California for the past 4 years. Currently I'm abroad in South America, and I have to say I miss tipping. Why? Because when there isn't an incentive for the staff to give good service, I often get terrible service. It can take ages to get served, I'll often request something when food is first brought and don't receive it until I'm already done with my meal, etc. Part of this is certainly related to the laid back attitude of Latin America cultures, but if the service employees were incentivized to give better service they probably wouldn't stand around talking to each other for 15 minutes while my friends and I are waiting on another beer.

Now I do hate that in the States there are now tip jars at all sorts of establishments, but to me restaurants and bars I much prefer tipping culture.

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I live in Japan right now where there is absolutely no tipping (not even "sometimes tipping" like in Europe) and the service is better than I've experienced anywhere else, including the US. And here it's not just limited to restaurants, even in shops you get service with amazing attention to detail (oh your bag looks heavy, here's a piece of foam to pad the handle...)

Indeed. Tipping or no-tipping is really not a black and white issue. Just because they do not receive tips does not mean they don't care. For all you know they could get fired for standing around - like you would be with a regular office job.

Since you are HN I assume you are in IT. How exactly do you get tipped for the work you do? And do you provide terrible support and buggy product if people do not pay you just for fun 20% above your usual billing rate? And what is your incentive for working at all if tipping is so uncommon in the IT industry?

Perhaps if people would tip IT professionals we'd have a lot less "Hello IT, have you tried turning it off and on again," "IT is incredibly incompetent" stereotypes. I would tip my IT people if they did an outstanding enough job to warrant it, but it's hard to find anyone that doesn't live up past the stereotype - a self-reenforcing loop of bad wages begets bad service begets bad wages.

No it wouldn't because your employer would counter the tipping culture by cutting your wages creating an equilibrium, only now you have to rely on other people providing the bulk of your salary instead of your employer.

I think that stereotype comes more from outsourcing IT helpdesk to third world countries to pay a tenth in wages. And surprise, you get what you pay for.

Tipping is expected no matter what in the US. There is no incentive to do better here either.

>Tipping is expected no matter what in the US. There is no incentive to do better here either.

It is expected, yes, but as a European with vast experience in customer service on both sides of the pond, even with expected tips the level of service in US restaurants/bars/etc. is far, far higher than what I'm accustomed to in Europe.

Now it can sometimes be overbearing but overall the experience is generally more welcoming, more friendly and more personal. When I'm eating in an up-scale place in Europe, the staff are generally very professional and quite quiet. Lower down the scale the staff are just "meh".

In the US, even if you go into a chain restaurant at rush hour I've found the staff to be totally engaging, eager to have a chat, find out what you like, recommend you things and then check up on you to see if everything is alright.

That's not to say that it's always great service in US and always mediocre in Europe, but there's definitely an overall different feel to the level of service offered regardless of a tip being expected.

I got the opposite after a trip to the States. I found it really false the way every waiter tries too hard to be your friend.

Arrived back in Barcelona (where small change is usually considered a tip). Had a grumpy waiter who didn't even write down our order for tapas, forgot one of them. But his personality was real. I didn't feel obliged to tip him.

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