You would not get in "trouble" - I was a waiter at a restaurant in New York where the waiters make $0 per hour, only tips, and often we had customers from France or Germany who would sit and drink coffee for 3 or 4 hours, pay for the coffee and leave no tip. We waiters were upset about it because they did not understand that we are only paid by the customers, not the restaurant. But no one ever got in trouble.

When I lived in France and spent time in Germany, I always tipped a lot just to make a statement... but I understand that the waiters there are actually paid by the restaurants, so it's not necessary.

I think that very much depends on the establshment. I'm from the EU and the server chased me down in the car park in upstate NY because I didn't tip.

First, I don't believe you one tiny little bit.

Second, even if it DID happen, that is the fantastically rare situation, that is extremely bizzare. You can read here and everywhere that this is not how it is done, so you don't make a judgement based on one single time, especially when no one else ever has had that experience.

I've left restaurants many times without paying a tip because of exceptionally poor service, it's never happened to me. I've never heard it happening to anyone.

Yeah, totally 100% do not believe you. Sorry, man. I just don't. Again, unless that server was actually and really truly mentally ill, and not using the term colloquially.

> I was a waiter at a restaurant in New York where the waiters make $0 per hour, only tips

Not a legal expert, but that looks very much illegal.

That's how it is. At the end of the year, they ask you how much you made in tips, calculate the tax off that and then "pay" you the exact amount of your taxes by giving it to the government.

It's the same as strippers. Better, because strippers often have to pay to dance.

I don't think they meant "trouble" as in "they'll be in trouble with the restaurant for not tipping." I read it as "I'll be in (financial) trouble because I'll run out of money sooner than I expected" which would be a concern of mine as well in their shoes.

Most places in the US don’t even include all taxes in the prices they display so you will have to do some calculation anyway. It’s weird coming from Europe but you kind of get used to it, at least I hope.

You definitely get used to it. Having lived in both places, it's not really a big deal.

For me, living in Texas, I would assume the final price is 10% more than the sticker price calculation. When I was buying groceries, this generally meant I was always "under" my estimate because most food isn't taxable in Texas. But I was never surprised by the final total at the register. At restaurants I assumed 20-25% depending on what the numbers were.

Now that I live in Europe, I don't even notice. They tell me the total, I pay. End of story.

Tbf there are still examples of this in the EU. At least here in the Netherlands, if you purchase any drinks in recyclable bottles, you pay a surcharge at the register which can then be reimbursed when you bring the bottle back. It's not a large discrepancy (25¢ I think?) but it bit me once when I first arrived and I was paying for everything with cash. I had enough money for everything except the bottle surcharge.

You get the money back, so it's a deposit, not a surcharge.

But I still have to pay for it upfront. And if I'm out and about in the city and stop into AH to buy a drink to carry with me, then I either need to carry the bottle with me the rest of the day or throw it away and lose my "deposit".

The point is that it's not included on the label as the price I pay at the register.

Right, it's still a deposit, and not a surcharge. The whole point is that you don't throw it away. That's exactly what makes a 'surcharge' into a 'deposit'.

Right. But you KNOW that tips are used in the USA. So if you KNOW that tips are 15%, what is the big deal? You just add 15% to your $100 meal and you pay your $115. Who cares about the advertised price? Why is that such a holy of holies to genuflect in front of? You are not tricked. You know that it is custom to pay 15%. How are you tricked? You aren't.

The thing is, you DON'T have to tip. I have walked out of restaurants before without tipping when I got super shitty service. You can pay 5% or 10% or 15% or 20% or 25%.

And the thing is that here in the USA, everyone LOVES tipping. Customers, good nice customers, love tipping. Usually it is the whiny bitchy horrible customers that don't like tipping, and if there was not tipping, they would be whiny bitchy horrible customers anyways. This much I know to be true.

If you don't have a lot of money, just go and be honest and tell the wait staff that. Be honest. I mean, don't be going and ordering $800 worth of food and say you don't have a lot of money because that would be horrible thing. But if you have a very little money, just apologize and say you'd love to but can't.

Also, these days you can go online and see exactly how much the food is, and add on the tip. Just see what you want, add 15%, and you know. This is not difficult. It won't get you in trouble if you take an extra 30 seconds to look up the menu on line, right? And ffs, if you order $30 dinner, and the tip is $4.50 and you don't have enough money to cover it, why on earth would you go out to a restaurant in the first place? Stay at home and make a nice pasta dinner that is just as good as a restaurant and pay $1 or $1.50. Or euros, I think the exchange rate is pretty close to one-to-one. If you go out to a restaurant and go broke over $4.50, your issues are a lot deeper and worse than not having $4.50 tip. Like, you should see a professional therapist about why you would blow the tiny bit of money that you do have on a $30 meal when you can spend $1 and eat at home.