talking about a lot lately<\/a>: America\u2019s tipping culture is a bit unique. Other countries pay a living wage and tip only on special occasions. So, how would this play out during the World Cup with an industry that relies on tips to pay bills? Some restaurants are slapping auto grat on everything, while most restaurateurs we talked to just shrugged: They didn\u2019t know what to expect.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s just say we\u2019ve all learned a lot. Us and the four Norwegians. <\/p>\n
1. 20% is standard, but the rules are blurry<\/p>\n
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CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
We asked Vagare from Norway what he knew about tipping before coming to America. He said he knew that tipping 20% is expected at restaurants, but was surprised that it\u2019s also expected at bars and cafes. <\/p>\n
2. Even locals can\u2019t agree on the proper protocol<\/p>\n
There were two of us from the Observer at this impromptu interview. One of us is a wee bit older than the other. We had different reactions to this statement on coffee shops. I\u2019ll leave a dollar at a local cafe mostly but not always, but never at a Starbucks. My coworker always tips. This confused Vagare even more; he didn\u2019t realize not tipping was an option. <\/p>\n
3. Acceptance is the first step to enjoying your tipping trip in America<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned that I have to tip there [cafes and bars] as well,\u201d he says, and adds with a shrug. \u201cI\u2019ve come to the conclusion that I have a few weeks of vacation in America and I accept that I\u2019m going to tip everywhere.\u201d\u00a0Dang, Vagare, hope you have that in the budget. <\/p>\n
4. The tip screen isn\u2019t just an option, it\u2019s a mandate<\/p>\n
Truls from Norway had an interesting take on the tip screen, saying that when you tap your card at a bar or restaurant, it\u2019s \u201cmandatory\u201d to go through the prompts. He\u2019s right, it is mandatory. They make you pick a side every time. The tip prompt has always been framed as \u201cyou have the option to tip.\u201d Actually, you have to go through the prompts every time. It\u2019s a mandate. <\/p>\n
5. Norway pays living wages to all<\/p>\n
In Norway, servers are part of a union, and pay starts around $20 per hour and increases with age and tenure. Tipping is only expected at high-end dinners. Alexander Riis, one of the guys we spoke to, said diners might tip on meals costing $100 or more, but only if the service was really good.<\/p>\n
6. Tech-driven tipping culture is on the rise everywhere<\/p>\n
Truls added that tipping has become more prominent in Norway as digital payment systems become more popular. <\/p>\n
7. Service is better in America<\/p>\n
Vagare added that service in America is much better than in Norway. \u201cIn Norway it\u2019s a little more distant and cold \u2014\u00a0that\u2019s how we like it in Norway \u2014 it\u2019s really nice that they [servers in the U.S.] follow up with you more. I kind of appreciate that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that because they rely on the tip, though?\u201d his friend Truls added, which is one of the system\u2019s benefits.<\/p>\n
8. The $2.13 tipped minimum wage is shocking. As it should be. <\/p>\n
One thing they didn\u2019t know \u2014\u00a0and couldn\u2019t quite believe \u2014 is that servers make just $2.13 an hour. They almost spit their beer out. We felt a weird pride; like showing them a shiny trophy for winning at being the worst. This is a fuzzy topic because, under federal law, servers have to be paid at least the minimum wage at the end of the day, either way. But it\u2019s why tipping is so important. <\/p>\n
9. Taxation without representation<\/p>\n
The Norwegians have also been surprised by taxes on everything. In Norway, taxes are baked into prices, so the number you see on the tag or menu at a restaurant is what you pay. Here, they\u2019re paying more in tips and taxes. <\/p>\n
10. Auto-grat complicates bad food, which trumps even the best service<\/p>\n
We ended our chat with a story from Alexander about a bad experience at a restaurant in Boston. The group has been traveling around and, while he loved Boston, dinner at a restaurant took \u201cages,\u201d and the steaks weren\u2019t cooked medium-rare as requested. He said the service was great, but aside from that, the meal wasn\u2019t very good, particularly the wait. So they complained, and the manager comped their beers but left the auto-gratuity added to their bill.<\/p>\n
Alexander thought they should take away the tip because, \u201cthat\u2019s the whole point.\u201d <\/p>\n
Yes, Alexander from Norway, you\u2019d think it is.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to the point of great service here versus cold, distant service in Norway. Then we could get into a discussion about the performative expectations: Should service be a performance? What if a server wants to hide in a shell and not dote? Would cold, distant service be OK if everything else was as expected? And dinner was 20% less? Probably so. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We didn’t get to see the row trick, but we enjoyed chatting with these four from Norway. Lauren…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,918,65188],"class_list":["post-359447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-economy","tag-quest-for-the-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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