Podcast 4 How do I tip when I travel to the United States or to another country?

Hello, and welcome to Blabbinit.com . This is Missy from southern California. Thank you for listening in to our podcast today! Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch and thinking about the different places that I have traveled. I noticed that tipping, or leaving tips, is different in each country. A tip is money that you leave to a specific person, who does a specific service.

I stopped and thought about how tipping was ever created. I found out that tipping first began in England in the late 1700’s. They had a tipping box in coffee houses where people would place money in before their coffee was served. The word tip is an acronym which stood for T – to I – insure P – promptness. To insure promptness means that if they put money in the box that their coffee would be guaranteed to be served quickly.

Sometimes when we are traveling to another country, we are unsure if we should tip, and if we do, how much. You should research this information before you go to visit a particular country. The standards and customs are so different in each place. There are several ways for you to find out this information. One, of course, is the internet. Just make sure that the information that you found is accurate. It is good to find information from several different sites to ensure that the information that you found is correct. Another way is to call the consulate. They will have all of the data and can inform you about the customs of a country. A consulate is an office of a government official who works in a foreign country to look after his country’s citizens. Another way is through books. Travel books are very handy, or helpful, when you want to travel to other places. They explain all of the “ins and outs”, or all of the little details about a country. You can probably find hints about tipping in one of these books. If all of these options fail and you still haven’t found out the tipping customs of where you would like to travel, try going to a travel agent. Travel agents can always tell you details about the place you will travel.

I found some interesting facts about tipping. Did you know that in the United States and Canada, it is a custom to leave a tip? In Australia, tips are normally not given. In Germany, the tip is automatically included in the bill. And in China, tips are illegal! WOW! Talk about one extreme to another! From being customary to being illegal! I would have never imagined that there could be such a difference in the way people tip from one place to another.

Restaurant tipping in the United States is very common. If a person eats in a restaurant and does not leave a tip, they are considered to be rude. It is typical to leave a 15 percent tip to a waiter or a waitress that has served you in a restaurant.

Some people ask you how are you are able to figure out 15 percent of a bill. I learned a simple trick, or an easy way, to calculate this percentage. First, you need to look at the tax. All bills include sales tax, which in California is 7.75%. So, suppose that I went out to eat and the waiter brought me the check. The total for the food was $15.75. The tax would be shown on the bill as $1.22. I would take the tax and double it, or multiply it by two. $1.22 times two is $2.44. This would be the typical amount for the tip. Although, often times it is considered rude to leave pennies. People would either leave $2.50 or they would even round it up to $3.00.

Although tipping in the United States is common, it is not required. Generally most of us leave tips because we know that the people that serve us food only earn minimum wage. Minimum wage is the lowest amount of money per hour, by law, that a workplace can pay their employees. So we know that these employees cannot really live on this amount alone. The way they really earn their money is through their tips.

Giving 15 percent of the amount of the bill is pretty customary here in the states. Although, if my waiter was terrible and brought me the food one hour after I ordered it, or they brought me the wrong food, or they had a terrible attitude, or they never came to check on me while I was eating, I will not leave them a tip. Generally most waiters and waitresses are very friendly and work hard to please their customers. Although, there are always some out there that shouldn’t be working in customer service. They shouldn’t be working with people.

There are other things that we tip people for other than waitresses and waiters in restaurants. One common thing to tip for is when you order a drink at a bar you typically give the bartender, the person who made your drink, one or two dollars per drink. When someone delivers flowers to your house, it is a nice to give the delivery person a tip. Also, when any food is delivered to your house such as pizza or Chinese food, the driver is given a tip. The normal tip to a delivery driver is two dollars. Also, when you take a cab, people normally tip the cab driver.

When you take your car to get in a carwash because it is very dirty, the man who has been cleaning your car will honk the horn of your car and wave his towel in the air to signal when your car is ready. When he hands you your keys, it is a good idea to hand him about two dollars. This will put a smile on his face and he will know that his hard work of cleaning your car has benefited him in some way.

Another place that you should be ready to “fork out” money is a hotel. To fork out money means that you are giving a lot of money to people. When you drive up to the hotel, a person will normally ask you if you would like to have your car parked in valet. This means that they will take your car and park it for you. They will keep your keys and give them back to you when you return. When you come back to get your car, you walk to the front of the hotel and they will go and get your car for you and pull it up to the front where you are waiting. When the man hands you your keys, typically you should give the man a tip. One or two dollars is sufficient.

When you enter the hotel, with your bags and you check in. There will be a person who can help you carry your bags to your room. This person is called a bellhop. After they bring your luggage into your room, you can also give them a tip for helping you up to your room.

Beware if you get hungry in the middle of the night and call for room service. You call on the hotel phone directly to the hotel kitchen and the food will be prepared and will be delivered to your room. When the person knocks on your door to hand you the food, be ready to also hand them a tip.

If you are ever in a situation where you do not know whether you should tip or not, you should ask the person if you should tip them. Most of the time the person will say, “It’s up to you”. When a person says it’s up to you they are saying that it is your decision. Sometimes it is better just to give them a tip than to look like a rude customer.

Wow, it seems like the world is a place full of tipping! Here and there and everywhere we go….we tip!

I hope this information has helped you if you plan on traveling to the United States, or to any foreign country. Hopefully you will have a better idea on what is appropriate to tip.

Thanks for listening in today to Blabbinit, the Chattering World of English! Don’t forget to visit our website for more ways to practice your English at www.blabbinit.com. This is Missy, and have a super day! Bye bye!