The social convention of tipping taxi drivers/waiters etc?

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I don't find tipping to be too bad because I learned to associate it with a pleasurable experience. I always assume that it comes about as a result of me liking something. If a taxi driver pisses me off then he can go whistle.

Tipping is an English thing too. Read the book "Watching the English". It'll teach you a lot about the English custom and how to separate normal English reticence from autistic driven nonsense.

I rarely go to places where tips are expected. But when I do I generally give them all the change I have in my pocket. The same thing I do for people on the street asking me for money.

I have also never seen someone not tip, only low tips when service is crummy.

Over here, it is a social convention to tip, but not necessary.

In the USA, you should only avoid tipping if the service is truly dreadful.

I wonder what happens if the service was bad but the waiter/waitress had no control over it because they don't cook the food or run the place. They only serve and take orders. I have been in this situation with my family and we all eat at this Jack Daniels place in Keystone, South Dakota and it takes us over two hours to get our food and people who arrived after us got their food before us. It was ridiculous. All we got was our drinks and our orders but no food. The waitress was polite and nice despite the whole service being bad because of the people there and whoever was managing it. Then finally we got our food and my family left her a big tip. I would rather not penalize them for things they have no control over like how fast you get your food.

Oh yeah when we complained, the manager called the cops on us because she thought we were just going to walk out and not pay because of the service being so bad and my parents speculated people have done that before. Our waitress joked they were the Keystone cops and that cheered my dramatic aunt up. She did make a scene with those cops and her husband talked to them and who knows what he told them.

In the few places where my service was deplorable enough not to leave a tip the waitress did have the option to render better service.
- Even though I went there before or after peak business hours I had to wait practically forever to get any service
- They had a noticeably rude attitude and I'm not much of a noticer
- When my order did come it was practically tossed on the table
- They never once passed by to ask me if I needed a refill on whatever I was drinking even though they were not busy
- It took forever to bring the check even after I asked
ALL of the above I've experienced twice in two different eating establishments in two different states. Both times they had plenty of available help in plain view.


I never complain to them because they are probably aware and just don't care. I just don't go back there ever again.

I guess I learned something new today; US restaurants are allowed to pay waiters and waitresses below minimum wage, and for this reason tipping is more emphasized there. It boggles my mind as to why they allow this, but I guess it just has to do with the nature of American society; they're more "sink or swim" than Canada or Australia or the UK.

On the one hand, this makes me feel sorry for all the waiters and waitresses in the US just trying to make a living, but on the other hand, this makes me proud to live in a country where such a barbaric practice isn't tolerated.