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Even though the crisis has put limits on our tipping generosity, most people tend to stick to the rule. However, before customers finally make up their minds whether, and how, to reward a waiter, they consider various factors.

When it comes to paying the bill in restaurants, cafes, etc. some are tight, and others are more loose-fingered. If the bill rises above €100, customers tend to leave a small tip or no tip at all whereas with much smaller bills the tip might be unexpectedly plump. Apart from the customer’s pocket depth and mindset, the service he/she got from the waiter/waitress has a huge role to play in the tipping act.

As far as international tipping is concerned, customers from the USA or Canada tend to be more generous whereas the French belong to a category not particularly favoured among service staff. Germans and Brits seem to belong to the golden mean. Greek tips have been mauled to less than 70% of their pre-crisis levels.

Here is a list of things we have to consider when tipping time comes.

How much should a tip be?

As a general rule, a restaurant tip should hover somewhere between 8 and 15% of the bill, with 10% being the mother of all tips. You might have noticed during some of your travels that the tip was included in the bill. But this is not done in Greece. According to research, most customers estimate their tip on the basis of the bill plus taxes. A small percentage have admitted to tipping more generously in fancier restaurants.

When is tipping ill-advised?

Even if most people would leave a tip come what may, it should be something staff have to do their best to lay their hands on rather than take for granted. The waiter’s kindness and intimate hospitality are a key factor for customers, with one forth of them declaring that an unfriendly waiter or waitress might lose his/her bonus. The proverbial fly or hair in the soup or some similar mishap might lead to the same deprivation. Other reasons might include a mistaken bill, an oily or sugary spillage on our lap, or when food is too slow in coming out or too unpalatable to eat. Actually, in most of those cases people simply slash their tips by 5 or 10%.

Home deliveries and tipping

Even though home deliverers do more than waiters and are paid less, customers only reward them between 50 cents and 1 euro a time. Besides, bill sizes are hardly taken into account, i.e. genuine tipping is a rare sight in the trade.

The other side

And while in some countries tips are included in the bill, and in others they are a matter of benevolence, there are places where tips are a no-no. According to the Wego travel site, tips are flat-rate in the USA and Canada, up-to-the customer in Norway, Spain and the UK, but in countries like Argentine, Japan and Yemen they might be deemed offensive or even a criminal act. According to Wego’s research, Greece is among the countries where tips are not considered a must, but customers provide them as an expression of satisfaction. Australia, China, England, Italy and Denmark belong to the same category.