"Piero" wrote in message
news:f0iuog$avn$1@news.intratec.it...
> This summer we will go for the fourth time in the USA.
> Now I'm quite trained on money/tips behaviour, but I want to ask if
> something changed in the last 3 years...
> Here in Europe tips are not very common, and generally 'normal' people
> almost never give tips, so we are not trained to do so...
> I normally in USA leave 15/18% on restaurants, 2-3$ on buffets with some
> light table service (like beverages), and 1-2$ on Motel's room every
> night.
> I'm in some wrong? Something changed (maybe increased)?
>
> Another question: here is normal to pay something (also very cheap, like a
> cup of coffee) with a 20 or 50 euros bill getting the change back without
> problem.
>
> I remember my wife buying something very cheap on a big family store
> (something like 'all items for 1$ each') having trouble with a 20$ bill
> (and also with the language: I'm the only that speaks, in some way,
> english, and she was alone)...
>
> My first thing to do there will be to harvest 1$ bills and 25c coins...
> It seems that all there works with them...
> For bigger amounts: credit card...
>
> I think you (they) are, maybe, lucky for that...
> Here we have coins, no bills, for the amount of 1 and 2 euros, and there's
> a feel that our currency worth less than real (not true: 1 euro = 1.36
> US$).
I think you are quite on track, if not just a bit on the generous side. If
you like the service very much, 20% would be welcomed. If the service is
abysmal, I've been known to leave two pennies...a much stronger message than
to leave no tip at all. Be careful and read well...there are places with
the tip ("gratuity") already calculated into your final bill. To tip in
addition to that means you are double tipping.
Paying for a cup (or two) of coffee with a 20 or 50 dollar bill will get you
some suspicious looks. The concern is that you are trying to pass
counterfeit money, acquiring a large sum of legitimate money in return.
Better to pay with smaller denominations.
And hold the larger bills against the light - you should see a watermarked
portrait of the person on the bill itself on legitimate tender.
Here's hoping you have an excellent trip and some good memories....
|