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Comment by demosito666 | Hacker News Reader

Is tipping somewhat mandatory in the US? Everywhere I've been it's up to the customer to decide if he wants to leave the tip. What if I won't leave tips?

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In some places, the wait staff will grab you on your way out and notify you that you didn't tip enough (say 20% instead of 30%).

I tip 15-20%, have lived in the States and Canada my whole life, and this has never happened to me.

Just adding that to provide perspective of how common this is, for readers outside of North America.

Like the other commenter, I've never had this happen. If I tipped way below what other customers tip, I would like to be told politely and then make a choice about whether I was going to tip more, but I think even that would be frowned upon by business owners or managers. Usually, if I'm not sure (such as a service I rarely use), I will ask somebody what a typical tip looks like. A good example is a buck a bag for bell staff at a hotel - or $5 a bag for Skycaps, if you would like them to ignore the weight of your bag ;)

This happened to me once in NY at a fairly nice place. The waitress came back and asked what was wrong with the service, when we were really just a group of stingy Europeans.

I am American. I grew up pretty poor and we didn't go out to eat when I was a kid. When I was about 15 I went to a diner. My uncultured friends and I didn't leave a tip, not because we didn't want to, we legitimately just forgot to leave a tip. I would never forget now since 1) I pay by card and they have a tip line and 2) I am used to eating out now. The waitress followed us outside to the parking lot demanding a tip, it was awfully hostile.

It is seen as extremely rude. If you are picking up the bill for a party or a date and don't tip, it will shine a very negative light on you. And whoever you are with will probably leave the tip behind in your stead.

EDIT: If it was obvious to everyone that the service was bad, leaving without a tip will be fine.

some places will auto add tips to your bill, regardless of party size

If that's declared up front on their menu, I don't mind because I have the choice to not eat their if I'm not OK with that. I've never had to pay a service charge that I can recall on a small party. Usually over 6 or so.

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