Hacker News Reader

Comment by Aperocky | Hacker News Reader

Whoa, that sucks. Out of curiosity, do people in UK tip? In the states, if there's no tip, then it is expected for the customer to clean up after themselves.

View on HN

>Out of curiosity, do people in UK tip?

Not in a fast-food restaurant, no.

You'll often see folks in cafés help out and return their trays, but it's not a guarantee - and in some establishments it's not even possible for you as a customer to do this. At the end of the day, you're paying to sit down - and clearing your table afterwards is priced into the food offer.

Fast food is a bit more of a grey area, since there's not necessarily table service. I'd throw away my rubbish at e.g. Burger King - there's usually bins provided for this purpose.

I tidy up or not based on whether there's table service. No table service = I do it myself, table service = it's somebody else's problem. I don't think anybody ever taught me this explicitly - it's just something I must have picked up, I suppose?

I don't think it's really all that outrageous to just leave the detritus on the table in either case. But when there's no table service, the tables won't be getting cleared so regularly, so it can make things inconvenient for the other patrons.

There area a lot of edge cases with this scenario. In some fast food restaurants (such as certain Burger King locations), you will get a number and the employees will bring the food to you, so there is a minimal form of table service. Also, the history of the country matters as well. In China, where there is no tipping culture, but fast food started out as fancy expensive foreign food not too long ago, the employees are expected to clean up, even as prices are now lower relatively compared with moderately expensive restaurants. On the other hand, in Korea, where there also is no tipping culture, fast food is now cheaper food, and you clean up after yourself.

In the UK, we generally tip for a great service. If I buy a meal and the food and service is just fine, then no tip. Though if the food and service are great, I will generally tip 10 - 20% depending on how generous I'm feeling at the time. Tips generally aren't expected, and you won't be shamed if you don't tip.

I would clean up after myself somewhere like McDonalds or Burger King, though in a cafe or restaurant I wouldn't. In a restaurant I usually put the plates together to make it easier for the waiter or waitress to clear the table and try not to be too messy.

There's usually a 12.5% service charge in restaurants, but I've rarely seen tipping (I'm a foreigner living in London)

That 12.5% service charge is a tip (you don't have to pay it if you don't want to, and it will generally go to the servers).

How can you refuse to pay? It's part of the bill, isn't it? In most restaurants I've been so far at least. Also foreigner, so maybe I am missing something.

You can say you don’t want to or state some other total you’re going to pay that’s >= to the rest of the bill. Obviously that’s awkward and that’s why they make it the default, but you can pay less/no service charge/tip if you want to.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com