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Comment by Jedd | Hacker News Reader

One Australian's anecdata follows.

I hate tipping. It's an unwanted cognitive intrusion with no upside for me whatsoever. It also reflects a broken (wage / reward) system, and obviously my preference is they fix that.

In Australia I may tip - iff the service is really good. And only at sit-down / eat-in restaurants. Cafes, cabs, ubers, couriers, hotels, etc - these are not tipping places. If I'm tipping at a restaurant, in addition to exceptional service / food, it'll be a) only if I feel there's zero guilt or implied obligation to tip, b) 5-10%, and c) cash (ie. not via the EFT / POS device).

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The rule I was taught growing up in USA was 15% and it was really only for sit down restaurants where waiters served you at your table.

Now, tipping in USA has metastasized, but I haven't changed. You want to play a guilt trip game after every business engagement? You'll lose against me. Tip for pouring a cup of drip coffee?---nah. Tip for making fast food? Nope. I will not enable the tip-everywhere culture.

As another Australian, tipping and tax are the worst part of traveling to the US (other than maybe the toilets....). I don't really mind what the final price is, but I really would like to know it up front without having to do a bunch of calculations, which vary depending on which state I'm in.

I used to round up back in Europe, but after living in the US for a while I never tip anywhere else. I don't want this cancer to spread.

I'm always put off by a server hearing my American accent and insisting / guilt-tripping that I add a tip, thinking I'm a tourist in Sydney...

Yes I do tip sometimes, but only if the service has been fun / great. So off-putting when a place tries to squeeze a tip if they think you don't live here.

Kiwi here, I will tip in an Uber because I know they're getting shafted by Uber, but typically try to do so in cash because I'm sure Uber tries to take a cut of the in-app tip.

It's very reasonable to apply this mindset to North America and you don't have to feel bad about it either.

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