To tip or not to tip, a diner’s dilemma

When I’d go to dine at an upscale restaurant, my dilemma would be to tip or not to tip after paying my hefty, and quite looking like an overcharged, bill. All these classy restaurants add in your bill 10% service charges, that too before the taxes. These service charges are meant exclusively for the waiter(s) serving dinner at your table, the kitchen and pantry staff, including hotel help. You’re not sure though that these service charges are shared with the staff or the whole amount or major part of it is gobbled up by the restaurant owner.

You may still feel like leaving some amount for the waiter, particularly if you’re paying by credit card. You may end up paying much more than 10% or even 20% on your already heavily charged bill. It’s our belief that in these pricey restaurants, the waiters are comparatively paid decently. But on roadside dhabas and eateries, the waiters are poorly or not paid in cash at all, and you’re not asked or bothered to tip anyone. Your pizza or other delivery boys don’t expect or ask you for a tip, though with their meagre salaries, they do deserve one, but we hardly remember about the 10% service charges we are obliged to bear in the top-notch restaurants.

These fancy restaurants ought to prominently display on their menu cards the percentage that will be added in your bill before taxes and specify that tipping is not necessary. Since there is an increase of the service charge tariff in every annual budget, at present it is as high as 18%, you may be charged even higher than the standard 10%. The service charges are meant for the welfare of the restaurant employees from the tight-fisted diners, but in these pricey restaurants their employees should be paid decently and paying a tip should be left to the customer’s discretion, because it is not obligatory. But the customer does have the right to express his displeasure if he has not been given a desirable service or the waiter has been rude.

The possibility of padding up your bill by including more items than ordered cannot be ruled out. During my visits abroad, I’ve taken pains to familiarise myself with the general tipping custom in the country of my visit. The highest tip tariff is in the US and perhaps in France from among my visited countries in the West. This regimented rule of tip practice knowledge on my foreign trips was necessitated as a result of one experienced episode I encountered on the first visit to Japan. I remember once when my wife and I had gone to dine in a restaurant in Nagoya, an important Japanese port, we had a satisfying meal and an excellent service. After paying the bill in cash, I left some amount in Japanese currency and walked towards the exit, when we were almost waylaid by our waiter who came running after us, and with a smile politely declined the tip because it was included in the bill under service charges.

I did learn a lot from my tipping experience abroad, but in our own country, the element of tipping is enigmatic and elusive and remains the diner’s dilemma.

I LEFT SOME AMOUNT IN JAPANESE CURRENCY AND WALKED TOWARDS THE EXIT, WHEN WE WERE ALMOST WAYLAID BY OUR WAITER WHO POLITELY DECLINED THE TIP