MICHAEL WALSH COLUMN: There was a time when tipping a waiter was a matter of choice. If you thought the service was good you would leave a gratuity. If the meal or service left a bad taste in your mouth you didn’t. This kept the cook and the waiting on staff on their toes. The modern tendency is to include the gratuity in the bill. Standard practice is 10 percent so if the bill comes to $60 you pay $66. Interestingly the better the customer you are the more you are penalised: The bigger the bill the higher the tip. It is hardly a nice way of saying, ‘Thank you for your custom.’

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To bite the bullet and politely suggest the gratuity be removed from the bill is a high-risk strategy. The server may look at you like she just discovered you on the sole of her shoe. Not good if you are dining with someone you wish to impress; a lady friend or business associate.

Sexism is another trap for men. On offering my card I was politely invited to tap in a gratuity. But when it was my lady friend’s shout, she was never invited to add a tip. Is it because a lady is more likely to question the gratuity than we chivalrous (or spineless) knights?

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A doctor friend said he would avoid a fuss but he would remove the restaurant from his favourites. His brother who lacked something of the doctor’s finesse opted for, ‘Tell them to get stuffed.’ Presumably, he wasn’t talking turkey.

There isn’t a tipping tradition in Spain but as we are all travellers now what of elsewhere? Tipping is more or less compulsory in the United States and can be as high as 15 per cent. The upside is they work harder for less or for nothing to please the customer.

Australia might be the cheaper option as tipping is alien to their culture. Say to the barman antipodeans pulling a schooner of ale, ‘And your own, mate’ and you are likely to get a blank stare. A blank stare is what Brits get when they don’t tip. As for New Zealand, the practice is virtually outlawed.

In Muslim countries, with a certain savoir-faire, you grease their palms with ‘baksheesh’. In Paris, you are charged more if you prefer to dine or drink al fresco so it does pay to take a seat at the bar. Allegedly a Jewish diner declined by saying; ‘It isn’t the principle, it is the ten cents.’  A rural hotel in Scotland added a £2 ‘charitable donation’ to the bill. Get out of that one.

Like many Asian countries, China has a largely no-tipping culture – for decades it was actually prohibited and considered a bribe. To this day, it remains relatively uncommon. Japan’s intricate etiquette system encompasses gratuities. It is socially acceptable on occasions such as weddings, funerals, and special events, but in more common situations, it can actually make the receiver feel belittled, if not insulted.

It’s an informal industry that has grown in proportion to South Africa’s unemployment rate – now 25% – and basically consists of individuals who help motorists by finding parking spots for drivers and watching their vehicles – according to official statistics, almost 140 vehicles were stolen every day in the country last year. Paying less than $1 for the service is not the problem here: the debate in South Africa is that the process is almost completely unregulated and has no guarantee that either party will keep their part of the bargain.

Many restaurants in India levy service charges on the bill, so it is considered OK not to leave a tip. Otherwise, the etiquette is to leave 15%-20%. It is not uncommon to find restaurants which display signs against tips. A 2015 survey revealed that Indians were amongst the highest tippers in Asia, behind only Bangladesh and Thailand. Tipping a waiter after a good steak-Malbec combination won’t lead to trouble in Argentina, although it is actually illegal under a 2004 labour law for the catering and hotel industries. Still, the handouts take place and can correspond to up to 40% of an Argentine waiter’s income.

Once dining with a wealthy Spaniard at a posh London restaurant he noted the 10 per cent gratuity had been added to an already eye-watering bill. He hit the roof and didn’t keep his voice down. Wouldn’t it be easier to put a notice up: “We trust that if you have a complaint, you will give us the opportunity to put it right? If satisfied this might be reflected in a gratuity.

LAST QUESTION: Do you tip – do you offer a donation to the unpaid team that keeps Europe Renaissance publishing. Sadly, it isn’t the practice. Ironically, a waiter in any bar or street busker earns substantially more in tips than the editor of Europe Renaissance.