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 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 free-spending customer you are the more you are penalised: The bigger the bill the higher the gratuity. It is hardly a nice way of saying, ‘Thank you for your custom.’

THE HIGH-RISK STRATEGY

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.

Do you conceal your irritation and make a mental note of the old Spanish maxim: ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. ‘

STUFFED CUSTOMERS

A doctor friend said he would avoid a fuss and 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 percent. The upside is they work harder 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 yer 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.

IT’S THE PRINCIPLE

Allegedly a Scottish diner declined by saying; ‘It isn’t the principle; it is the tip.’  A rural hotel in Scotland added a £2 ‘charitable donation’ to the bill. Get out of that one.

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 allow us to put it right? If satisfied this might be reflected in a gratuity. PLEASE SHARE OUR GOOD CITIZEN STORIES

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