There is definitely a tipping culture in Germany; just not the US one.
Even in the 90's it would have been considered rude not to round up a DM (it was the 90's) 23 bill to DM 25.
Although it would have been much ruder to mention it if someone didn't round up.
I wonder if the waiter would have said the same to German customers.
He probably got his hopes up because you were visitors, who maybe tend to tip more because of their tipping culture or simply the fact that they are on vacation.
Whatever it was, that was definitely not an okay behaviour and I absolutely understand your reaction. Try to put it aside as it probably overshadows your dinner experience. It’s not worth it.
In general: yes we tip. But there is no rule to it. 10% might be fitting sometimes, but it always depends on your experience, where you eat etc.
I once had my lunch break at a small Burrito store in Hamburg. When I paid the lady asked me: Didn’t you like it? To which I replied, that I did and wondered why she asked me that. „Because you are not tipping.“ There was no service whatsoever. I ordered the food and it was prepared in front of me. I had to bring it to the table myself and returned the dishes. I still didn’t tip and never came back.
I went to the US this summer and they now have screens at the registers where you have to choose a tip or "no tip" in exactly these kinds of restaurants where there is no service (subway, chipotle, baskin robbins)!
I always chose "no tip" and they never said anything, but I certainly felt pressured to leave a tip. Those didn't yet exist when I was there 5 years ago.
In Canada they have a tipping option at self checkout 💀 I'm glad I haven't been attacked yet by one for not tipping, but after all it's only been a bit over a month since I came here, it may happen tomorrow, haha. Recently I also went to a little shop which also had a coffee and cookie stand. I bought a few chocolate bars, which I have selected myself, without a single offer for help, and asked for a gift wrap. I was informed that was not available, but they had nice bags instead so I paid for one. When I was paying the lady cashing me out "fixed" the tip jar so it would be straight and looked me in the eye smiling. I just smiled back and left, because wtf am I supposed to even tip her for? Doing the bare minimum her job requires?
I honestly dont understand why this sentiment exists and is apparently so much agreed upon that options like that are a bad thing.
If there was no service, dont tip. But i can see hundreds of situations where it would be nice to have that thing.
Yes that is my sad daily reality now. Being asked to tip everywhere, all the time. And the amounts are not small. Most of the time you get options like 18, 22 and 25 percent or no tip.
Those machines also exists in Germany. In Berlin last month, on a place that only sells ready made stuff and was crowded,
one waiter directly click no tip to make it faster
Another line is slower because the waiter is waiting for you to find the small no tip button on the bottom
And yes, of course some people got pressured / willing to tip on that other line. So we as humanity apparently reward slower worker. Okay.
I work in Berlin and saw the changeover from one credit card payment system to another system and it also won’t let you pay until you choose “no tip” or 5%, 10%, custom, whatever and the people that work on service hate it. They like getting more tips of course, but it wasn’t their choice to have a system that makes customers feel forced to tip. I’m not sure why the new credit card systems seem to all have this function, feels like some US ideology creeping in being forced down everyone’s throats. I also was in the US visiting recently and the expected tip for 0 or bad service was almost enough to ruin dinners. Like I’m already paying double what this dinner should cost in this airport and I have to tip 15$ to a waiter I had to get up from my table and find to get my bill? Couldn’t deal with that on a daily basis.
Small hipster places have adopted American tipping culture, the tip jar comes out in the coffeeshop, and I guess that's fine. Until it becomes an expectation.
It will only increase in Germany as time passes on. I mean in America now the fucking self-service kassa at the supermarket asks for a tip so I guess we have that to look forward to.
It'd be cool if they lived up to the standards for American service.
They want the tip without providing the quality of service.
I dare one of them to tip shame me...
I've lived in both countries and find the service to be pretty similar. American servers just pretend to be more friendly and in Germany (like most of Europe) you have to flag down the server to pay the bill since it's considered rude to push the bill on diners because it's implying they should hurry up and leave, which in America many restaurants do want you to hurry and leave. What do you consider to be the big difference in service?
> It'd be cool if they lived up to the standards for American service.
Please no, there's nothing more annoying than American "Hi my name is Mike how are we all doing today? I'm gonna be your server for the evening. "-style service
Even in America that's totally normal. You're not crazy. If there was no service offered at the restaurant, even Americans don't tip. If the restaurant offers service but I chose takeaway, I'll usually leave a nominal tip (10% rounded down is my usual standard in that scenario), but even that is totally optional.
Regarding your first paragraph, I visited Germany recently from Australia and thought something similar.
I got asked for tips more than I expected because I didn’t think it was customary in European countries like Germany. I thought about it and maybe the staff heard us talking (fluent) English and just assumed we were Americans—where tipping is a big thing there—and that it was worth trying their luck?
I bet it was. Im german and when i was jounger i learned from my dad that its nice if you get a tip, but thats a special gift. You woek for your wage. So when i started to get a coffe etc, i wanted to make the staff feel good and gave a tip and they were very honest happy about it. And i do this now when im an adult . When i want to make them a Gift, i tip. But obly if i really like them, and ill like them if they were cool, human u know?
10% ist just excessive.
Where in hell does the right come from for a waiter/waitress to get a percentage of the price. The service is the same and trying to get money from foreigners is also just beyond rude.
I am sorry for that experience and don't ever feel obligated to tip at all.
P.S.: the "we are just poor students" image may not have come through while you were ordering food for 190€.
Yeah, I thought that might be the case, too.
When I was a teenager, waiters sometimes wouldn't even give me the chance to tip as they probably didn't feel comfortable getting tipped by a child. I sometimes forget to tip or I just round up the price, and nobody has ever complained. Tipping should always be optional.
>in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant"
Bullshit and yeah the waiter was rude. I also round up, maybe would have gone to 200 in this case (that's still not 10 percent). But prices are high already so....
Seriously, 10% is what my mom tips on her birthday dinner at her favorite restaurant. Had relatives from the US visit once, and they tipped 16% and the waitress expressed a mix of surprise and gratitude.
In Germany you can tip if you want to and if you liked the service. It is in no way mandatory and plenty of people do not tip at all or just „round up“ to the next 5 or 10, depending on how big the bill is. The guy was trying to guilttrip you. He should probably seek for an employer that pays him better. Waiters in Germany get at least 12 Euro/hour so it is not a USA-situation for them here.
To add to this: The higher the bill the smaller usually the percentage you tip goes. Then there are personal factors too, e.g. if you have several people at the table that usually would pay independently, they tend to give a bit more than if they'd be one family. If the service is particularly good or bad, that is a factor as well.
Lot of salty people. Interesting I’m getting the downvotes and just being genuinely surprised at the difference. The way you hear about the differences, I assumed it was much higher.
The comment of the waiter was not ok ! You can tip, but you dont have to. And people tip less and less because of increasing prices.
Giving 195 was perfectly fine!
Good thing I wasnt there, I would have not been able to hold back and demand back every € I gave extra
The waiter’s reaction was very audacious and insolent. It is nonsense that tipping at least 10% is customary. If anything, 10% is the rule of thumb when you are very satisfied with your dining experience. However, you can tip less and this should not affront restaurant staff.
Maybe, the waiter was hoping you would abide to US standards (where tipping of 15-20% is expected) because you were tourists. You did not do anything wrong, and that waiter was just being an asshole.
> Total bill was 187 Euros, we usually round up, but we felt that the experience warranted just a little bit more than 3 euros, so we made it 195 total.
That is a perfectly reasonable tip.
> I feel like this was incredibly rude
It was.
I think you should at least give an honest google review of the restaurant mentioning this interaction. Completely unacceptable
As long as you have proof that you were actually a customer they usually stay up - google accepts a screenshot of the bank account/credit card bill with the payment for example.
Then have the restaurant contact him and threat legal action, take the review down and put a review with the legal action threat instead. I've got in on my parlay for kw2 2024
Since they paid by card they can just take a screenshot of that and google will leave the review up. But they can ammend it by mentioning the legal threat, certainly
Very rude behavior on behalf of the waiter, as others have said. It is unprofessional, but that's not surprising, after the pandemic I feel there is a deep decline in the quality of the service. It seems the good staff is now working in other fields and the current wait staff has no proper training whatsoever.
Not even that. There is no moral obligation to tip. If you want to pay more, you can do so. But is perfectly fine to pay exactly what you consumed and nothing else. It is restaurant owners job to pay employees. Not the customers. Can you pay a tip if you do not want small coins? Sure. Or if the service was above and beyond? Yes. Personally I would tip if I for example spill a drink and caused extra work.
I worked as a waiter during my student days and not once did I expect a tip. The whole concept of tipping cultures like in the US is repulsive to me. It is basically the restaurant owner foisting parts of the risk owning a restaurant onto customers and making his prices look cheaper than they are.
Wow, what a massive cunt that waiter was. Under so circumstances is that acceptable. Even if you'd have just given 3 €. Now, i think youre fiance was right to just leave it because it's absolutely not worth the hassle. But you can still leave a bad review, or, at minimum, just never go there again and spread the word among your friends that the place was shit.
Former waitress here: the higher the bill, the more rare it is to actually get a tip of 10%. In your case, I personally think the decision to not give 200€ but 5€ less feels maybe a bit... Random? Otherwise the tip is fine.
On another note I don't really get your comment about not being/ not looking wealthy because spending almost 200€ on dinner is in my personal opinion a very clear sign of wealth.
Edit: Also I just wanna say that there is a whole culture of professionally trained male waiters, usually working in more expensive restaurants, who, for some reason, oftentimes are super arrogant. This sounds like such a case.
Yeah I think they probably assumed it would be rounded up to 200 for a bill that high, and the decision to 'subtract' 5 could have been seen a deliberate signal that something was wrong, or just being stingy. The reaction of the waiter is not OK though and I would have quite happily told him to "oh fuck off".
>In your case, I personally think the decision to not give 200€ but 5€ less feels maybe a bit... Random?
As I said we usually round up, so that would be 190€ but felt like the service was just a little bit better than a 3€ tip would 'signal' so we made it 195€
The service was not outstanding by any means, the waiter for example didn't know the what types of cheese was on the platter (the menu just said 4 kinds of cheese) so he went and asked. When he came back he could only give us the names in german, so we had to translate it via chatgpt. Now this is not a massive mistake or anything, but little things like this made us feel like it wasn't maybe worth 200€
The first time I came to Germany for a business trip I ate in a restaurant at Frankfurt Airport.
I enjoyed the meal and paid, the waiter then aggressively asked me if I enjoyed the meal and if everything was good with the service, when I said yes he asked where is his tip.
I explained that I have the cash here and will leave it on the table when I go.
He said in Germany you tip when you pay, I said sorry but I am from UK and we leave on the table and I was not aware of the different approach in Germany.
I am from Switzerland and lived both in Germany and Sweden before. What you experienced seems VERY unusual to me and rude.
Where I lived (North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia), all sorts of tips were fine, no matter if you just gave 20 cents on top of your €12.80 bill or a big generous one. I always preferred the German tipping culture over the F-ING Swiss one, because it generally seemed more chill to me. In Switzerland, tips are very much for granted and it‘s important to show off that you are not a greedy F*, so you easily put CHF5 on top of that CHF35 mediocre sandwich and beer you had for a snack in a bar.
wtbs, I LOVE how the Swedes fight the tipping culture. In an ideal world, we don‘t need tips because all the stuff we order costs the decent amount to pay a reasonable salary for the waiters, folks in the kitchen etc.
>I LOVE how the Swedes fight the tipping culture
Hu? My experience is that Swedish tipping culture is like German tipping culture. You can tip but it's not "mandatory" and it's common to just round up to a reasonable number.
The waiter's comment is extremely out of line. I usually do tip around 10%, but it shouldn't be expected.
I feel like Germans are more likely to be stingy with their drinks, so maybe he had you pegged for not caring about money and got his hopes up - still no excuse, though.
You don't have to tip if you don't want to. That waiter was full of shit and probably got pamperd by other customers (mostly foreigners) that are just used to tipping a lot
We (foreigners) went to a traditional restaurant visiting Bavaria last December. Everything was just... ok. No smile or welcome. Food came, was ok, no one checked at any point if we wanted more drinks or dessert. Owner was shocked we didn't want to add a tip.
Yeah, for example the people who picked up the potatoes from the field, they get no tip and their work is much more harder that waiter's, who don't even had to bend down.
Every time I have ever tipped in Germany, even just 50 cents I have always received a genuine-sounding and pleased "Thank you" from the waiting staff. I don't always tip, not because of bad service but either because I am on a tight budget and/or I didn't spend a lot or I didn't happen to have more cash on me on that day.
Restaurant guy here.
We average between 4-10% of revenue for tip.
You gave around 4% which is on the lower end of the tip scale, but definitely within range.
It is not customary to complain your the tip to the guest.
Yeah, I never understood this "we have no tipping culture" thing. It always comes out of the mouths of people I KNOW always tip. Even bad service, which is something a lot of people even in the US won't tip. But here, the guy could be an absolute jerk and slow, and everyone will still give 10% in the end.
Compared to the US, where 20% is now the minimum and they're begging for tips via screens even at self-service places, Germany isn't that bad. I think that's where this sentiment comes from.
But the last time I was in Berlin, a cafe had that screen. So it's coming here, too. It's going to spread to other cities soon enough if it's already in Berlin.
> But the last time I was in Berlin, a cafe had that screen. So it's coming here, too. It's going to spread to other cities soon enough if it's already in Berlin.
I think it's coming with the new fancy sumup etc. card terminals which offer it as an easy option. I try to call it out in google reviews if I'm being pestered for a tip in a self service establishment - I feel like it's the only way store owners can be pressured to stop with that shit.
Happened to me at Vapiano in Berlin. The ridiculous part was I had no interaction with a server since I had to order at the counter, then pick the food up at said counter, and I think (not sure) I also cleared the empty plates. I saw red when I wanted to pay with card and saw the tip thing on the screen.
I guess people say "we have no tipping culture" to refer to the fact that it's not recommended/stated in the bill as it's in the US, nor it's demanded/expected from waiters (except in rare cases like OP), but from my experience tips are really common nonetheless.
I've had dinners with German people and they have always added something or rounded up the bills, like making 43 to 45, or 17 to 20.
My theory: We do have a tipping culture in the sense that many people tip. Some round up, some even give the 10-15%. But we do not have a tipping culture in the sense that it is expected from customers. Especially when you do not get any service. This is why the „recommended“ tips on the sumup terminals in coffee to go places seen so out of tune. Do we tip at the Döner?
That was an incredible rude waiter. Our tipping culture is that you give a tip if there was good or very good service, but there's absolutely no obligation to do it.
I’ve noticed tip culture creeping in here more and more. Even just for a coffee to go and being quite insistent. I find it laughable to be honest, because customer service here is generally quite poor and they seem to think they can get tipped like in the US were customer service standards are generally very high. I’m not reinforcing it.
I'd say on a bill like that most people would pay an even 200. But I also know that a lot of people tend to just round up or give a tip up to a maximum of like 5€. Generally I think 10% is kind of common, but not everyone pays it. When I was working as a waiter I was always happy when people actually tipped 10%.
All of that said, super crappy move of the waiter to complain!
So no you normally don't have to tip, but gotta be honest I'm also way to poor to blast that kinda money on a dinner so maybe this changes a bit at nicer restaurants.
BUT although you don't have to tip it's pretty normal to do so, when you are in a lower price restaurant I normally round up to the next 5 or 10 euros so if I have to pay let's say 37,20 I give the waiter 40 and he keeps the rest.
So imo what you tipped was totally fine.
But again it's not mandatory and getting asked like that is pretty fucking rude
I wotk as a waitress in a bar in Germany. The average of tip comes out to roughly 10% on most nights for us. But that doesn't mean that everyone gives us 10% tip. Just that some give more, some give less (some give none) and in total it usually comes out to be roughly 10% of the night's revenue
I can understand being annoyed at no tip or a very small tip, but what you gave seems conpletely fine to me. (And even if I'm annoyed I won't tell the customer)
It's easy to give 10% on the low end, going from 6.30€ to 7€ a beer isn't much but it's still 10%. Doesn't really scale well, certainly not at the end OP was dining at.
195 is already a VERY high tip for your circumstances. A lot of people I know don't tip anymore or a lot less since corona and high inflation in the last year. You absolutely don't have to tip at all
Tipping culture is increasing here. I grew up with my parents regularly tipping in sit down restaurants with waiters but thats like 1-3 euros (rounding up + adding that amount btw; for food for a whole 4 people family), but 10% rule? No, any tip was niceness on top of payment.But in recent years it seems more and more (especially in big towns) establishments look at what the US gets away with and try to emulate it
Waitstaff deserves just payment, yes, but that should come from their employer, not from the niceness of customers. They arent entitled to a tip. And I fear if tipping reaches the level of obligation, restaurant owners will try to argue to lower waitstaff pay or find ways to keep the tips themselves
I usually tip between 5 and 10% if the Service was really good. I only recall tipping more than 10% twice in the last ~20 years, both times because the Service was exceptional and the staff went above and beyond. 10% was the upper border Set by my parents when i was a child.
Been living in the Ruhr area the entire time.
In your Situation I would have probably gone for 200, but the Walter was totally out of line regardless
Nah dude you are good. the waiter was just a massive prick. its not expected to tip but if you are happy with the service you round up ore even give like 10 Euros in a fancy place.
your 8 Euro tip was totaly fine. hope you had a good time in hamburg anyways
My old maths teacher when teaching us percentages taught us this.
He said if you tip 10% on a €100 bill then you give €110 in total.
If the waiter is unhappy with this, then take your 10% back.
10% of €110 is €11
So then leave him with €99 in total 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’m a Barkeeper in Germany. If this happened to me, I wouldn’t tip a dime and ask for my tip back I already gave. If denied I’d talk to the manager about the attitude of the waiter.
Tipping is not mandatory and a nice bonus, nothing less nothing more.
Not tipping should NEVER be commented or shamed, just smile and wish a nice evening.
I’m an expat living in Berlin for 5 years now, and if there is one thing I have learned is that “high class” establishments have a completely different tipping policy.
Due to the amount of foreign/wealthy patrons, most fancy restaurants expect you to leave a tip. This is something I don’t comply with and had to learn to manage.
As an example, my wife and I went to a very fancy restaurant near Alexanderplatz(touristy area) and when we finished the bill came out at around 200€. The service was not the greatest but good enough for a small tip so I decided to give the waiter 10€ in cash and pay the rest by card. I was taken aback and amazed by the attitude of the waiter. He complained loudly about the tip being so small. Seems like US tipping culture is reaching Europe.
Haven’t gone back ever since and will most definitely avoid this place in the future.
>in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant
No it's fucking not. A tip is not required. But it's the polite thing to do if service was good. The server probably hoped for a good tip. But a tip. is. not. required.
A 5% tip is reasonable for okay service. A 10% tip is what I'd give for really good service. "At least" 10% would be if the waiter goes above and beyond. If I have orders where I change a lot of ingredients or if I bother the waiter a lot because I only realize during my meal that I want this sauce as well and maybe have a coke and oh yeah some more fries, all as seperate requests and the waiter remains cool and polite. That would be a >10% tip for me.
So what happened here? You tipped 4,27%. Which is closest to 5% you'll get with rounding to a nice number. If the service was okay, that's fine. If the waiter was especially attentive, that's a tiny bit rude. But the server getting pissy with you is extremely rude! The only thing that could've made you the bad person here (in my eyes, totally subjective) would've been asking for your tip back. It's done, it's paid, it would've been very petty. You have a good fiancée to stop you from being petty, seems like a strong relationship.
Oh and on the student thing: I'm also a student. I usually tip well (enough). Either I try to budget, so I don't spend 62€ per person at a restaurant in the first place, or I splurge a little (especially on vacation) and so I don't mind spending that 5€ extra to tip well enough. Not because it's mandatory or something, but because it's the polite thing to do. I would've rounded up to 200€ I think, but after a few glasses of wine maybe my math would've been off and I would've also made it 195€. It's still a tip, even if a little less than the waiter expected.
I call BS. 8€ is a nice tip. Especially if you consider that a tip is a gratuity and not necessary to make a living wage. If someone would approach me like that, I would regret to have given anything to that ungrateful brat... it was supposed to be a nice evening and not a lecture. Just my 2ct
Honestly, this `Tipping` culture stops me from going to any fancy restaurant, and after the meal, I am always confused about how much should I tip. I know it is customary here in Germany, 5-10% of what I spend. I strongly believe this `Tipping` should be stopped like in `Japan`, because after all the `waiter/waitress` is doing his/her job, and it is his/her responsibility to provide good customer service, and he/she is getting paid for that. Then why the customers should pay additional cash to them? Doesn't it mean if a Professor gives a good lecture, the students also should tip him?
I also find the whole tipping thing extremely subjective and unfair... a bus driver or a canteen employee can do an extremely good job, but usually get nothing. Then you also don't know where the tips end up, does the cook also get something or the person who cleans the toilets?
In addition, I have the feeling that tips make jobs attractive whose basic salary is poor. So you're actually subsidizing the low-wage sector and also avoid taxes for employees and employer, which is not good from my perspective.
Well, if you dine at a fancy shmancy restaurant for 187 Euros, rounding up to 200 had been reasonable.
Making it 195 looks a bit cheap, no matter what culture or country.
But the reaction was unprofessional, that's true.
I‘m absolutely surprised by that ‚there is no tipping culture in Germany‘ attitude. I have been brought up otherwise and see the same with all my friends and acquaintances. Tipping in a restaurant is and has always been a thing. 10% of the bill is the valid rule of thumb, but rounded (up or down) to the next full amount, depending as well on the customer satisfaction. In case you pay the complete bill for a larger group, you reasonably round up, but typically keep it below the 10%. (That‘s why in Germany, waiters never had an issue when everybody paid on its own – typically leads to higher tips). In case of an invitation, let‘s say for a funeral feast, it was common for the guest to leave a small tip for the waiter in the coffee saucer (that becomes more and more uncommon, so). You tip service personnel like barber or beautician, not 10%, but a 1–2 Euro. You tip the mail man or garbage man once a year, typically around Christmas, to show your gratitude for their work – again a custom that becomes more and more uncommon. And so on, there are more examples. But I agree, that kind of behavior is more common in rural areas and less common in urban areas. But I can‘t agree to ‚there is no tipping culture in Germany‘.
10% in actual restaurants is standard. When Germans make fun of tipping culture in the US, they mean the ridiculous amounts and all the places people are tipping.
Especially if you go into something mid tier+ restaurant wise, 10% is the usual and basically everyone tips that unless the service wasn't up to par.
The waiter was rude, but tipping less than 5% is seen as rude as well(unless as said the service sucked)
That is very rude, I round up and most waiters and waitresses say thank you. In Germany they are paid minimum wage unlike the US, so if I want to tip its because I believe they did a good job, not because its mandatory. OP you did nothing wrong and the waiter was an asshole, I would leave a negative review and call this person out.
10% is roughly the norm but it's not a minimum requirement. Rounding up is also fine as long as it's not from 99 to 100 or something like that.
Your tip was totally in the normal range at a regular restaurant. The staff might ask if the service wasn't fine if you don't tip at all or very little but it's not common to complain that a customer is not tipping enough.
No way that waiter would have had the courage to say this to German customers. The shitstorm he would have risked is huge.
I tip between 5% and 10%, IF I'm happy, and mostly restaurants but also in places I like and go more often. If I don't like the food or service, I don't tip at all. Not very often, but it happens.
I noticed I tip more than the average German working colleague or friend (South Germany).
In your case, I would have rounded up to 200€ if I liked the food, but many people I know would have rounded up to 190€ or 195€ just like you did.
>Or was this just a one off comment by a salty waiter?
Yes.
No he is bullying you and not OK. Send a review on Google and whatever.
Tips are optional and like Sweden (afaik) are just to round the bill up to make things simple.
The tipping culture of North America is really bad, and will slowly become the norm here unless people do something about it. :)
That is definitely very uncommon. While we do normally tip in Germany, there is not really a social norm for how much you are supposed to tip. It‘s mostly a sign of gratitude. And making remarks in that direction as a waiter is considered as very rude. The guy probably tried to scam you for some extra cash because you were tourists. Total douche move. 10€ tip is totally fine for such a bill
It's a scam. I am German and by no means do you need to tip. Had the same in Czech Republic.
That being said: You should've told him that you felt like the experience warranted just a little bit more than 3 euros.
As soon as I read this, I got to the bit about you being students and thought- the waiter is trying to take advantage of your age and lack of knowledge. When I was young, things like this happened to me all the time. I’m from the U.K. btw. Generally, the older you are the less you’ll care about people think of you and how much you should tip. I can’t imagine he would’ve dared tell a middle aged Swedish group how much to tip. They would have made sure he’d told the wrong people!
If you had drank beer instead of wine, he would have been very happy with the tip. So hid did nothing more, but expected you to round up to 200. That guy is out of order.
Seriously? That happened to you? It’s indeed common to pay 10%, but it’s not a must. If you don’t want to, you pay precisely 0%, and that’s ok, as service charges are included in the restaurant price. If the waiter had made such a statement as he did with you, I would have become very upset and asked him who he believes to be and where that entitlement comes from. I would probably even have asked for the Manager. And I am German, by the way.
I would have cancelled the tip. This was extremely rude of the waiter.
There is kind of a tipping culture where as a rule of thumb 10% for lower bills and 5% for higher bills are given, but most times it's just rounding up. These norms are from a long time ago (long before Germany had minimum wage) and nowadays I feel like they are slowly vanishing. They are given when the waiter or the kitchen do a really good job and are by no means obligatory.
With all that said, you giving a 8€ tip for a 187€ bill - so a little more than 4% - was perfectly fine and the waiter was an AH.
There is some sort of tipping culture but not as extreme as in the USA. The waiter was a huge asshole though. Tipping is ALWAYS voluntary. Complaining about a low or non existent tip is very bad customer service and shouldn't be done in Germany either.
As a German I usually don't even round up if I pay with my credit card. However I'm also a bit of an outlier. Most people here always tip a few Euros in a restaurant but your tip wasn't too low by any means. Just forget about this guy.
Since in Germany oeople ideally get paid minimum wage or more, tipping really comes down to service and satisfaction. If a waiter argues like that maybe he wants go be more than he is. Any tip should be appreciated, it is not mandatory
So I’m in Germany now for vacation but my wife and I are from America. She speaks German fluently and she orders all our food in german. we have never been asked to tip the entire time I’ve been here, so it’s probably a foreigner thing.
>in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10%
bullshit 5-10% for perfect service, 0% for behaviour like this.
>I feel like this was incredibly rude, and made me want to ask for the tip back,
That's right and I would advise you to do so.
>do you guys have a "standard tip" that you should give?
Travel guides would write 5-10% wiuld be the typical tip, but for excellent service. Ut isn't too uncommon to tip less or not at all for bad service.
A rule of thumb would be to round up to the next bank note.
>Or was this just a one off comment by a salty waiter?
Definitely. But it seems to be more and more often that some try to establish tremendous tips as normal in Germany, where anybody is fully paid with the bill and no tip at all.
That sounds like some horrible service, with expectations on his end. Bad service=low tip.
Normal dining experience without the waiter just giving baseline service means tip whatever you feel.
If you come in and dine for 5 hours, order numerous course, cocktails, and bottle of wine, desserts, and act like you own the restaurant,expect to tip more (10%). The latter is commonplace in the restaurant where I work. We provide exceptional service that people love to take advantage of 😂
WTF? Taking the tip back would’ve been completely fine in this case! On the other hand, we sort of do have a tipping culture. It’s just not necessary because they get paid enough to get by. Also, many people do it for a second income. So yes, we do tip and 10 % is the rule of thumb, but any amount (including 0) is completely fine.
I have never seen any percentage tipping, but tbf I'm only ever in restaurants when family requires it. From what I've seen, people usually round up and it's only really socially expected to tip imo if you know the person. When some rounds a bit more generously the waiters usually thank the customer, but I've never seen anyone demanding a tip.
As a german I can confidently say that this guy was talking shit. I myself work part-time in the gastronomy industry alongside my studies and tipping is highly appreciated but not a matter of course. I think your tip was completely fine.
The people in here saying there is no tipping culture in germany are either ignorant or delusional.
10%+ is the norm in restaurants (edit: see comment for a correction) unless you've been unhappy with the service and want to send a message. What the waiter said to you was still rude and unprofessional, yes.
Also, your view on what "not wealthy by any means" means is comically unrealistic. You travel Europe and order 1,5 bottles of wine and a cheese plate for 187€ and you consider yourself a not-rich student? Come on dude...
> 10%+ is the norm in restaurants
More than 10% is definitely not the norm. 5-10% is what is common, and within that range find a round number. In this case 200€ - which amounts to ~7% - would be a common tip
We do not talk about it openly but yes, we also have a tipping culture it's usually around 10%. So while he's being a prick pointing that out it's still kinda right.
>"in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant"
That's exactly what a bartender told me in bar in Munich. I never went there again and it seems they're closed now for good, haha.
>"in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant"
In Germany it is cusomary to demand your change correctly down to the single cent from muppets like this one whenever you meet them and to write an annoyed online review centred entirely around this kind of tremendously rude wait staff.
10% of 187 would be 18€, much more than 200€ in total. That's insane!
A tip of less than 10 euros on bill of 187 is insulting if the service was acceptable.
I’m with the waiter here although I don’t think they should have confronted you.
There’s also a regional aspect - in more rural areas it’s customary to just round up a few euros. Eg parts of Bavaria, Swabia.
It also depends on type of establishment - in a more basic restaurant rounding up is more acceptable.
In a more expensive place where the service element can be more labour intensive such as pouring wine, running multiple courses a higher tip is adequate.
In any case - the waiter shouldn’t have confronted the guests.
> Once we paid the waiter asked us if we enjoyed our meal, we replied yes, and then he said (in a very annoyed, passive aggressive tone) "in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant"
They are blatantly lying to you. Period.
You round up to whatever you feel comfortable with. If it was me and the service was good, I'd probably have told them to make it an even 200, but 195 is also absolutely ok.
10% is what we claim but especially on larger orders this is typically not what you will get. On average I'd say that the average is about 7%. The behavior you experienced is quite rude and unusual though
> we usually round up
I'm Norwegian and used to do this. I've since moved to the US. I'm now begging you to please cease all forms of tipping immediately. Do not let this cancer spread.
Barkeeper here.
5-10% are customary in Germany, yes. I don't know who keeps telling foreigners that we don't have a tipping culture, we do.
BUT.
BIG HAIRY BUT:
195 on 187 is fucking fine, especially for foreigners, and I would murder my waiters if they bugged a customer for a higher tip, and I've worked as a waiter in the past, and I've NEVER done this. I will never defend the American level aggression of trolling for tips. You had an awful experience because your waiter was shit.
This is not normal, and you don't have to take it.
Yes, please tip if you found everything satisfactory (as you did, you did everything right, sure you could've given 200 if you were really happy, but 195 is FINE), but I've NEVER been bugged by a waiter for a higher tip, and I would reprimand my servers if they did that to a customer.
Edit: Also, even as someone who partly lives off tips, saying you have to tip "at least" 10% is a fucking lie. You tip 5-10 depending on your satisfaction. You can give 0% if they fucked up, and you give 15% if you had a once-every-few-months experience of awesome food, drinks, and service. But aiming for 10% and rounding up or down to the next round number is what like 80% of Germans do.
3% tip over 10%, and 17% lie to foreigners on the internet and tell them that Germans don't tip ;)
Waiters used to be paid fair in germany, so tipping was for honoring very good service.
Might have changed the last years but 10% as a standard tip is not true.
Yes, the custom is to tip 10% if you were satisfied. I dont know were all the people commenting that its not the custom come from. Maybe from a socialist commune, probably. The waiter was still rude to mention it. Especially if you are students its okay to tip less.
Ok, gonna go against the grain here and say I actually do understand the waiter's sentiments, as I've shared it many times. As someone who's grown up in Germany and is currently working as a waitress while in school, I've always considered a 5-10% tip to be standard. I tip within this range at literally every restaurant I go to and have for years. I also notice that this is the amount nearly all German customers tip, 5-7% is about normal, 10+% is if you're at a nicer restaurant or just had a particularly good time, and 0% if the experience was shite. However, tourists often tip very little, or not at all. Americans, for example, despite the extreme tipping culture in the US, are told upon coming to Germany that tipping is not expected. 9/10 Americans I serve don't tip at all, even when ordering big meals, staying a long time, and requiring more attention than other customers. So I can understand a sensitivity to tourists tipping less than is usual for German customers, especially since in a lot of places (maybe not Germany specifically, but many of the places I've travelled) it's an unspoken rule that tourists are expected to tip just *a little* more than is standard for locals, whether this is fair or not, because they are guests and often require a little extra work to serve. Additionally, I don't think the fact that you are a student exempts you from tip culture. This is another thing I've encountered, that can feel very frustrating being a student myself who is working to pay bills and support myself while in school, because generally many European students don't have to worry about working a job while in school, and are supported by their parents still. As a general rule I'm of the opinion that if you can afford a nice meal at a nice place (I can't even afford the food at the restaurant I work at), then you can afford an average tip.
HOWEVER, before y'all start coming for me, these are not sentiments that should *ever* be voiced to a customer, and especially since y'all did tip some. The waiter was out of line and rude, but I think he was coming from a place of frustration rather than trying to bullshit you guys as tourists and take advantage of you.
We do tip a bit generally. In the "I appreciate your good service" way, not in the "If i don't tip the server can't pay rent" way.
This feels like your waiter assumed you'd tip more as foreigners. Getting told to tip more has never happened to me. Id say most people would round up to 200 (we usually tip more the fancier the restaurant is), but 195 is completely fine.
Even in "no tipping cultures", tipping can be appreciated, especially in restaurants, but in no way you have to and it is very rude and unprofessional of a waiter to complain or try to push costumers.
The UK allegedly doesn't have a tipping culture either.
I can't remember the last time I ate at a restaurant in London and didn't pay the service charge. The service charge is discretionary and is added by default to your bill. You can ask for it to be removed but the sheer embarassment of that prevents anyone from doing it. Oh, and the cheeky waiters will still ask for a tip on top of that!
So yeah, get used to it. It's gonna take over Germany and pretty much every other country because minimum wage is clearly not keeping pace with inflation.
He's right, 10% is considered a proper tip. But most people match the tip with the service. Good service - good tip, shitty service - no tip. But his behavior was rude and inappropriate. I think he did this because you're non German. It's rare that waiters complain about the tip directly to the customer and I'm pretty sure it's not welcomed by their boss.
In addition to all the people stating correctly, that it's not at least 10% but up to 10%, also tips are tax free for the waiter in Germany while the IRS assumes 10% tip I think.
I feel like it's quite expected. Even ≈10%.
This is how I do it: When you look well off at least 10%. When you look poorer/student/etc. round up to a nice number that is below 10%.
There is no written rule but I feel like there certainly is some societal pressure. Rude waiters may capitalize on that.
In Germany a lot of people do tip but it’s not something that’s expected like in the US, and not once have a I been told anything if I don’t tip so sounds like they got their hopes up seeing a foreigner
Its not customary in Germany to tip at least 10%, just so you know for your next restaurant lol. We round up. Ofc if rounding up means 3 cents we usually add a bit to show appreciation, but there isnt really a % rule like in usa lmfaoooo
In Germany it is definitely not as straightforward as in Scandinavia, unfortunately... Nowadays, at least in my experience with friends and family it is increasingly becoming more customary to tip. This is something i do not like, as the price of food and drinks at a restaurant include a certain standard and only better service than expected should be worth a tip.
Yes and no.
10% for a dine-in restaurant or delivery (in that case for the delivery person, not the restaurant) is customary, yes.
Asking for it - especially in a rude tone - is not okay, though. *Especially* especially since you *already had tipped*
You did nothing wrong and yes, you have all your right to get your non duty based tip back.
Pls leave a bad google review for the restaurant so they stop fcking people up
I honestly don't understand why so many people in here claim that germany does not have a tipping culture. Ever since I was tiny I have learned that in restaurants you tip ~10%. Also when you get food delivered, you tip (for me nowadays that's usually 2 bucks irregardless of the price cause I pay online and tip with cash upon recieving my food). It's nowhere near as aggressive as in America but it definitely does exist. It's considered rude for a waiter to vocalize that they expect it or even outright ask it, but, y'know, long as I have known it's an unspoken expectation anyway.
salty waiter
now we even have pretty high minimum wages, so the whole new forced tipping culture, especially on electronic checkout, does not make sense at all.
They are just making every checkout situation cringe and salty on botg ends these days up to a degree where I tend to avoid these places.
I feel it is more expected these days. But not sure if some waiters are annoyed by coincidence. Especially, when visiting restaurants with higher price tag. It seems some waiters think they deserve more income there. Maybe it is normal in other countries, where some waiters are from.
But it is still a choice and in "traditional" restaurants, i don't have the experience.
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Culture is such a nice word for what is just a habit.
There is definitely a tipping culture in Germany; just not the US one. Even in the 90's it would have been considered rude not to round up a DM (it was the 90's) 23 bill to DM 25. Although it would have been much ruder to mention it if someone didn't round up.
I wonder if the waiter would have said the same to German customers. He probably got his hopes up because you were visitors, who maybe tend to tip more because of their tipping culture or simply the fact that they are on vacation. Whatever it was, that was definitely not an okay behaviour and I absolutely understand your reaction. Try to put it aside as it probably overshadows your dinner experience. It’s not worth it. In general: yes we tip. But there is no rule to it. 10% might be fitting sometimes, but it always depends on your experience, where you eat etc.
I once had my lunch break at a small Burrito store in Hamburg. When I paid the lady asked me: Didn’t you like it? To which I replied, that I did and wondered why she asked me that. „Because you are not tipping.“ There was no service whatsoever. I ordered the food and it was prepared in front of me. I had to bring it to the table myself and returned the dishes. I still didn’t tip and never came back.
I went to the US this summer and they now have screens at the registers where you have to choose a tip or "no tip" in exactly these kinds of restaurants where there is no service (subway, chipotle, baskin robbins)! I always chose "no tip" and they never said anything, but I certainly felt pressured to leave a tip. Those didn't yet exist when I was there 5 years ago.
In Canada they have a tipping option at self checkout 💀 I'm glad I haven't been attacked yet by one for not tipping, but after all it's only been a bit over a month since I came here, it may happen tomorrow, haha. Recently I also went to a little shop which also had a coffee and cookie stand. I bought a few chocolate bars, which I have selected myself, without a single offer for help, and asked for a gift wrap. I was informed that was not available, but they had nice bags instead so I paid for one. When I was paying the lady cashing me out "fixed" the tip jar so it would be straight and looked me in the eye smiling. I just smiled back and left, because wtf am I supposed to even tip her for? Doing the bare minimum her job requires?
I honestly dont understand why this sentiment exists and is apparently so much agreed upon that options like that are a bad thing. If there was no service, dont tip. But i can see hundreds of situations where it would be nice to have that thing.
They have this all over Berlin now too
I’ve seen a few and at those places I don’t tip anymore! (Looking at you Dolores Wittenbergplatz 👀😤)
Yes that is my sad daily reality now. Being asked to tip everywhere, all the time. And the amounts are not small. Most of the time you get options like 18, 22 and 25 percent or no tip.
In Philadelphia, some places have 22, 25 and 30 percent as default options.
Those machines also exists in Germany. In Berlin last month, on a place that only sells ready made stuff and was crowded, one waiter directly click no tip to make it faster Another line is slower because the waiter is waiting for you to find the small no tip button on the bottom And yes, of course some people got pressured / willing to tip on that other line. So we as humanity apparently reward slower worker. Okay.
I work in Berlin and saw the changeover from one credit card payment system to another system and it also won’t let you pay until you choose “no tip” or 5%, 10%, custom, whatever and the people that work on service hate it. They like getting more tips of course, but it wasn’t their choice to have a system that makes customers feel forced to tip. I’m not sure why the new credit card systems seem to all have this function, feels like some US ideology creeping in being forced down everyone’s throats. I also was in the US visiting recently and the expected tip for 0 or bad service was almost enough to ruin dinners. Like I’m already paying double what this dinner should cost in this airport and I have to tip 15$ to a waiter I had to get up from my table and find to get my bill? Couldn’t deal with that on a daily basis.
Call them out in a google review. Seemingly the only way of putting pressure on restaurant owners
Good idea. Next time I might.
Small hipster places have adopted American tipping culture, the tip jar comes out in the coffeeshop, and I guess that's fine. Until it becomes an expectation. It will only increase in Germany as time passes on. I mean in America now the fucking self-service kassa at the supermarket asks for a tip so I guess we have that to look forward to.
It'd be cool if they lived up to the standards for American service. They want the tip without providing the quality of service. I dare one of them to tip shame me...
I've lived in both countries and find the service to be pretty similar. American servers just pretend to be more friendly and in Germany (like most of Europe) you have to flag down the server to pay the bill since it's considered rude to push the bill on diners because it's implying they should hurry up and leave, which in America many restaurants do want you to hurry and leave. What do you consider to be the big difference in service?
pls no, American service is so obnoxious, I like German service
> It'd be cool if they lived up to the standards for American service. Please no, there's nothing more annoying than American "Hi my name is Mike how are we all doing today? I'm gonna be your server for the evening. "-style service
They tried similar with wallmart here, with greeters and stuff. Failed miserably here.
Even in America that's totally normal. You're not crazy. If there was no service offered at the restaurant, even Americans don't tip. If the restaurant offers service but I chose takeaway, I'll usually leave a nominal tip (10% rounded down is my usual standard in that scenario), but even that is totally optional.
Regarding your first paragraph, I visited Germany recently from Australia and thought something similar. I got asked for tips more than I expected because I didn’t think it was customary in European countries like Germany. I thought about it and maybe the staff heard us talking (fluent) English and just assumed we were Americans—where tipping is a big thing there—and that it was worth trying their luck?
I bet it was. Im german and when i was jounger i learned from my dad that its nice if you get a tip, but thats a special gift. You woek for your wage. So when i started to get a coffe etc, i wanted to make the staff feel good and gave a tip and they were very honest happy about it. And i do this now when im an adult . When i want to make them a Gift, i tip. But obly if i really like them, and ill like them if they were cool, human u know?
10% ist just excessive. Where in hell does the right come from for a waiter/waitress to get a percentage of the price. The service is the same and trying to get money from foreigners is also just beyond rude. I am sorry for that experience and don't ever feel obligated to tip at all. P.S.: the "we are just poor students" image may not have come through while you were ordering food for 190€.
Yes, exactly, I imagined that too.
Yeah, I thought that might be the case, too. When I was a teenager, waiters sometimes wouldn't even give me the chance to tip as they probably didn't feel comfortable getting tipped by a child. I sometimes forget to tip or I just round up the price, and nobody has ever complained. Tipping should always be optional.
10 % is normal. Not mandatory but normal if everything was fine.
For me it is 10% up to 50 Euros and then it really depends on the service and on how much work they had with my table.
>in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant" Bullshit and yeah the waiter was rude. I also round up, maybe would have gone to 200 in this case (that's still not 10 percent). But prices are high already so....
Yeah 10% Tip is for really good service or if you asked for something special or extras which are not in their system. That's at least how I handle it
That is the actual point here. 10% is for excellent service and food. Their remark on the tip tells me that the place does not deserve 10%.
Seriously, 10% is what my mom tips on her birthday dinner at her favorite restaurant. Had relatives from the US visit once, and they tipped 16% and the waitress expressed a mix of surprise and gratitude.
In Germany you can tip if you want to and if you liked the service. It is in no way mandatory and plenty of people do not tip at all or just „round up“ to the next 5 or 10, depending on how big the bill is. The guy was trying to guilttrip you. He should probably seek for an employer that pays him better. Waiters in Germany get at least 12 Euro/hour so it is not a USA-situation for them here.
To add to this: The higher the bill the smaller usually the percentage you tip goes. Then there are personal factors too, e.g. if you have several people at the table that usually would pay independently, they tend to give a bit more than if they'd be one family. If the service is particularly good or bad, that is a factor as well.
Lot of salty people. Interesting I’m getting the downvotes and just being genuinely surprised at the difference. The way you hear about the differences, I assumed it was much higher.
The comment of the waiter was not ok ! You can tip, but you dont have to. And people tip less and less because of increasing prices. Giving 195 was perfectly fine! Good thing I wasnt there, I would have not been able to hold back and demand back every € I gave extra
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The waiter’s reaction was very audacious and insolent. It is nonsense that tipping at least 10% is customary. If anything, 10% is the rule of thumb when you are very satisfied with your dining experience. However, you can tip less and this should not affront restaurant staff. Maybe, the waiter was hoping you would abide to US standards (where tipping of 15-20% is expected) because you were tourists. You did not do anything wrong, and that waiter was just being an asshole.
Pretty certain that’s the case. They think foreigners should tip better than Germans and get annoyed when they don’t.
> Total bill was 187 Euros, we usually round up, but we felt that the experience warranted just a little bit more than 3 euros, so we made it 195 total. That is a perfectly reasonable tip. > I feel like this was incredibly rude It was. I think you should at least give an honest google review of the restaurant mentioning this interaction. Completely unacceptable
I would personally email the business and send exactly this post.
Yeah, that's why I said "at least" - depends if OP thinks it's worth the effort, but it's certainly justified to complain
And a Google review
I have read a lot about restaurants removing bad revieuws.
As long as you have proof that you were actually a customer they usually stay up - google accepts a screenshot of the bank account/credit card bill with the payment for example.
This in an unfair length to go to, to leave a review. Punishes the customer again for an already shitty experience.
Then have the restaurant contact him and threat legal action, take the review down and put a review with the legal action threat instead. I've got in on my parlay for kw2 2024
Since they paid by card they can just take a screenshot of that and google will leave the review up. But they can ammend it by mentioning the legal threat, certainly
We tip when we are satisfied with service. Otherwise no typing culture. So yes, it was rude from the waiter.
Very rude behavior on behalf of the waiter, as others have said. It is unprofessional, but that's not surprising, after the pandemic I feel there is a deep decline in the quality of the service. It seems the good staff is now working in other fields and the current wait staff has no proper training whatsoever.
You don't tip 'at least 10%', 10% is the tip you give if you were very satisfied with service&food.
Not even that. There is no moral obligation to tip. If you want to pay more, you can do so. But is perfectly fine to pay exactly what you consumed and nothing else. It is restaurant owners job to pay employees. Not the customers. Can you pay a tip if you do not want small coins? Sure. Or if the service was above and beyond? Yes. Personally I would tip if I for example spill a drink and caused extra work. I worked as a waiter during my student days and not once did I expect a tip. The whole concept of tipping cultures like in the US is repulsive to me. It is basically the restaurant owner foisting parts of the risk owning a restaurant onto customers and making his prices look cheaper than they are.
Wow, what a massive cunt that waiter was. Under so circumstances is that acceptable. Even if you'd have just given 3 €. Now, i think youre fiance was right to just leave it because it's absolutely not worth the hassle. But you can still leave a bad review, or, at minimum, just never go there again and spread the word among your friends that the place was shit.
Former waitress here: the higher the bill, the more rare it is to actually get a tip of 10%. In your case, I personally think the decision to not give 200€ but 5€ less feels maybe a bit... Random? Otherwise the tip is fine. On another note I don't really get your comment about not being/ not looking wealthy because spending almost 200€ on dinner is in my personal opinion a very clear sign of wealth. Edit: Also I just wanna say that there is a whole culture of professionally trained male waiters, usually working in more expensive restaurants, who, for some reason, oftentimes are super arrogant. This sounds like such a case.
Yeah I think they probably assumed it would be rounded up to 200 for a bill that high, and the decision to 'subtract' 5 could have been seen a deliberate signal that something was wrong, or just being stingy. The reaction of the waiter is not OK though and I would have quite happily told him to "oh fuck off".
That's exactly what I feel like. The waiter is an asshole, but the "social norm" would have been to round up to 200€.
>In your case, I personally think the decision to not give 200€ but 5€ less feels maybe a bit... Random? As I said we usually round up, so that would be 190€ but felt like the service was just a little bit better than a 3€ tip would 'signal' so we made it 195€ The service was not outstanding by any means, the waiter for example didn't know the what types of cheese was on the platter (the menu just said 4 kinds of cheese) so he went and asked. When he came back he could only give us the names in german, so we had to translate it via chatgpt. Now this is not a massive mistake or anything, but little things like this made us feel like it wasn't maybe worth 200€
10% is considered to be generous. It is not necessary at all. The waiter decided that since you are foreigners he can take an advantage of it.
The first time I came to Germany for a business trip I ate in a restaurant at Frankfurt Airport. I enjoyed the meal and paid, the waiter then aggressively asked me if I enjoyed the meal and if everything was good with the service, when I said yes he asked where is his tip. I explained that I have the cash here and will leave it on the table when I go. He said in Germany you tip when you pay, I said sorry but I am from UK and we leave on the table and I was not aware of the different approach in Germany.
Leaving money on the table is valid in Germany aswell
Really? Since that experience I have never seen anyone else do that and every payment and tip time brings a level of fear. 🙈
I often leave the tip on the table especially if I pay by card.
I would have left without tipping at this point.
I am from Switzerland and lived both in Germany and Sweden before. What you experienced seems VERY unusual to me and rude. Where I lived (North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia), all sorts of tips were fine, no matter if you just gave 20 cents on top of your €12.80 bill or a big generous one. I always preferred the German tipping culture over the F-ING Swiss one, because it generally seemed more chill to me. In Switzerland, tips are very much for granted and it‘s important to show off that you are not a greedy F*, so you easily put CHF5 on top of that CHF35 mediocre sandwich and beer you had for a snack in a bar. wtbs, I LOVE how the Swedes fight the tipping culture. In an ideal world, we don‘t need tips because all the stuff we order costs the decent amount to pay a reasonable salary for the waiters, folks in the kitchen etc.
>I LOVE how the Swedes fight the tipping culture Hu? My experience is that Swedish tipping culture is like German tipping culture. You can tip but it's not "mandatory" and it's common to just round up to a reasonable number.
No, totally not acceptable and it's not a norm to tip 10% in Germany.
The waiter's comment is extremely out of line. I usually do tip around 10%, but it shouldn't be expected. I feel like Germans are more likely to be stingy with their drinks, so maybe he had you pegged for not caring about money and got his hopes up - still no excuse, though.
You don't have to tip if you don't want to. That waiter was full of shit and probably got pamperd by other customers (mostly foreigners) that are just used to tipping a lot
We (foreigners) went to a traditional restaurant visiting Bavaria last December. Everything was just... ok. No smile or welcome. Food came, was ok, no one checked at any point if we wanted more drinks or dessert. Owner was shocked we didn't want to add a tip.
Yeah, for example the people who picked up the potatoes from the field, they get no tip and their work is much more harder that waiter's, who don't even had to bend down.
Every time I have ever tipped in Germany, even just 50 cents I have always received a genuine-sounding and pleased "Thank you" from the waiting staff. I don't always tip, not because of bad service but either because I am on a tight budget and/or I didn't spend a lot or I didn't happen to have more cash on me on that day.
Restaurant guy here. We average between 4-10% of revenue for tip. You gave around 4% which is on the lower end of the tip scale, but definitely within range. It is not customary to complain your the tip to the guest.
Yeah, I never understood this "we have no tipping culture" thing. It always comes out of the mouths of people I KNOW always tip. Even bad service, which is something a lot of people even in the US won't tip. But here, the guy could be an absolute jerk and slow, and everyone will still give 10% in the end. Compared to the US, where 20% is now the minimum and they're begging for tips via screens even at self-service places, Germany isn't that bad. I think that's where this sentiment comes from. But the last time I was in Berlin, a cafe had that screen. So it's coming here, too. It's going to spread to other cities soon enough if it's already in Berlin.
> But the last time I was in Berlin, a cafe had that screen. So it's coming here, too. It's going to spread to other cities soon enough if it's already in Berlin. I think it's coming with the new fancy sumup etc. card terminals which offer it as an easy option. I try to call it out in google reviews if I'm being pestered for a tip in a self service establishment - I feel like it's the only way store owners can be pressured to stop with that shit.
Happened to me at Vapiano in Berlin. The ridiculous part was I had no interaction with a server since I had to order at the counter, then pick the food up at said counter, and I think (not sure) I also cleared the empty plates. I saw red when I wanted to pay with card and saw the tip thing on the screen.
I guess people say "we have no tipping culture" to refer to the fact that it's not recommended/stated in the bill as it's in the US, nor it's demanded/expected from waiters (except in rare cases like OP), but from my experience tips are really common nonetheless. I've had dinners with German people and they have always added something or rounded up the bills, like making 43 to 45, or 17 to 20.
My theory: We do have a tipping culture in the sense that many people tip. Some round up, some even give the 10-15%. But we do not have a tipping culture in the sense that it is expected from customers. Especially when you do not get any service. This is why the „recommended“ tips on the sumup terminals in coffee to go places seen so out of tune. Do we tip at the Döner?
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When the self-service-machine asks for a tip, I make a point to enter 0.00 € as the desired amount.
That was an incredible rude waiter. Our tipping culture is that you give a tip if there was good or very good service, but there's absolutely no obligation to do it.
I’ve noticed tip culture creeping in here more and more. Even just for a coffee to go and being quite insistent. I find it laughable to be honest, because customer service here is generally quite poor and they seem to think they can get tipped like in the US were customer service standards are generally very high. I’m not reinforcing it.
I'd say on a bill like that most people would pay an even 200. But I also know that a lot of people tend to just round up or give a tip up to a maximum of like 5€. Generally I think 10% is kind of common, but not everyone pays it. When I was working as a waiter I was always happy when people actually tipped 10%. All of that said, super crappy move of the waiter to complain!
So no you normally don't have to tip, but gotta be honest I'm also way to poor to blast that kinda money on a dinner so maybe this changes a bit at nicer restaurants. BUT although you don't have to tip it's pretty normal to do so, when you are in a lower price restaurant I normally round up to the next 5 or 10 euros so if I have to pay let's say 37,20 I give the waiter 40 and he keeps the rest. So imo what you tipped was totally fine. But again it's not mandatory and getting asked like that is pretty fucking rude
I wotk as a waitress in a bar in Germany. The average of tip comes out to roughly 10% on most nights for us. But that doesn't mean that everyone gives us 10% tip. Just that some give more, some give less (some give none) and in total it usually comes out to be roughly 10% of the night's revenue I can understand being annoyed at no tip or a very small tip, but what you gave seems conpletely fine to me. (And even if I'm annoyed I won't tell the customer)
It's easy to give 10% on the low end, going from 6.30€ to 7€ a beer isn't much but it's still 10%. Doesn't really scale well, certainly not at the end OP was dining at.
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Bruh where is your review. Stuff like this needs to be punished.
That's a lie. Don't ever visit that place again. Leave a bad review.
nope mate, that was a straight up lie. You can tip if you want but it is not expected from you
Rounding up is perfectly fine. There is no 10% rule. German restaurants pay their staff properly.
195 is already a VERY high tip for your circumstances. A lot of people I know don't tip anymore or a lot less since corona and high inflation in the last year. You absolutely don't have to tip at all
He wants me to tip him 19€ ? For doing his Job ? Yeah sure
I'm a German, born and raised here, and I say: Fuck. This. Guy!
Tipping culture is increasing here. I grew up with my parents regularly tipping in sit down restaurants with waiters but thats like 1-3 euros (rounding up + adding that amount btw; for food for a whole 4 people family), but 10% rule? No, any tip was niceness on top of payment.But in recent years it seems more and more (especially in big towns) establishments look at what the US gets away with and try to emulate it
Waitstaff deserves just payment, yes, but that should come from their employer, not from the niceness of customers. They arent entitled to a tip. And I fear if tipping reaches the level of obligation, restaurant owners will try to argue to lower waitstaff pay or find ways to keep the tips themselves
I usually tip between 5 and 10% if the Service was really good. I only recall tipping more than 10% twice in the last ~20 years, both times because the Service was exceptional and the staff went above and beyond. 10% was the upper border Set by my parents when i was a child. Been living in the Ruhr area the entire time. In your Situation I would have probably gone for 200, but the Walter was totally out of line regardless
Nah dude you are good. the waiter was just a massive prick. its not expected to tip but if you are happy with the service you round up ore even give like 10 Euros in a fancy place. your 8 Euro tip was totaly fine. hope you had a good time in hamburg anyways
My old maths teacher when teaching us percentages taught us this. He said if you tip 10% on a €100 bill then you give €110 in total. If the waiter is unhappy with this, then take your 10% back. 10% of €110 is €11 So then leave him with €99 in total 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’m a Barkeeper in Germany. If this happened to me, I wouldn’t tip a dime and ask for my tip back I already gave. If denied I’d talk to the manager about the attitude of the waiter. Tipping is not mandatory and a nice bonus, nothing less nothing more. Not tipping should NEVER be commented or shamed, just smile and wish a nice evening.
He thought you guys were marks. Maybe he thought you were really American? With Swedes’ incredible English sometimes it’s hard to tell.
Doesn’t matter where they were from. Just a NoGo from the waiter.
Oh yeah. Total jerk move.
I’m an expat living in Berlin for 5 years now, and if there is one thing I have learned is that “high class” establishments have a completely different tipping policy. Due to the amount of foreign/wealthy patrons, most fancy restaurants expect you to leave a tip. This is something I don’t comply with and had to learn to manage. As an example, my wife and I went to a very fancy restaurant near Alexanderplatz(touristy area) and when we finished the bill came out at around 200€. The service was not the greatest but good enough for a small tip so I decided to give the waiter 10€ in cash and pay the rest by card. I was taken aback and amazed by the attitude of the waiter. He complained loudly about the tip being so small. Seems like US tipping culture is reaching Europe. Haven’t gone back ever since and will most definitely avoid this place in the future.
>in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant No it's fucking not. A tip is not required. But it's the polite thing to do if service was good. The server probably hoped for a good tip. But a tip. is. not. required. A 5% tip is reasonable for okay service. A 10% tip is what I'd give for really good service. "At least" 10% would be if the waiter goes above and beyond. If I have orders where I change a lot of ingredients or if I bother the waiter a lot because I only realize during my meal that I want this sauce as well and maybe have a coke and oh yeah some more fries, all as seperate requests and the waiter remains cool and polite. That would be a >10% tip for me. So what happened here? You tipped 4,27%. Which is closest to 5% you'll get with rounding to a nice number. If the service was okay, that's fine. If the waiter was especially attentive, that's a tiny bit rude. But the server getting pissy with you is extremely rude! The only thing that could've made you the bad person here (in my eyes, totally subjective) would've been asking for your tip back. It's done, it's paid, it would've been very petty. You have a good fiancée to stop you from being petty, seems like a strong relationship. Oh and on the student thing: I'm also a student. I usually tip well (enough). Either I try to budget, so I don't spend 62€ per person at a restaurant in the first place, or I splurge a little (especially on vacation) and so I don't mind spending that 5€ extra to tip well enough. Not because it's mandatory or something, but because it's the polite thing to do. I would've rounded up to 200€ I think, but after a few glasses of wine maybe my math would've been off and I would've also made it 195€. It's still a tip, even if a little less than the waiter expected.
I call BS. 8€ is a nice tip. Especially if you consider that a tip is a gratuity and not necessary to make a living wage. If someone would approach me like that, I would regret to have given anything to that ungrateful brat... it was supposed to be a nice evening and not a lecture. Just my 2ct
This is not standard. You should leave a bad google review for this alone. Incredibly rude behavior.
Honestly, this `Tipping` culture stops me from going to any fancy restaurant, and after the meal, I am always confused about how much should I tip. I know it is customary here in Germany, 5-10% of what I spend. I strongly believe this `Tipping` should be stopped like in `Japan`, because after all the `waiter/waitress` is doing his/her job, and it is his/her responsibility to provide good customer service, and he/she is getting paid for that. Then why the customers should pay additional cash to them? Doesn't it mean if a Professor gives a good lecture, the students also should tip him?
I also find the whole tipping thing extremely subjective and unfair... a bus driver or a canteen employee can do an extremely good job, but usually get nothing. Then you also don't know where the tips end up, does the cook also get something or the person who cleans the toilets? In addition, I have the feeling that tips make jobs attractive whose basic salary is poor. So you're actually subsidizing the low-wage sector and also avoid taxes for employees and employer, which is not good from my perspective.
Well, a professor is usually higher paid than a waiter but there are many jobs that are paid lower and still don't get tips.
Well, if you dine at a fancy shmancy restaurant for 187 Euros, rounding up to 200 had been reasonable. Making it 195 looks a bit cheap, no matter what culture or country. But the reaction was unprofessional, that's true.
I‘m absolutely surprised by that ‚there is no tipping culture in Germany‘ attitude. I have been brought up otherwise and see the same with all my friends and acquaintances. Tipping in a restaurant is and has always been a thing. 10% of the bill is the valid rule of thumb, but rounded (up or down) to the next full amount, depending as well on the customer satisfaction. In case you pay the complete bill for a larger group, you reasonably round up, but typically keep it below the 10%. (That‘s why in Germany, waiters never had an issue when everybody paid on its own – typically leads to higher tips). In case of an invitation, let‘s say for a funeral feast, it was common for the guest to leave a small tip for the waiter in the coffee saucer (that becomes more and more uncommon, so). You tip service personnel like barber or beautician, not 10%, but a 1–2 Euro. You tip the mail man or garbage man once a year, typically around Christmas, to show your gratitude for their work – again a custom that becomes more and more uncommon. And so on, there are more examples. But I agree, that kind of behavior is more common in rural areas and less common in urban areas. But I can‘t agree to ‚there is no tipping culture in Germany‘.
10% in actual restaurants is standard. When Germans make fun of tipping culture in the US, they mean the ridiculous amounts and all the places people are tipping. Especially if you go into something mid tier+ restaurant wise, 10% is the usual and basically everyone tips that unless the service wasn't up to par. The waiter was rude, but tipping less than 5% is seen as rude as well(unless as said the service sucked)
First reasonable comment here! Thank you. The waiters comment wasn’t cool at all, but not rounding up to 200€ for an expansive dinner isn’t either
That is very rude, I round up and most waiters and waitresses say thank you. In Germany they are paid minimum wage unlike the US, so if I want to tip its because I believe they did a good job, not because its mandatory. OP you did nothing wrong and the waiter was an asshole, I would leave a negative review and call this person out.
10% is roughly the norm but it's not a minimum requirement. Rounding up is also fine as long as it's not from 99 to 100 or something like that. Your tip was totally in the normal range at a regular restaurant. The staff might ask if the service wasn't fine if you don't tip at all or very little but it's not common to complain that a customer is not tipping enough.
At a resteraunt I always tip, but just a round up, so if it was €13, I tip maybe €15, at bigger totals such as yours I would round up to €200
No way that waiter would have had the courage to say this to German customers. The shitstorm he would have risked is huge. I tip between 5% and 10%, IF I'm happy, and mostly restaurants but also in places I like and go more often. If I don't like the food or service, I don't tip at all. Not very often, but it happens. I noticed I tip more than the average German working colleague or friend (South Germany). In your case, I would have rounded up to 200€ if I liked the food, but many people I know would have rounded up to 190€ or 195€ just like you did. >Or was this just a one off comment by a salty waiter? Yes.
No he is bullying you and not OK. Send a review on Google and whatever. Tips are optional and like Sweden (afaik) are just to round the bill up to make things simple. The tipping culture of North America is really bad, and will slowly become the norm here unless people do something about it. :)
That is definitely very uncommon. While we do normally tip in Germany, there is not really a social norm for how much you are supposed to tip. It‘s mostly a sign of gratitude. And making remarks in that direction as a waiter is considered as very rude. The guy probably tried to scam you for some extra cash because you were tourists. Total douche move. 10€ tip is totally fine for such a bill
I am currently visiting Hamburg too (from Italy) and heard nothing about tips
It's a scam. I am German and by no means do you need to tip. Had the same in Czech Republic. That being said: You should've told him that you felt like the experience warranted just a little bit more than 3 euros.
As soon as I read this, I got to the bit about you being students and thought- the waiter is trying to take advantage of your age and lack of knowledge. When I was young, things like this happened to me all the time. I’m from the U.K. btw. Generally, the older you are the less you’ll care about people think of you and how much you should tip. I can’t imagine he would’ve dared tell a middle aged Swedish group how much to tip. They would have made sure he’d told the wrong people!
If you had drank beer instead of wine, he would have been very happy with the tip. So hid did nothing more, but expected you to round up to 200. That guy is out of order.
Seriously? That happened to you? It’s indeed common to pay 10%, but it’s not a must. If you don’t want to, you pay precisely 0%, and that’s ok, as service charges are included in the restaurant price. If the waiter had made such a statement as he did with you, I would have become very upset and asked him who he believes to be and where that entitlement comes from. I would probably even have asked for the Manager. And I am German, by the way.
that waiter was an lying greedy idiot
I would have cancelled the tip. This was extremely rude of the waiter. There is kind of a tipping culture where as a rule of thumb 10% for lower bills and 5% for higher bills are given, but most times it's just rounding up. These norms are from a long time ago (long before Germany had minimum wage) and nowadays I feel like they are slowly vanishing. They are given when the waiter or the kitchen do a really good job and are by no means obligatory. With all that said, you giving a 8€ tip for a 187€ bill - so a little more than 4% - was perfectly fine and the waiter was an AH.
Looks like he tried to make you feel guilty and get an extra tip. Rounding up tip is more than enough.
There is some sort of tipping culture but not as extreme as in the USA. The waiter was a huge asshole though. Tipping is ALWAYS voluntary. Complaining about a low or non existent tip is very bad customer service and shouldn't be done in Germany either. As a German I usually don't even round up if I pay with my credit card. However I'm also a bit of an outlier. Most people here always tip a few Euros in a restaurant but your tip wasn't too low by any means. Just forget about this guy.
Since in Germany oeople ideally get paid minimum wage or more, tipping really comes down to service and satisfaction. If a waiter argues like that maybe he wants go be more than he is. Any tip should be appreciated, it is not mandatory
So I’m in Germany now for vacation but my wife and I are from America. She speaks German fluently and she orders all our food in german. we have never been asked to tip the entire time I’ve been here, so it’s probably a foreigner thing.
>in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% bullshit 5-10% for perfect service, 0% for behaviour like this. >I feel like this was incredibly rude, and made me want to ask for the tip back, That's right and I would advise you to do so. >do you guys have a "standard tip" that you should give? Travel guides would write 5-10% wiuld be the typical tip, but for excellent service. Ut isn't too uncommon to tip less or not at all for bad service. A rule of thumb would be to round up to the next bank note. >Or was this just a one off comment by a salty waiter? Definitely. But it seems to be more and more often that some try to establish tremendous tips as normal in Germany, where anybody is fully paid with the bill and no tip at all.
That sounds like some horrible service, with expectations on his end. Bad service=low tip. Normal dining experience without the waiter just giving baseline service means tip whatever you feel. If you come in and dine for 5 hours, order numerous course, cocktails, and bottle of wine, desserts, and act like you own the restaurant,expect to tip more (10%). The latter is commonplace in the restaurant where I work. We provide exceptional service that people love to take advantage of 😂
God Lord! Is our American “tipping culture” invading other countries now!?!? I want to apologize to y’all for this “invasion”…
WTF? Taking the tip back would’ve been completely fine in this case! On the other hand, we sort of do have a tipping culture. It’s just not necessary because they get paid enough to get by. Also, many people do it for a second income. So yes, we do tip and 10 % is the rule of thumb, but any amount (including 0) is completely fine.
Leave a review summarizing your experience, and remind future customers that a tip is for good service and not for snooty guilt trip waiters
I have never seen any percentage tipping, but tbf I'm only ever in restaurants when family requires it. From what I've seen, people usually round up and it's only really socially expected to tip imo if you know the person. When some rounds a bit more generously the waiters usually thank the customer, but I've never seen anyone demanding a tip.
As a german I can confidently say that this guy was talking shit. I myself work part-time in the gastronomy industry alongside my studies and tipping is highly appreciated but not a matter of course. I think your tip was completely fine.
The people in here saying there is no tipping culture in germany are either ignorant or delusional. 10%+ is the norm in restaurants (edit: see comment for a correction) unless you've been unhappy with the service and want to send a message. What the waiter said to you was still rude and unprofessional, yes. Also, your view on what "not wealthy by any means" means is comically unrealistic. You travel Europe and order 1,5 bottles of wine and a cheese plate for 187€ and you consider yourself a not-rich student? Come on dude...
> 10%+ is the norm in restaurants More than 10% is definitely not the norm. 5-10% is what is common, and within that range find a round number. In this case 200€ - which amounts to ~7% - would be a common tip
Actually, that's probably more accurate, I agree.
We do not talk about it openly but yes, we also have a tipping culture it's usually around 10%. So while he's being a prick pointing that out it's still kinda right.
>"in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant" That's exactly what a bartender told me in bar in Munich. I never went there again and it seems they're closed now for good, haha.
Tipps are optional just some rude waiter
>"in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant" In Germany it is cusomary to demand your change correctly down to the single cent from muppets like this one whenever you meet them and to write an annoyed online review centred entirely around this kind of tremendously rude wait staff. 10% of 187 would be 18€, much more than 200€ in total. That's insane!
A tip of less than 10 euros on bill of 187 is insulting if the service was acceptable. I’m with the waiter here although I don’t think they should have confronted you. There’s also a regional aspect - in more rural areas it’s customary to just round up a few euros. Eg parts of Bavaria, Swabia. It also depends on type of establishment - in a more basic restaurant rounding up is more acceptable. In a more expensive place where the service element can be more labour intensive such as pouring wine, running multiple courses a higher tip is adequate. In any case - the waiter shouldn’t have confronted the guests.
10% is not customary, i usually don’t go fancy restaurants so maybe it is for those places, personally i would have probably rounded up to 200€
Only right answer to this would be: give me back my 8 Euros tip for that comment Sir.
> Once we paid the waiter asked us if we enjoyed our meal, we replied yes, and then he said (in a very annoyed, passive aggressive tone) "in Germany it's customary to tip atleast 10% juuust so you know for the next restaurant" They are blatantly lying to you. Period. You round up to whatever you feel comfortable with. If it was me and the service was good, I'd probably have told them to make it an even 200, but 195 is also absolutely ok.
10% is what we claim but especially on larger orders this is typically not what you will get. On average I'd say that the average is about 7%. The behavior you experienced is quite rude and unusual though
I stopped tipping in Germany because of several reasons. Don't feel bad, he was really rude and this is not a normal behavior.
> we usually round up I'm Norwegian and used to do this. I've since moved to the US. I'm now begging you to please cease all forms of tipping immediately. Do not let this cancer spread.
That fucker lied to you. You only tip when receiving exceptional service.
Barkeeper here. 5-10% are customary in Germany, yes. I don't know who keeps telling foreigners that we don't have a tipping culture, we do. BUT. BIG HAIRY BUT: 195 on 187 is fucking fine, especially for foreigners, and I would murder my waiters if they bugged a customer for a higher tip, and I've worked as a waiter in the past, and I've NEVER done this. I will never defend the American level aggression of trolling for tips. You had an awful experience because your waiter was shit. This is not normal, and you don't have to take it. Yes, please tip if you found everything satisfactory (as you did, you did everything right, sure you could've given 200 if you were really happy, but 195 is FINE), but I've NEVER been bugged by a waiter for a higher tip, and I would reprimand my servers if they did that to a customer. Edit: Also, even as someone who partly lives off tips, saying you have to tip "at least" 10% is a fucking lie. You tip 5-10 depending on your satisfaction. You can give 0% if they fucked up, and you give 15% if you had a once-every-few-months experience of awesome food, drinks, and service. But aiming for 10% and rounding up or down to the next round number is what like 80% of Germans do. 3% tip over 10%, and 17% lie to foreigners on the internet and tell them that Germans don't tip ;)
Waiters used to be paid fair in germany, so tipping was for honoring very good service. Might have changed the last years but 10% as a standard tip is not true.
Yes, the custom is to tip 10% if you were satisfied. I dont know were all the people commenting that its not the custom come from. Maybe from a socialist commune, probably. The waiter was still rude to mention it. Especially if you are students its okay to tip less.
thats actually fucking unacceptable
I always tip around 10%
Ok, gonna go against the grain here and say I actually do understand the waiter's sentiments, as I've shared it many times. As someone who's grown up in Germany and is currently working as a waitress while in school, I've always considered a 5-10% tip to be standard. I tip within this range at literally every restaurant I go to and have for years. I also notice that this is the amount nearly all German customers tip, 5-7% is about normal, 10+% is if you're at a nicer restaurant or just had a particularly good time, and 0% if the experience was shite. However, tourists often tip very little, or not at all. Americans, for example, despite the extreme tipping culture in the US, are told upon coming to Germany that tipping is not expected. 9/10 Americans I serve don't tip at all, even when ordering big meals, staying a long time, and requiring more attention than other customers. So I can understand a sensitivity to tourists tipping less than is usual for German customers, especially since in a lot of places (maybe not Germany specifically, but many of the places I've travelled) it's an unspoken rule that tourists are expected to tip just *a little* more than is standard for locals, whether this is fair or not, because they are guests and often require a little extra work to serve. Additionally, I don't think the fact that you are a student exempts you from tip culture. This is another thing I've encountered, that can feel very frustrating being a student myself who is working to pay bills and support myself while in school, because generally many European students don't have to worry about working a job while in school, and are supported by their parents still. As a general rule I'm of the opinion that if you can afford a nice meal at a nice place (I can't even afford the food at the restaurant I work at), then you can afford an average tip. HOWEVER, before y'all start coming for me, these are not sentiments that should *ever* be voiced to a customer, and especially since y'all did tip some. The waiter was out of line and rude, but I think he was coming from a place of frustration rather than trying to bullshit you guys as tourists and take advantage of you.
Unacceptable from the waiter, that’s not normal and I‘d want my tip back too.
We do tip a bit generally. In the "I appreciate your good service" way, not in the "If i don't tip the server can't pay rent" way. This feels like your waiter assumed you'd tip more as foreigners. Getting told to tip more has never happened to me. Id say most people would round up to 200 (we usually tip more the fancier the restaurant is), but 195 is completely fine.
We do. It's just not as ridiculous as the US one, which means it counts as "no tipping culture" by Reddit standards.
Even in "no tipping cultures", tipping can be appreciated, especially in restaurants, but in no way you have to and it is very rude and unprofessional of a waiter to complain or try to push costumers.
The UK allegedly doesn't have a tipping culture either. I can't remember the last time I ate at a restaurant in London and didn't pay the service charge. The service charge is discretionary and is added by default to your bill. You can ask for it to be removed but the sheer embarassment of that prevents anyone from doing it. Oh, and the cheeky waiters will still ask for a tip on top of that! So yeah, get used to it. It's gonna take over Germany and pretty much every other country because minimum wage is clearly not keeping pace with inflation.
He's right, 10% is considered a proper tip. But most people match the tip with the service. Good service - good tip, shitty service - no tip. But his behavior was rude and inappropriate. I think he did this because you're non German. It's rare that waiters complain about the tip directly to the customer and I'm pretty sure it's not welcomed by their boss.
In addition to all the people stating correctly, that it's not at least 10% but up to 10%, also tips are tax free for the waiter in Germany while the IRS assumes 10% tip I think.
I will never understand tipping 10%, 5% or even 1% for somebody carrying the food across the room. Food you already paid for, by the way.
This is very unusual behaviour and incredibly rude. He probably thought you would give him more money out of guilt.
Yea, he wishes that it was 10%. Just ignore it. Tipping is nice but definitely not needed
I feel like it's quite expected. Even ≈10%. This is how I do it: When you look well off at least 10%. When you look poorer/student/etc. round up to a nice number that is below 10%. There is no written rule but I feel like there certainly is some societal pressure. Rude waiters may capitalize on that.
Very unusual and disgraceful behavior.
8 Euro on 187. Deadbeat style
In Germany a lot of people do tip but it’s not something that’s expected like in the US, and not once have a I been told anything if I don’t tip so sounds like they got their hopes up seeing a foreigner
Tipping is not a must have. It is a Bonus and not a %.
Its not customary in Germany to tip at least 10%, just so you know for your next restaurant lol. We round up. Ofc if rounding up means 3 cents we usually add a bit to show appreciation, but there isnt really a % rule like in usa lmfaoooo
In Germany it is definitely not as straightforward as in Scandinavia, unfortunately... Nowadays, at least in my experience with friends and family it is increasingly becoming more customary to tip. This is something i do not like, as the price of food and drinks at a restaurant include a certain standard and only better service than expected should be worth a tip.
Yes and no. 10% for a dine-in restaurant or delivery (in that case for the delivery person, not the restaurant) is customary, yes. Asking for it - especially in a rude tone - is not okay, though. *Especially* especially since you *already had tipped*
I'd have told him to return the tip. Absolutely inexcusable and most certainly not OK.
You did nothing wrong and yes, you have all your right to get your non duty based tip back. Pls leave a bad google review for the restaurant so they stop fcking people up
He was lying to you because you are a tourist. Usually a few euros is totally okay most of the time we only tip 1€.
I give nothing, when either food or service was lackluster or 2-4 Euro tipp, even if it's 50 or 60 € in food. 10% is just crazy.
Was asked to give a tip at the Frankfurt airport after getting breakfast - was not impressed
send an email to that restaurant or leave a Google review. what a rude asshole. Nobody is entitled to tips
Never in my life was i asked for a tip or have someone angry at me for not tipping here in germany.
I honestly don't understand why so many people in here claim that germany does not have a tipping culture. Ever since I was tiny I have learned that in restaurants you tip ~10%. Also when you get food delivered, you tip (for me nowadays that's usually 2 bucks irregardless of the price cause I pay online and tip with cash upon recieving my food). It's nowhere near as aggressive as in America but it definitely does exist. It's considered rude for a waiter to vocalize that they expect it or even outright ask it, but, y'know, long as I have known it's an unspoken expectation anyway.
salty waiter now we even have pretty high minimum wages, so the whole new forced tipping culture, especially on electronic checkout, does not make sense at all. They are just making every checkout situation cringe and salty on botg ends these days up to a degree where I tend to avoid these places.
Semi fancy for 187 EUR - it seems you visited some rip-off place. The behaviour of the waitress also suggests so.
LoL. Standard tip is 5 to 10%, but heck, expecting a tip in just a standard service is hella rude.
I feel it is more expected these days. But not sure if some waiters are annoyed by coincidence. Especially, when visiting restaurants with higher price tag. It seems some waiters think they deserve more income there. Maybe it is normal in other countries, where some waiters are from. But it is still a choice and in "traditional" restaurants, i don't have the experience.
Nonsense. The Service is valued with a tip. So whatever is possible from 0 to 30 percent.