Sky Views: Let's end the confusion over tipping

Michelle Clifford, Senior News Correspondent

On Thursday I'll be having dinner out in London. On Friday in Washington DC.

On Thursday I will tip 10% if I am happy with the service and food. On Friday I will tip 20% unless the service or food or both are terrible.

To tip or not to tip? That is not really a question in America. It's just done.

And a tip before visiting the US - understand the rules.

At dinner tip 15-20% (hard for visitors to adjust to but generally speaking it supplements low or virtually no pay).

The cab driver gets 10-15% (if you pay by card you are now offered a 12%, 15% or 20% option).

Oh, and then there is the principle of a dollar a drink to the bar server (every round, every drink).

To tip or not to tip? That is not really a question in America

In the UK there's nothing automatic about tipping. It's much more a reflection of quality. Quality of product, of service, of experience.

There's something ritualistic about the conversation at the end of a meal in Britain when we say "what shall we give?"

So for many to learn that the "extra" goes to staff wages or the company has come as a surprise.

Celebrity chef Michel Roux admitted in recent days that the 13% service charge on all bills at his Michelin-starred Le Gavroche restaurant is treated as revenue and not shared among staff (except by way of wages).

Mr Roux has announced that, as of next year, he will scrap the charge and simply raise the price of dishes.

That's got to be a good thing doesn't it?

Many - maybe most of us in the UK - think when we pay a service charge, especially a "discretionary" one, it is a tip.

And in the UK mindset a tip is a bonus, not a way of paying wages.

Yes, there is a whole debate to be had about appalling pay in the restaurant industry.

There's a debate to be had about the way tips are divided up or appropriated by companies.

But ending the confusion about service charges and tips has to be a start in terms of dining transparency.

Isn't it part of dining out to decide a sum you want to give to reflect your satisfaction (or not) with the staff, the food, the evening?

The automatic nature of tipping in the US diminishes that experience. Better to pay better and confuse less in terms of supplementing income.  

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Paste BN editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Ed Conway: Six outrageous predictions for 2017