Roland Perry wrote:
at 21:48:37 on Wed, 29 Feb 2012, Adam H. Kerman remarked:

Tipping in restaurants is largely optional here in Britain and the
amount is completely up the patron's discretion.

Do your restaurants pay much higher straight wages than US restaurants do?
In the US, it's largely understood that the waiter is compensated in
part by the restaurant through straight wages and in part by the customer.

In smaller restaurants, including pubs (bars), the waiting staff are
often the proprietors or their relations, so the manner in which they
are paid isn't really the concern of the customer. If you want to leave
a tip it's more for the establishment than the waiter. Paying
individuals for the service you'd expect to get anyway feels a little
like bribery.

I know it's different in the USA, and waiters there are more likely to
be assigned to tables and customers, rather than there being a pool of
waiters and a pool of tables all 'belonging to' the establishment.

It depends on the restaurant. In some restaurants, yes, the waiter who
takes the order brings the food and, later, the check. If the meal is
elaborate, he might be assisted by one or more busboys when serving. In
other restaurants, whoever is free takes the order, brings food, then
brings the check. It might be three different people. One Chinese
restaurant I eat at many times each year does that. They are really good
about bringing the food to the table the moment it's plated in the kitchen
so it's nice and hot. In this style, all tips are pooled among everyone
working the shift.

We have restaurants in which the customer orders food at the counter,
and then carries his own food to the table when it's ready. Sometimes,
the clerks put out tip jars. I ignore them, given that I'm serving
myself.

Now, buffet-style restaurants are a little different. If I see the
staff keeping the buffet well stocked and removing the unserved food
that's been sitting out too long, I leave a tip. Those people are
working hard to provide good service. If the buffet isn't looked
after, I don't tip and I probably wouldn't eat there again.

I like being able to reward good service. On those rare occassions in
which the waiter was horrid, I've left a single coin. You have to leave
something so the waiter doesn't assume that the diner just forgot.

We also have the owners of barbershops who expect to be tipped. If the
barber owns the shop, you're not supposed to tip, but he's trying to
extract more money from his customers. If the barber is just renting the
chair, then you're supposed to tip.

Do you have tradesmen who insist that they are professionals, and
insist that their customers are clients? That annoys me.

Ancient joke: Only lawyers and prostitutes have clients.