--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozg...@...> wrote: > > I was listening to Thom Hartmann on Droid phone during my > morning walk and he broadcasting from Barcelona where he's > attending a conference. He mentioned that in Spain there is > no tipping. He brought up the subject because of the news > item this week about the people arrested for not tipping > here in the US. Seems they had a dinner at a restaurant > where they the tip is automatically added when there are > 6 or more in the party but they got bad service and paid > the bill minus the tipping amount. So Turq, there is no > tipping in Spain?
If you have a mechanism to offer feedback to Thom Hartmann, please tell him that he was led astray. There is indeed tipping in Spain, although the hard times have hurt it badly. What he says would be more true in France, where 15% is automatically added to every check in a bar or restaurant and then given to the server. I usually tipped an extra 5% on top of that if the server deserved it, to bring it up to the amount that I tip in the US. In Spain it may *appear* that people don't tip, but that is more a reflection on the economy and the Spanish people than any convention. Servers here are *not* guaranteed a tip as they are in France. And, as I do everywhere I live, I count among my friends many who work in the service industry. They work *hard*, and in this economy they can barely get by on what the restaurants and bars they work for pay them. In France it would be a different story, but here's it's often a matter of making your rent this month or not. Because I've worked as a waiter before, I tip. I tip the same way I would in the US, at 20% for decent and respectful service. I reserve the right to lower or raise that percentage for either shitty or exemplary service. This marks me as a foreigner in Sitges and an "easy mark," because the Spanish normally tip 5%, 10% maximum, but I can live with that. A spiritual teacher I worked with for many years once told me that you can know the real character and the spiritual attainment of a man by how he treats those who serve him. Whatever his other faults, he walked the talk of this dictum, and tipped well. The moment I heard him say this I realized the wisdom of it, and as a result so do I.
