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When I pay by cash in a restaurant, I get change back first and then I usually have enough small bank notes to give the wanted amount of tip. However due recent tendencies I tend to pay by card almost for everything. Fun as it be, I simply ... have no cash, or do not have it the form I am willing to give without change.

In Switzerland, the smallest note I can easily get from the cash machine is 20 sFr (roundly $20). It is often more than I am willing to give. 10 sFr exists but usually not available from cash machines and 5 sFr is already a coin that gets difficult to obtain.

Some payment devices in restaurants allow entering the wanted amount for tip. Unfortunately waiters tend to enter zero there before handing the device to me to enter the password. I do not understand exactly why they are doing this.

If I pay by card and have the suitable amount of cash available, I simply leave it on the table. This looks especially important to me when I go to the same restaurant repeatedly. But if I don't, I am forced to go away without leaving any tip at all, even if the service was good.

The options probably would be

  • Ask the waiter to include the wanted amount of tip in payment from the card. When exactly should this be said and how approximately would the phrase sound?
  • If they really dislike this way of getting tip, ask the waiter to split the larger bank note so I would have suitable cash to give a tip.
  • Assume it is their problem that they enter zero for the tip before handing the device to me, and take this as a tip refusal, likely instructed by the management of the restaurant.

At the place I live and work, there is no easy access to the bank counter where I could ask for a big bag of the 5 sFr coins I usually prefer to give.

The most usable answer would be for Switzerland where I currently work, but if there is a stable rule in some other country, I could probably re-apply it so it also may be relevant.

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Nightrider
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    I thought the Swiss don't really do percentage-based tipping? It's more "leave the spare change", and if you don't leave any that's OK too -- Lord knows Swiss restaurant prices are high enough as it is and the waitstaff are decently paid as well. – lambshaanxy Jan 01 '22 at 13:41
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    I have the problem of having too many 5fr coins way too big and heavy for its value... – xngtng Jan 01 '22 at 15:11
  • (Swiss resident) - in Coronavirus times some restaurants seem to be making it hard for their wait staff to get tipped (presumably because they don't want to pay taxes etc). I carry no cash at all, and tell them that. I ask to put service on the card, and if they don't allow that, they get no tip. – abligh Jan 02 '22 at 07:24
  • In the UK, many (most?) restaurant card readers ask you if you want to add a gratuity at the beginning of the transaction. Is that not the case elsewhere? I do always make the point of ensuring if I add a tip that way it will find its way to the server, rather then someone in head office. – Darren Jan 02 '22 at 21:01
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    Oops, I just read the part where they add 0. That’s strange behaviour and not common here (UK). – Darren Jan 02 '22 at 21:02
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    I'd often read that tipping is a uniquely USA custom (some say racist or barbaric). All the answers here (as well as the question) suggest otherwise. – WGroleau Jan 02 '22 at 21:10
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    @WGroleau, in the US, if the wait staff does not get tips they do not take enough money home to live. In Europe tips are an extra above a living wage and you are free not to give anything. But people still like to reward good service. – Willeke Jan 02 '22 at 21:19
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    @Willeke, I am a US citizen_I know that. Which may be the source of calling it "barbaric." The "racist" accusation says that when slavery was officially ended, tipping started to ensure "servants" didn't forget who was the "master." What I don't know is how true are the claims that tipping should not be done anywhere else. This thread suggests those claims are not accurate. – WGroleau Jan 02 '22 at 21:49
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    @lambshaanxy Yes, one would think that, and some Swiss/residents don't tip ever by principle, but most do (e.g., having a lunch with colleagues for 20-30 and round up a bit). "Decent pay" is relative: they aren't overpaid by Swiss standards, but are payed around median salary (mostly a bit less than median though). – D. Kovács Jan 03 '22 at 09:11
  • @WGroleau More classist than racist, I'd think, unless people are withholding tips from certain waitstaff and not others based solely on race - which I'm sure happens but is hopefully not the norm. – Darrel Hoffman Jan 03 '22 at 14:32
  • @Willeke That's a problem with the minimum wage, though, not specific to tipping. Every state (I think) that allows a sub-minimum base wage for wait staff still requires employers to make up the difference if tips aren't enough to meet the minimum-wage threshold. – chepner Jan 03 '22 at 20:58
  • @chepner - actually it's mostly southern, former slave states that have a $2.13 minimum wage for employees. Alabama (and GA, LA, MS, SC, TE) has a $2.13 wage with NO employer make up for no tips. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped Most western states don't count tips towrds wage. – Hannover Fist Jan 04 '22 at 00:20
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    @WGroleau tipping as a concept certainly isn't unique to the US, but the degree to which a tip is expected when visiting a restaurant is rather unusual. See the answers here for example, where consensus seems to be that a standard tip for "ok" service should be at least 15%-20% of the bill. Anywhere in Europe that amount would be extremely generous. – Chris H Jan 04 '22 at 06:37
  • @ChrisH in an Eastern-European country, when I left 20% (because I didn't want to back-exchange any local currency, and could "get rid of it" with doing something good at the same time), a party of 6 received two free rounds of shots. – D. Kovács Jan 04 '22 at 15:16

6 Answers6

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Swiss resident here: when they tell you the amount you have basically the following options when paying with a debit/credit card:

  • show the card without comment → they will put the exact amount into the POS-terminal, hand it over to you for payment;
  • show the card and tell them a new amount with your tip → they will thank you, put in the amount you said, hand the terminal over to you for payment.

Almost all establishments accept "upped" card payments and everywhere where I asked, the waiters told me that the owners do honorable bookkeeping and distribute the gathered extra amount (tips) as part of the salary.

Usual tip varies amongst Swiss/residents:

  • you can go without leaving any tip (especially if you are not happy with the food/service or are a small earner), nobody expects tip, they are earning a living wage
  • if you are earning well/showing off/are very happy with the place/food/service, leave a tip of up to 10%, excessively more is unusual. Usual is to round up: small amounts (up to let's say 50) to the next full Franc or add 1-2 (e.g., 27.80 to 30.00), medium amounts (up to let's say 100) to the next 5/10 (e.g., 66.60 to 70.00, 68.90 to 75.00), larger amounts round and add some but not much more than 10%.
D. Kovács
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    Great answer, emphasis on "tell them a new amount". For instance if your bill is for 28 francs, say "Make it 30" and you're all set. – Calimo Jan 02 '22 at 17:49
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In Germany when asking to pay, I typically will tell the waiter upfront I will be paying with card. Mostly it goes like this, the waiter brings the machine to the table and will tell the total amount. When handing them the card, I will tell them amount that I want them to charge and that's what they run.

Occasionally they will pre-populate the charge to coax a cash tip out of you, but than they are mostly out of luck. I don't consider it my responsibility to carry convenient cash with me and cash tips are somewhat questionable: it's a huge temptation to not share with the back end staff and for tax evasion.

Hilmar
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    When the waiters receive cash money, they have an idea how much tip is around and is due to be split with the kitchen staff. When every guest pays by card it's up to the restaurant owner to distribute the money. – Bernhard Döbler Jan 01 '22 at 19:35
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    That's their problem not mine. Fortunately tipping in Germany is not yet as out of control as it is in the US. In the US almost all tipping is done by card and it apparently still works. Despite the paper trail, they still manage to hide about 23 billion dollar per year from the tax-man. – Hilmar Jan 01 '22 at 20:57
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    Same procedure in Switzerland. Just tell them the amount you want to pay and pay that amount by card. If they already entered the amount in the card reader they just hit the "Stop" button und enter the new amount. If they dont want to do that, as @Hilmar said, not your problem. – Yanick Salzmann Jan 02 '22 at 08:47
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    +1 if they don’t take card tips, it’s their problem. – JonathanReez Jan 02 '22 at 14:50
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    In the US, it's of questionable legality to fail to give the entire tip to the waiter or to require that the tip be shared with back end staff. This is on the grounds that the tip is intended by the customer to be given to the waiter only. Some states agree with this interpretation and enforce this; other states agree but do not enforce; other states do not agree. – Alexander Woo Jan 02 '22 at 23:19
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    @AlexanderWoo How do they reach the conclusion that the tip is intended to be given to the waiter only? What if the food is excellent but the service mediocre and I want to give an extra tip to the cook? – gerrit Jan 03 '22 at 10:37
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    @gerrit - then you can specifically ask for a tip to be given to the cook. – Alexander Woo Jan 03 '22 at 15:37
  • @AlexanderWoo Restaurants do questionably legal things all the time. – Azor Ahai -him- Jan 03 '22 at 18:40
  • @gerrit It is not normal in the US to tip the chef – Azor Ahai -him- Jan 03 '22 at 18:40
  • @AlexanderWoo Tip pooling is covered at the federal level under FLSA. I don't think it's possible for states to overrule that, so tip pooling is legal 1) if the employer takes a tip credit and the tip pool only includes customarily tipped employees, or 2) if the employer pays full minimum wage to the tipped employees and does not take a tip credit, then the tip pool can include other employees (e.g. cooks, dishwashers) but not management, supervisors, or the owner. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/531.54 – user3067860 Jan 03 '22 at 20:02
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    The difference being that in Germany, food prices are reasonable and waiters expect a tip, and in Switzerland, you already paid 30 Francs for a sandwich, and might not feel like paying 35. – Eric Duminil Jan 03 '22 at 21:02
  • @EricDuminil I disagree. Prices are different in Germany and Switzerland. Since Switzerland follows a near 0% inflation this means that from time to time someone from Germany has to spend a years salary on a new laptop (this is somewhat exaggerated, but not excessively). I have been living in Switzerland all my life and I have never had any issues paying the prices asked with my salary. Are the prices higher compared to Germany? Yes! Do I earn 5-10 times as much as someone in the same position in Germany? Yes indeed. – Yanick Salzmann Jan 03 '22 at 21:07
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    @AzorAhai-him- What are you tipping for, actually? If you tip for things like "I was seated at a table in a timely fashion", "my food was brought to me in a timely fashion", and "my food was cooked to order as I requested" then you really ought to be tipping all of the staff, not just the wait staff. (If you're tipping because the wait staff was attractive and flirted with you, then I guess it's OK to only tip the wait staff.) – user3067860 Jan 03 '22 at 21:08
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    @user I'm not defending the system, I'm saying "Give this tip to the chef" would get you blank looks in the states lmao – Azor Ahai -him- Jan 04 '22 at 00:32
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    @YanickSalzmann Thanks for your input. I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with. We're on travel stackexhange, and food in Switzerland will be considered expensive by pretty much any other nationality. – Eric Duminil Jan 04 '22 at 08:24
  • @JonathanReez and Hilmar Why even bother to tip at all then? – Relaxed Jan 04 '22 at 14:10
  • @Relaxed: when in Rome do as the Romans do. As a traveler I'm trying to be respectful of local customs. I don't tip in China (or only rarely), some in Germany and lots in the US. It's just what's "normal" there. On the other hand I don't want to encourage rabid tip inflation and tax evasion either. – Hilmar Jan 05 '22 at 00:11
  • @Hilmar Then that includes tipping in cash (not necessarily in Germany but in many other places). Trying to regulate work relations between front of house and kitchen staff or giving a tip in a way that's hard or impossible for them to accept or even not be paid to the staff at all is incredibly obnoxious. I get not wanting to be bothered but then you might as well not tip at all. – Relaxed Jan 05 '22 at 09:41
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Just hand over the smallest note you have and ask “Can you please break this note for me?” or “Could you get me some change?”. In French “Pourriez-vous me faire de la monnaie?”. Don’t know the equivalent in other languages, sorry. I’ll make this a community answer so people can add other versions.

Note that the more upscale the establishment, the larger the notes/coins you will get if you don’t specify. You would get a 10 and two fives from a 20 for instance (meaning they expect a tip of 5 or 10), or even two notes of 10, where in other places you would be sure to get a few coins of 1 or 2 of whatever currency.

So you can specify, adding “could you get me coins/notes of X”.

jcaron
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Back when credit cards were done with different technology that used to only allow one number to be entered, I used to tell the person (typically a cab driver) the total to put in. For example, the driver might say "that will be 16.50" and I would hand them my card and say "put it through for 20" and they would say "thankyou!" understanding the difference was to be the tip.

Since your waiters don't know they need the machine until you give them your card, you can say as you hand it over "please add X for a tip" and they won't put the zero in for you.

Kate Gregory
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    But tips given on the card do still often get into the pocket of the restaurant rather than the wait staff. – Willeke Jan 01 '22 at 13:48
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    that's a separate issue – Kate Gregory Jan 01 '22 at 13:49
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    @Willeke I usually ask them first if the staff get the tips (UK) and they usually say Yes but I think there is some rule and anyway they may not be allowed to say No. – mdewey Jan 01 '22 at 13:59
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    If the management keeps the tips the staff will know that, so they probably won't add the tip on anyway. A lot a card terminals have a tip option anyway, so the customer can see how to add it. – Weather Vane Jan 01 '22 at 16:45
  • there is a wide spectrum of what happens to the tips. In some places they go to the waiter they were given to, but are recorded for tax purposes. In others all the "front of house" staff pool and split tips. In still others the pooled tips are also split with "back of house" -- the cooks. In a very rare few the management "take" them in the same sense they take the pre-tip payment - using the money to pay rent and salaries, buy ingredients etc. To talk as though any time you use the card management will "take" it is not helpful. – Kate Gregory Jan 01 '22 at 16:49
  • That's not what I meant: which was if the tip goes on the card, then the staff probably will get it. – Weather Vane Jan 01 '22 at 16:59
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    @mdewey: If you ever find yourself visiting the US, and anyone tells you anything other than "yes" in response to that question, please be aware that they (management) are violating federal labor law. On this side of the pond, tips are the property of waitstaff (but management can enforce tip pooling between employees who "customarily" receive tips), and management keeping the tips is considered straight theft. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, of course. – Kevin Jan 02 '22 at 03:43
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Where I live and due to covid, people have almost forgotten about cash! we use electronic payments in everything to the point I see banks started to remove some ATMs because people do not need cash as they used to.

However, I have the same issue like you, I love to tip and I feel guilty if I didn't, but cash isn't available on me at all times, but technology comes to the rescue!

We have a local payment app for individuals, I ask the waiters/delivery people if they have that app installed, if they do I ask them to show me the QR code and I simply scan it and tip them the amount I wish, which then goes directly to their account.

If there is a popular payment app in your country as we do, it will not harm you to ask if the waiter has it installed and use it!

Nean Der Thal
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Tipping is very cultural. There are places that don't expect tips (like Japan) and places that expect a 20% tip even when service isn't great (e.g. the USA) with lots of places in between where tipping is 10-15% and you are not expected to tip if you did not enjoy the service.

My advice for travelers is to check. Places like WikiTravel contain sections on tipping, for example for Switzerland it's:

Tipping isn't mandatory. You can leave something if you want, but you're not obligated to. Unlike other countries, restaurant staff have very high salaries and tips are normally included in the price of your meal.

This has also been my personal experience during my trips in Switzerland. The nice thing is that it has also been my experience traveling to any other country :)

If you would still like to tip my advice would be to ask a local, as other answers indicate this depends a lot on the customs and culture of the country and in most countries where tipping is common there is technology to accommodate it (like an extra choice in the credit card payment terminal).

It is also totally fine to ask your waiter how to tip, I am sure that's a question they'll be happy to answer.

Benjamin Gruenbaum
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