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I was stationed in Germany for a few years, and I will say that whilst on one level I appreciate the whole leave you alone and don't mess with you style of wait-staffing, I appreciate really good attentive care even more.

I've had good and bad service in Europe and America, but I've only ever had really great service in America.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Da Boss wrote:

Were you in East Germany? Maybe it's a regional thing.

I was in Wiesbaden (about 10-45 minutes, depending on how you drive from Frankfurt), which is, from what I'd been told, one of the wealthiest cities, per capita in Germany.

Funny, when I was in Wiesbaden the servers didn't mind the tips. Maybe the culture changed after the re-unification or maybe it was because I didn't act "american".

Not saying it is intentional but many US citizens come across as showing off when tipping in other countries. This is also compounded by many not even trying to learn basic German sentences.

If I was dining in a new restaurant, where they didn't know me, I would usually tip between 5%-10% (if the service was good). Would also make honest comment about it being wrong for me to bring wine to a business and not being sure if flowers would be appropriate.

This was my way of saying that my guest experience had been as good as a home cooked meal.

This also left the door open for the wait staff or owner to "teach" me the Hofbrauhaus/Restaurant tipping protocol without it being awkward.

Some restaurants didn't allow tips while others happily accepted such. The differences between those that accepted gratuities and those that didn't seemed to be based upon the level of personal service and if the owner/staff were from another country/region.

Later,
ff


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This got me interested in the differences, so I looked up the wiki on gratuity. Some very helpful info in there.

Of course we didn't have wiki back in the day. Had to rely on in country orientation(Unfortunately in my experience at the time, this was something most grunts and airmen snoozed through.).


Here is the wiki link:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratuity

Later,
ff

 focusedfire wrote:

Funny, when I was in Wiesbaden the servers didn't mind the tips. Maybe the culture changed after the re-unification or maybe it was because I didn't act "american".

Not saying it is intentional but many US citizens come across as showing off when tipping in other countries. This is also compounded by many not even trying to learn basic German sentences.

Ohh don't get me wrong, my wife and I still tipped, but we tipped most often in the manner that was taught to us in the "head start" programs that everyone now has to go through when they get in country. Also, I highly doubt that you'd see a server being "insulted" by a large tip, so maybe it was wrong? I dunno, I do know that even if we went into a new restaurant and told ourselves before we went into it, that we wouldn't speak a word of english, as soon as we ordered our beer, the waitress would say, "ohh, you're American? Do you need an English menu?"

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 focusedfire wrote:

Funny, when I was in Wiesbaden the servers didn't mind the tips. Maybe the culture changed after the re-unification or maybe it was because I didn't act "american".

Not saying it is intentional but many US citizens come across as showing off when tipping in other countries. This is also compounded by many not even trying to learn basic German sentences.

Ohh don't get me wrong, my wife and I still tipped, but we tipped most often in the manner that was taught to us in the "head start" programs that everyone now has to go through when they get in country. Also, I highly doubt that you'd see a server being "insulted" by a large tip, so maybe it was wrong? I dunno, I do know that even if we went into a new restaurant and told ourselves before we went into it, that we wouldn't speak a word of english, as soon as we ordered our beer, the waitress would say, "ohh, you're American? Do you need an English menu?"

I think it was usually taken as an insult "if" the individual had been rude (acted like they owned the place) and then left an exageratted tip.

When I was over there, had a real problem with the grunts and tankers out of Lee Barracks walking up to the German Citizens and demanding that they speak "American" because it was "our" country. No wonder the RAF was so active at that time.
I spent a lot of time either apologizing for or in confrontations with those idiots.

As to the English menu option? Wasn't around yet. Though most of the Germans I met assumed that I was from Northern Italy or Tel Aviv for some reason. Of course I would correct them and tell them my nationality was Texan.
Interestingly, many who would have been put off by my being american were warm and friendly when they found out I was Texan.

Later,
ff

 Bromsy wrote:
I've had good and bad service in Europe and America, but I've only ever had really great service in America.

Yep. Service varies from place to place, but the average and the best service in the US is significantly better than the average and best service in any other country I've been to. Tipping is still a screwy system, but there's no doubting it produces much better service standards.

I suspect the best system might be to have waiting earn the normal minimum wage, and then have a culture to tip exceptional service only. I think that would avoid the problems of tipping (like jerks who don't tip for whatever reason and confused tourists like me who meant to tip well and didn't know how much that meant in New York...), while still having a mechanism to reward and encourage exceptional service.

 focusedfire wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 focusedfire wrote:

Funny, when I was in Wiesbaden the servers didn't mind the tips. Maybe the culture changed after the re-unification or maybe it was because I didn't act "american".

Not saying it is intentional but many US citizens come across as showing off when tipping in other countries. This is also compounded by many not even trying to learn basic German sentences.

Ohh don't get me wrong, my wife and I still tipped, but we tipped most often in the manner that was taught to us in the "head start" programs that everyone now has to go through when they get in country. Also, I highly doubt that you'd see a server being "insulted" by a large tip, so maybe it was wrong? I dunno, I do know that even if we went into a new restaurant and told ourselves before we went into it, that we wouldn't speak a word of english, as soon as we ordered our beer, the waitress would say, "ohh, you're American? Do you need an English menu?"

I think it was usually taken as an insult "if" the individual had been rude (acted like they owned the place) and then left an exageratted tip.

When I was over there, had a real problem with the grunts and tankers out of Lee Barracks walking up to the German Citizens and demanding that they speak "American" because it was "our" country. No wonder the RAF was so active at that time.
I spent a lot of time either apologizing for or in confrontations with those idiots.

As to the English menu option? Wasn't around yet. Though most of the Germans I met assumed that I was from Northern Italy or Tel Aviv for some reason. Of course I would correct them and tell them my nationality was Texan.
Interestingly, many who would have been put off by my being american were warm and friendly when they found out I was Texan.

Later,
ff

Yeah the Germans are very welcoming to Americans - Europe is a diverse place with varying levels of love for the US.

 WallofMeat wrote:

Yeah the Germans are very welcoming to Americans - Europe is a diverse place with varying levels of love for the US.

The majority fall into either the welcoming or indifferent category, but there were still some places that Americans shouldn't go alone. (ironically many of those areas happened to be heavily populated by turkish people)

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 WallofMeat wrote:

Yeah the Germans are very welcoming to Americans - Europe is a diverse place with varying levels of love for the US.

The majority fall into either the welcoming or indifferent category, but there were still some places that Americans shouldn't go alone. (ironically many of those areas happened to be heavily populated by turkish people)

It is probably because you will incist on eating them every thanksgiving...