What are the 'rules' about tipping in the US? Who expects a tip and how much is given? Does the practice vary from state to state?

This can be a bit of a minefield when travelling. In France, we never tip waiters or bar staff.(The law is that every restaurant must display its prices outside and everything , tax, service etc, is included in the one stated price). In Britain, we never tip bar staff but always tip cab drivers.In British restaurants there is the pernicious practice of the restaurant adding an 'optional' service charge (Ha! You have to cross it out: that's the 'optional' bit) .That's pernicious because the staff get very little, if any, of it and, as if that's no bad enough, the restaurant often leaves the 'service' box on the credit card slip open, in the hope you'll pay twice . Crafty customers tip the waiter in cash (and leave it to the waiter whether to put it in a 'tronc' for all staff to share) and don't pay the 'optional' charge.

The minimum wage in the US is not applicable to service staff such as restaurant employees, as they expect tips and are expected to make up the difference with tips. We usually tip between 10% and 20% of our meal bill, before taxes. A dollar per round of drinks at the bar is normal. If you stay several nights in the same hotel you might leave a few dollars for the maid service, and give a few dollars to anyone who helps you with your bags.

Thanks. It's the bar staff that I'd be likely to forget .I assume that cab drivers are always tipped ( I've always done it in the US and none has ever complained )

FYI Fred - Tipping web site owners will not produce complaints, either.

I could write a book about tipping (hey -there's a thought ) from the US to Paris to Carlisle to Alabama. Not that many would buy it, I know, but as a subject for a postgraduate sociology dissertation it would certainly stand up.
Let me add a couple of points though to Fred's post about not tipping in France; for it's still the case that, in Paris, people still tip waiters and bar staff - hey, I've just got back from a few drinks with some of the lads in a few bars: WE certainly left several coins in those little saucers that the change comes in over here. Not the 15% or so that prevails in the US, I know, buut as a gesture.
In the old days, the service charge was excluded from the PAris quoted prices, and the customer had to do a quick calculation of what constituted 15% or so, as is the case Stateside today. If you didn't leave the required amount, then the barman would politely point out that service was not included in the price stated on your little chit and you'd be expected to cough up.
Later, the "service included" rule came in, sometimes accompanied by an indication that a 15% service charge had been added to the quoted price and would be paid direct to the serving staff. And yet the latter continued to hope for a coin or two to be left in that little saucer -not 15% of course, but as a token gesture of thanks (copmpare taxi drivers and hairdressers and hall porters in hotels) and this continues to persist today, without there being any obligation. So if I have a couple of glasses of wine with someone over here (costing about 9 euros 60 standing at the bar), then leaving a 20 cent tip (or a 40 cent tip) is very, very common, pariculraly if the waiter is known to you. (Hey, I'm starting to sound like that famous quote in North by Northwest about ex-wives and bartenders).

Yes , Colin, I was forgetting our 'gesture' with petty change.Ah, the nuances of life and tipping! Well worth a book.

Apparently a New York bartender won't be happy with 20 (or 40 cents) on a $10 order and he certainly won't understand the British 'Have one for yourself'

Years ago, I remember, if you had a drink at the bar in Paris the drink was one price but if you sat down at a table in the bar it was another.As a student, I remember ordering the drink at the bar and taking it to a table myself, only to be followed by the patron asking for his extra centimes, as soon as I sat down

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Originally posted by FredPuli:
...I've always done it in the US and none has ever complained

Yeah, when in doubt: tip. If their wages are or policy is as such that they aren't supposed to accept tips, they'll tell you.

quote:

Originally posted by Elexina:

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:
...I've always done it in the US and none has ever complained

Yeah, when in doubt: tip. If their wages are or policy is as such that they aren't supposed to accept tips, they'll tell you.

Well, I'll do that: no harm in being popular and no benefit in being thought mean.And, of course, watch what others do.During the Cannes Film Festival innocent Americans (and, of course, Americans are all over Cannes then) tip everyone 10 or 15 per cent, regardless of local custom,simply because they act as though back home.To my great surprise, my friends were doing the same though they knew the French practice.Their explanation was that it was the Festival, and it seemed only right to go along with 'everyone' else, and to revert to French practice for the rest of the year I confess to not being that generous. By contrast, when I gave 10 euros, as a tip, to my regular cocktail waitress at Christmas, I thought she was going to faint such was her surprise at the mad Englishman!