A friend who lives in a part of Florida that French-speaking Quebeckers like to visit told me that they’re known to be poor tippers.
Is it true or is it a cliché about French-speaking snowbirds?
My investigation took me to the list of celebrity tippers on Stainedapron.com (a site dedicated to the venting of food servers’
frustrations). I found no French-speaking Quebeckers on the list of saints or
scum but I learned that David Letterman is a saint and Usher is a scum (when
it comes to tipping).
Stainedapron.com also claims that ‘the true test of inner peace and civility is in how generously one tips.’ So I was quite concerned about Canada’s reputation as a civil society when I came across this BMO MasterCard survey and the headline: Canadians Are Poor Tippers.
The study reveals that 78% Canadians tip the standard 15 percent in restaurants. But only 40% tip 15 percent to food delivery workers, taxi drivers, aestheticians or hair stylists. Despite the article’s headline which makes Canadians look cheap, the data and its interpretation by BMO suggests Canadians are in the dark when it comes to tipping for services other than for table service in restaurants. They’re either ignorant or confused about tipping etiquette.
So I looked for guidance and found it at Tipguide.org. You’ll also learn about tipping the maid, the newspaper carrier and the garbage collector.
Here’s what the experts say about tipping in restaurants and bars:
Restaurants report a percentage (around 12%) of the gross sales for food and beverage to the IRS for their staff. This means that if you have a $200 food bill and $200 wine bill, the restaurant will report 12% of $400 or $48 as income to the server. In other words, the server has to pay tax on it whether you tip it or not. If the restaurants do not report it accurately, the restaurant and the wait staff get audited by the IRS. Please don't get hung up on the 12%. It is just a reasonable example. I recommend tipping 10-15% on the alcohol and 15-20% on the food. 10% on the wine is perfectly acceptable. Whether to tip 10 or 15 percent would depend in large part on how helpful the server was in choosing the wine and serving it.
No wonder Canadians are confused. Forget about bringing your own wine. Bring your own calculator.
I have yet to find comparative data on the tipping behaviour of Quebeckers and Canadians in the rest of Canada. It is well documented that Quebeckers give less to charitable causes and generally give fewer gifts of lesser value at Christmas but that is about altruism. Tipping isn’t.
Tipping is about paying for service. Could it be that Quebeckers are generally less satisfied with the service they get than Canadians in the ROC? These findings from a 2007 Ipsos Reid survey for TDCanadaTrust suggest they are.
Comments