16 year resident in Italy questions the truth behind the Italians' 'Quality of Life' providing an irreverent insider's view of Life in Italy.
Tips for Travelling in Italy
Posted 07-26-2009 at 04:57 PM by burntbythetuscansun
With so many visitors to Italy, I grow a bit tired trying to explain the tipping thing. Time & again. Inside & Out. And, no matter how much I blather, there they go, leaving tips and ruining the market for the rest of us. So, as one of my periodic Public Service Announcements, here it is, YOUR GUIDE TO TRAVELING IN ITALY – TIPPING – Do you? Or, don’t you?
Like any good practices, let’s start with a definition of terms:
TIP: “a gift of money for a service, especially as an amount above what is owed”
So, why do we tip? TIPS – To Insure Personal Service
And, who receives those tips?
In the USA, we generally give a tip to people who have the following qualities:
- making well under the minimum wage (and that wage has been kept to a bare, unmovable minimum for years).
- do not get paid vacations
- probably do not even get paid sick leave, which means they lose income for getting the flu
- do not have health coverage on pretty much any level, although this is not across the board
- are often students/ actors looking to top up income
- try their best to assure you get great service in order to gain those tips
In Italy, waiters are a bit of a different breed:
- they make the standard wage for their category, assured by State Law (not by the enterprise), although that wage does not always go up year after year
- they get an extra month’s pay in August or December, or both
- they get paid vacations, upwards of 4 – 6 weeks
- they get paid sick leave, with no max no. of days that they can’t be sick. In fact, if they break their leg or even pull a shoulder, they don’t have to go back to work for 6 weeks, all the while, getting paid their entire wages
- they receive free national health coverage on pretty much any level
- they are professionals in their industry, and often get paid as well as a banker or other professional categories. If they’re paid under the table, 100% of their income is in their pocket, no taxes applied. And they probably can still use those health benefits
- they try their best to assure you get great service anyway, which is a good thing although this is not always the case.
The incredible thing is, if you leave a tip on the table, it almost all goes handily into the cash register of the owner, and not into the pocket of the person who served you in the first place.
That same owner, aside from charging you $12 for a 12 cent plate of pasta, already owns most of that gorgeous block of buildings where you’re eating, right in the heart of (fill in city name here). They bought the block around the corner too, after doubling prices following the introduction of the euro.
When you sit down, aside from being charged double in bars, you pay what is called a COPERTO (bread / tablecloth use). This is a per person charge of about $1.50 to $4 depending on the establishment. I was once charged near the Pantheon $8. This can come out to 10% of your bill in mild-mannered places. In Rome, they did away with the Coperto, so now, it’s off the menu but still on the bill. I can personally attest you'll be charged even if you’re yeast intolerant.
Taking the lead of the hordes of American tourists coming here and leaving large tips for no apparent reason (even in the fanciest of places in the old days Italians would leave a 1000 lire bill on the table – roughly 40 cents), many tourist places also add a 12% or so service onto the bill. It is sometimes stated on the menu in fine print.
As a result, Americans have ruined the market, as waiters, on hearing your English, expect the big bucks. [In Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, after paying a hefty coperto, plus the Service charge, the waiter actually chased me down for the tip…! Needless to say, I never ate there again]. The craftier establishments give you a credit card receipt with the tip line empty, hoping you are none the wiser.
So, for all you Americans who, despite all of the above pointers, still FEEL GUILTY out of habit, or simply feel like indulging your obvious masochistic tendencies, you are off the hook. You have my permission NOT TO TIP. Ditto on taxi drivers.
And, to assuage your guilt further, just say to yourself as you leave and graciously shake hands, “50 years’ of Americans have been paying my tips for me.”
Besides, as the Japanese tourists recently discovered (after a 130 euro tip was added to their bill), you’re probably paying a bit more for everything anyway than the Rossi table dining right next to you.
Like any good practices, let’s start with a definition of terms:
TIP: “a gift of money for a service, especially as an amount above what is owed”
So, why do we tip? TIPS – To Insure Personal Service
And, who receives those tips?
In the USA, we generally give a tip to people who have the following qualities:
- making well under the minimum wage (and that wage has been kept to a bare, unmovable minimum for years).
- do not get paid vacations
- probably do not even get paid sick leave, which means they lose income for getting the flu
- do not have health coverage on pretty much any level, although this is not across the board
- are often students/ actors looking to top up income
- try their best to assure you get great service in order to gain those tips
In Italy, waiters are a bit of a different breed:
- they make the standard wage for their category, assured by State Law (not by the enterprise), although that wage does not always go up year after year
- they get an extra month’s pay in August or December, or both
- they get paid vacations, upwards of 4 – 6 weeks
- they get paid sick leave, with no max no. of days that they can’t be sick. In fact, if they break their leg or even pull a shoulder, they don’t have to go back to work for 6 weeks, all the while, getting paid their entire wages
- they receive free national health coverage on pretty much any level
- they are professionals in their industry, and often get paid as well as a banker or other professional categories. If they’re paid under the table, 100% of their income is in their pocket, no taxes applied. And they probably can still use those health benefits
- they try their best to assure you get great service anyway, which is a good thing although this is not always the case.
The incredible thing is, if you leave a tip on the table, it almost all goes handily into the cash register of the owner, and not into the pocket of the person who served you in the first place.
That same owner, aside from charging you $12 for a 12 cent plate of pasta, already owns most of that gorgeous block of buildings where you’re eating, right in the heart of (fill in city name here). They bought the block around the corner too, after doubling prices following the introduction of the euro.
When you sit down, aside from being charged double in bars, you pay what is called a COPERTO (bread / tablecloth use). This is a per person charge of about $1.50 to $4 depending on the establishment. I was once charged near the Pantheon $8. This can come out to 10% of your bill in mild-mannered places. In Rome, they did away with the Coperto, so now, it’s off the menu but still on the bill. I can personally attest you'll be charged even if you’re yeast intolerant.
Taking the lead of the hordes of American tourists coming here and leaving large tips for no apparent reason (even in the fanciest of places in the old days Italians would leave a 1000 lire bill on the table – roughly 40 cents), many tourist places also add a 12% or so service onto the bill. It is sometimes stated on the menu in fine print.
As a result, Americans have ruined the market, as waiters, on hearing your English, expect the big bucks. [In Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, after paying a hefty coperto, plus the Service charge, the waiter actually chased me down for the tip…! Needless to say, I never ate there again]. The craftier establishments give you a credit card receipt with the tip line empty, hoping you are none the wiser.
So, for all you Americans who, despite all of the above pointers, still FEEL GUILTY out of habit, or simply feel like indulging your obvious masochistic tendencies, you are off the hook. You have my permission NOT TO TIP. Ditto on taxi drivers.
And, to assuage your guilt further, just say to yourself as you leave and graciously shake hands, “50 years’ of Americans have been paying my tips for me.”
Besides, as the Japanese tourists recently discovered (after a 130 euro tip was added to their bill), you’re probably paying a bit more for everything anyway than the Rossi table dining right next to you.
Total Comments 8
Comments
-
Sorry Burnt but I do not agree with your post.
I have friends who invested in Restaurants in Rome and one just lost all his money. In order to be profitable it is as hard as it is in the United States or harder due to the Italian tax laws etc.
About the waiter then I think it is hard job and I do no think they do get paid that much. I personally leave a 5 Euro tip on a 70 Euro bill more or less a 5 Euro tip on a 100 Euro bill is also acceptable - Not leaving any tip at all is not.Posted 08-16-2009 at 07:43 PM by paolo
-
I agree Paolo, you gotta leave a little something, 5% I feel is a good tip for good service. It seems to be the norm in Europe now to tip a little more than in the past when waiters and bartenders would insist I didn't need to tip. During my trip to Holland this winter a 5-7% tip at a restaurant was appreciated by all the waitstaff.Posted 08-17-2009 at 02:44 PM by justindemetri -
Sorry, Paolo, but I still disagree with you (esp. since the tips don't usually go to the waiters)...
Even Americans don't leave tips when 'Service is Included' in the bill.
In Italy, Service IS Included:
- it's called Coperto
- in tourist cities, it's often included (look for the fine print on the menus)
- tourists (esp. in Venice & Florence) are given tourist menus or overcharged regularly (I cite a number of investigations in the matter)
- restaurants now make double the prices post-Euro (we are now paying about 25000 lire per plate of once-8000 euro pasta -- even adjusting for inflation, it should be around 10000 lire or 5 euro instead of the 8 - 13 euro now paid)
But, despite these audacious charges, even if you truly want to leave a little something, your 5 euro on a 100 euro bill is still well below the insane 15 or 20 euro left by Americans...Posted 08-19-2009 at 12:24 PM by burntbythetuscansun - Ok
..well except I have been around Americans in Italy the last 20 years and you will not believe how fast they pick up that they can leave a smaller tip:-) It is maybe because they ask me so they do relay on what I tell them when they are with me - anyway so far I have not seen a 20% tip ever....
About the restaurant business in Italy of course we can on forever discussing it is hard or easy money but as a curiosity will try to investigate who is getting the tip.Posted 08-24-2009 at 05:15 PM by paolo - Hi Burnt I live in Rome and I can assure you that the tips remain to the waiters, in some case they share the amount of the day.
Regarding the tip itself I leave it only if I am satisfied of the service (not the food!), about courtesy above all; it's never a percentual of the bill but can be 1 euro to 10 euro depending on the total to pay. If I am not satisfied at all of the service I leave nothing.
Two more things: all you say about the waiters (sickness, vacations, two extra pay in a year) it's true for all Italian workers, and remember that we have a national health coverage, and it's not free but we must pay taxes and tickets. It seems that Obama plans to have a public health service, and it looks a good idea, I think to the poorest people.
The second: the doubling of the euro vs lira. Well, it was true for all you can buy in Italy: houses, cars, food and so on, except for the employee earnings. So when you are in a restaurant check out the price!! A dish of pasta for 10-12 euro is OK, 20 euro no! (only if you are in a extra-luxury restaurant).Posted 08-27-2009 at 11:06 AM by parsec - I personally disagree with the whole idea of tipping. Here in Canada when there is a group of 6 or more, automatically a 15% charge will be added to your bill. I resent the fact that I have to tip anybody for their work. When we go to aso called upper class restaurant, we are already being charged more, the portions are much smaller and the hired help are snottier. I still enjoy a nice meal with a great bottle of wine, but that doesn't mean that I have to pay for the food twice.Posted 09-07-2009 at 04:08 AM by Giannini
-
I live in Sicily, easily understood to be one of the poorest regions of Italy. Here we leave a tip of 1EUR, and if the service is really good and we have many people dining with us 2 or 3EUR. The wages here in Sicily are appallingly the lowest in all of Italy. As and example a commessa here in Sicily may only make 1/4 of what one would make in Milano.Posted 10-05-2009 at 09:22 AM by tolomeo - I'm as cheap as anyone, but I think the absolutely-no-tipping advocates are somewhat self-serving. As an American klutz with marginal language skills, I think I'm implicitly asking the waiter for extra service. Thus when the service is excellent, I leave 2 to 5 euro, and it is always received with appreciation. I've noticed that Italians are a bit more likely to tip than 10 years ago, but let's hope the US system of manhood-by-tip doesn't spread.Posted 10-08-2009 at 04:53 PM by mikenh
