What a mess. I'm glad for our tipping culture in Europe, where in most places tipping is not done at all or rounding off or 5% is considered a generous tip. That said, you should also get used then to European levels of service, which are mostly OK to good, but not great.
In Japan, the service is absolutely excellent, and they will steadfastly refuse any tip. I'm not a weeaboo or whatever that is, but why can't the rest of the world be more like Japan?
I agree, regarding unpaid overtime (or overtime at all), not being able to take time off, but providing great service and politeness seems to be ingrained there.
Like Tucker said, visiting Japan is a radicalizing experience. It's possible to have very large cities where people are polite, decent, safe, and don't throw trash everywhere.
I don't know what "European" levels of service entails, but if it's more than showing up once, maybe twice to refill a beverage it's already leagues better than 'murica. What I used to consider subpar service 20 years ago is now apparently exemplary.
We don't have free refills here to begin with, you have to call on the waiter for him to pay you a visit. But waiters aren't smiling, making small-talk (which is the impression I get from TV), etc. - which is great for me because I'm used to the way we do it and I'd find it very annoying.
Also, in some touristic places (wink wink Paris) waiters are quite notoriously rude, which is why tourists will often say that "Parisians are rude" or even "the French are rude".
So you don't have someone looking around and refilling water glasses? Huh. At least it's consistent then. Here, sometimes you'll get refills without asking, and sometimes you won't be bothered for anything unless you flag them down. The latter group still wants their 30% tip though.
While I do like having someone ask "Do you want another <drink>?" or "Do you want more water?", I'd quite happily go without if it also meant not having to tip at all. I couldn't care less about smiling or small-talk.
In fact, there's no such thing as free water. You pay for that. I was quite surprised when I was outside of Europe and you just get a glass of water without being asked.
What a mess. I'm glad for our tipping culture in Europe, where in most places tipping is not done at all or rounding off or 5% is considered a generous tip. That said, you should also get used then to European levels of service, which are mostly OK to good, but not great.
In Japan, the service is absolutely excellent, and they will steadfastly refuse any tip. I'm not a weeaboo or whatever that is, but why can't the rest of the world be more like Japan?
Because Japanese society values its soul over GDP.
lol, not even close.
We shouldn't emulate anything regarding Japan's work culture. The country's labor standards are so bad that they're literally dying out from it.
I agree, regarding unpaid overtime (or overtime at all), not being able to take time off, but providing great service and politeness seems to be ingrained there.
Like Tucker said, visiting Japan is a radicalizing experience. It's possible to have very large cities where people are polite, decent, safe, and don't throw trash everywhere.
I don't know what "European" levels of service entails, but if it's more than showing up once, maybe twice to refill a beverage it's already leagues better than 'murica. What I used to consider subpar service 20 years ago is now apparently exemplary.
We don't have free refills here to begin with, you have to call on the waiter for him to pay you a visit. But waiters aren't smiling, making small-talk (which is the impression I get from TV), etc. - which is great for me because I'm used to the way we do it and I'd find it very annoying.
Also, in some touristic places (wink wink Paris) waiters are quite notoriously rude, which is why tourists will often say that "Parisians are rude" or even "the French are rude".
Waitresses make small talk because there is a culture here for female waitresses to butter up lonely men in exchange for tips.
Or just the tip.
That's what I learned from South Park. But they won't do that in Europe.
So you don't have someone looking around and refilling water glasses? Huh. At least it's consistent then. Here, sometimes you'll get refills without asking, and sometimes you won't be bothered for anything unless you flag them down. The latter group still wants their 30% tip though.
While I do like having someone ask "Do you want another <drink>?" or "Do you want more water?", I'd quite happily go without if it also meant not having to tip at all. I couldn't care less about smiling or small-talk.
In fact, there's no such thing as free water. You pay for that. I was quite surprised when I was outside of Europe and you just get a glass of water without being asked.
Because japan isn't run by coinclippers and their culture stems from tradition
For them to give you the best service is part of the job and not shekel seeking behaviour
Also they're not being paid starvation wages and the food is pretty cheap over there
Presentation is everything in Japan. It's so serious they have specific etiquette to hand out and receive business cards.
Even gift wrapping is an artform there.