Comment on Rebasing Ethics

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:24:18 GMT

Tipping, for all the grief it gives old-school economists, is actually a really efficient system if social norms are strong enough to maintain it.

I always tip ~15% for competent service. There have been a few occasions where I've simply refused to tip because I found something egregiously offensive about the service (usually related to quietly billing me for something without telling me it was extra).

I got comparably bad service as many times In two weeks of traveling in continental Europe, as I have in twenty years living in the States. A lot of waiters in Europe were incredibly slow, disrespectful, or otherwise below normal competence, which made perfect sense since there wasn't a thing you could do about it.

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