American-style tipping arrives in Spanish restaurants
You no longer have to travel to countries such as the United States for a restaurant bill to collect a percentage of tip which is suggested to the customer because in Spain there are restaurants that ask for between 5 and 10 %. of the cost of the meal.
The practice, unusual until now in Spanish catering, has been detected, at least, in premises in Madrid and Barcelona in recent months and, while the hotel and catering guild recalls that. it is not compulsory tipping, consumers believe that this tip is not “replaces, in some way, decent wages.”
The “tiques” reflect the total amount without tip, the amount with the suggested percentage (5, 8 or 10 %) and even the option of a tip. free.
Some further specify that all this money goes to waiters and cooks, and there are even those who. associate “emoticons” of faces to the tip left, such that leaving nothing is associated with a sad face, 5% with a smiling face and 10% with a very happy face.
Precisely, the general secretary of Facua-Consumers in Action, Ruben Sanchez, believes that this is a. technique that tries to “create a feeling of guilt” in the customer. who decides not to leave anything.
Sanchez reiterates that “it is not an illegal act because they do not impose it” but he believes that asking for this money is “trying to take advantage” of the client. so that, “in some way, he becomes the one who pays the bonus of a salary that is too small”.
In his view, the tip “cannot be the substitute for a decent wage.”
From Hostelería de España they have indicated that it is an option “suggested” that they are also “starting to do some ‘apps‘ associated with the dataphone“.
The same sources reiterate that, “at all, it is not mandatory” to leave a tip: “It is still something. voluntary because in Spain it does not form part of the salary but is an acquired custom in which the customer shows his satisfaction.”
Some customers of these restaurants, as is the case of Miguel Ángel Lozano, show their surprise at the not being a custom in Spanish culture.
The “first” thing Lozano thought was that it was “a joke” but then he “couldn’t believe it” when he saw it on the bill in which “they also gave you a choice between three options”, he assures.
In his case, he decided together with his friends “not to give anything, since we feel violated“.
Social networks also collect testimonials from customers who have been surprised and do not hesitate to express their opinion on the matter.
Some of them describe the “papelón” that waiters have to do to explain it to diners.
For their part, some of the catering groups that already apply it have preferred not to comment on the matter when asked.
The controversies over tipping do not stop there because recently the Community of Madrid unleashed one after launching a campaign in which he encouraged people to leave some to allow professionals in the industry to “fulfill” their “small dreams and illusions”.
More recently, a few weeks ago, a message from an American waitress went viral on social networks in which she asked to ban Europeans from traveling “until they know how to behave” because a group of Spaniards had left a $70 for a $700 bill.
Undoubtedly, the cultureas in so many other areas, sets the tone on such day-to-day issues as leaving a tip when going to a bar.
