Life in the United States

[John in Louisiana]

My son says this will now be his standard response when people ask what it was like growing up in Las Vegas:



The comment "penalties offset" is priceless.

For those unfamiliar with American football, when penalties are called on both the offense and the defense on the same play the penalties offset and the down is played over.

[BobHirst]

My son says this will now be his standard response when people ask what it was like growing up in Las Vegas:



The comment "penalties offset" is priceless.

For those unfamiliar with American football, when penalties are called on both the offense and the defense on the same play the penalties offset and the down is played over.

Of all the faults in the USA, this particular incident could have happened anywhere.

[John in Louisiana]

Of all the faults in the USA, this particular incident could have happened anywhere.

Maybe, but it if you didn't know where this happened North Las Vegas would have been your best bet.

[BobHirst]

Maybe, but it if you didn't know where this happened North Las Vegas would have been your best bet.

Nah, I'd have gone for Florida, nut-job capital of the world.

[The Subhuman]

Maybe, but it if you didn't know where this happened North Las Vegas would have been your best bet.

Whereas Henry Ruggs was "penalty at spot of foul first down on the one yard line?"

[Musicman1965]

Just from the title of the post, its a bit of a mystery what to expect when travelling to our cousins across the pond.
Now I must admit I have not had the pleasure but its on my list if they allow me past the border.
I don't know about all on this forum but there a certain things we need to know about the good old USA!
Whats the deal with tipping, in the UK its optional but in the US its very important? Explain?
If I wanted to visit the USA and had New York on my agenda what other city would be a must to see.... ????

[Irish Ian]

Just from the title of the post, its a bit of a mystery what to expect when travelling to our cousins across the pond.
Now I must admit I have not had the pleasure but its on my list if they allow me past the border.
I don't know about all on this forum but there a certain things we need to know about the good old USA!
Whats the deal with tipping, in the UK its optional but in the US its very important? Explain?
If I wanted to visit the USA and had New York on my agenda what other city would be a must to see.... ????

From my experience tipping is viewed as almost mandatory

I believe the practice began as a way to offset the hideous wages that many of the serving staff are paid. Many work jobs with no health care, holiday rights and of course a pension so they depend on the extra.

It is ingrained in the culture, my missus helped this lady lift her case up onto the overhead locker when we were travellling from Toronto to NYC on the train and the woman insisted that she give her money in return, and was genuinely confused when my wife declined.

So for me 10% is normal and more if you are especially happy.

That said I found the service excellent everywhere I went, even the traditional grumpy New York barmen were very helpful.

[Jammy 07]

Please don't get me started on tipping as it's just got all out of proportion these days and the concept of it being a percentage is just plain wrong.

The service is the same whether you're buying a burger or the finest steak on the menu and that's before we come on to the price of a bottle of wine.

Happy to tip and usually very generously but should always be based on the service received and not how much you've spent.

[whiteswan]

Please don't get me started on tipping as it's just got all out of proportion these days and the concept of it being a percentage is just plain wrong.

The service is the same whether you're buying a burger or the finest steak on the menu and that's before we come on to the price of a bottle of wine.

Happy to tip and usually very generously but should always be based on the service received and not how much you've spent.

I'm not happy when I'm 'expected' to tip. You do a job, you do it well you get paid a wage, if you don't you get the sack. I expect people to do a good job, tip or no tip. I tip, if someone has excelled in looking after me, if not, then tough.....no tip.
By the way I'm a Yorkshire scrooge

[hector]

I'm not happy when I'm 'expected' to tip. You do a job, you do it well you get paid a wage, if you don't you get the sack. I expect people to do a good job, tip or no tip. I tip, if someone has excelled in looking after me, if not, then tough.....no tip.
By the way I'm a Yorkshire scrooge McDuck

FTFY

[Volvo Jack]

I have some relatives who live in Melbourne Florida on the Space Coast and the Restaurants there recommend Tipping 10% and it is really expected. Recently over there my cousin took me to a Bar where there is no standing at the Bar, reason being the Waitresses are topless and on roller skates. there is strictly no touching . To make sure there are two Monsters in suits standing nearby.
I seemed to drink more more beer there for some reason but luckily there was always someone passing by to serve us.
When one of the older girls ( about 20 ) came with the bill, what with a combination of Beer and Tits in my ear, hands were shaking, cant remember how much I gave.

[Musicman1965]

From my experience tipping is viewed as almost mandatory

I believe the practice began as a way to offset the hideous wages that many of the serving staff are paid. Many work jobs with no health care, holiday rights and of course a pension so they depend on the extra.

It is ingrained in the culture, my missus helped this lady lift her case up onto the overhead locker when we were travellling from Toronto to NYC on the train and the woman insisted that she give her money in return, and was genuinely confused when my wife declined.

So for me 10% is normal and more if you are especially happy.

That said I found the service excellent everywhere I went, even the traditional grumpy New York barmen were very helpful.

Thanks for the information, it really is a minefield of all services that require tips. If they paid their workers properly maybe the tip thing could be optional. When you think about it the customer is really subsidising the low pay, doesn't seem fair in this day and age. Oh well the US has been doing this for many years and it works for them......

[Sean_Nile]

Do they allow fly tipping in Florida?

And what did it mean when Bill Clinton issued a no fly zone in the oval office?

[The Subhuman]

I'm not happy when I'm 'expected' to tip. You do a job, you do it well you get paid a wage, if you don't you get the sack. I expect people to do a good job, tip or no tip. I tip, if someone has excelled in looking after me, if not, then tough.....no tip.
By the way I'm a Yorkshire scrooge

I hate tipping too. Should be included or just pay your staff.

What constitutes good service btw?

[John in Louisiana]

Tipping is pretty much expected in hotels and restaurants and its survival as a custom here in the States is the result of a downward spiral in the hospitality industry.

During the first half of the twentieth century tipping was customary for excellent service, but as the practice became more widespread employers used expected tip income as a way to justify low wages. My first real job in the restaurant industry (some 45 years ago) paid $2.01 per hour with no benefits, medical or otherwise. I would have to declare my tips as income for tax purposes. As a result, I would receive a note every two weeks telling me how much I owed my employer to cover the portion of my tax bill my wages wouldn't.

Very little has changed. The federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 in 2009 and hasn't been raised since. An item you could buy with an hour's labor then now takes an hour and a half to earn. An employee working a minimum wage job 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year in the United States does not now earn enough income to bring him/herself above the poverty line. As a result, minimum wage employees everywhere are looking more and more to tip income to keep themselves from floundering.

That's why in the USA you'll see tip jars in places where you would never expect to anywhere else. Anywhere there is counter service, for instance. Well meaning people, knowing the employees don't make a living wage, will leave tips. Employers, in turn, use those tips to justify keeping wages low.

In 2009, when the minimum wage was raised in the USA, the new law also required that all employees, even tipped employees, had to receive the minimum wage. Prior to that time tipped employees could be paid a sub-minimum wage as long as their tip income raised their average hourly compensation above the minimum. At the time I was running a small restaurant company (five restaurants) in Las Vegas. We were already paying all the untipped employees above the new minimum but had been paying the servers and bartenders the sub-minimum wage. One of the owners complained to me that we would have to now start paying our (as he put it) best-compensated employees even more money. He made it sound as though we were the ones paying the servers their tips. That, however, is the way employers see things here in the USA. Why pay your employees a living wage when you can get your customers to do it for you?

Government programs reinforce that vicious downward cycle. The large majority of people receiving government benefits in this country (food stamps, rent assistance, Medicaid, etc.) are working poor. They have jobs, but the jobs don't pay enough for them to afford life's basic necessities. As long as those programs exist employers can continue to pay poverty-level wages.

This situation screams out for an increase in the minimum wage so that people working forty hours per week can afford a roof over their heads, food, clothing, and medical care. The problem is those employees have no political power and their employers generally do.

[whiteswan]

FTFY

off

[whiteswan]

I hate tipping too. Should be included or just pay your staff.

What constitutes good service btw?

I spent a few nights in the Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong. We had a suite and it came with a butler. He was amazing and nothing was too much trouble for him....well worth tipping. He looked after us so well so we wanted to thank him.

I went on a cruise a few years ago, and when I paid for it, the cruise company took a certain amount called gratuities, supposedly to give to the workers as 'tips'. When we got on board we went to the pursers desk and asked for it back so that we could give it ti those we thought had looked after us. They couldn't refuse giving us our money back. Doubt the workers would have seen a penny of it otherwise.

[Tyzy]

Tipping was for staff who historically got paid poorly ,since the introduction of the minimum wage I no longer tip in the UK anyway.

[whiteswan]

Tipping was for staff who historically got paid poorly ,since the introduction of the minimum wage I no longer tip in the UK anyway.

Good point....

[malcolmw]

Not sure I understand what this thread is about.
Is it 'travel tips for your vacation to the US', or is it about a country who has always been proud of been the world's oldest democracy - that is now pretty close to being a dictatorship.
If it's the former, I have no interest in contributing, largely because - related to the latter - I will not be traveling to the US for a long time, as my countrymen are been harassed and in some cases detained for days by US authorities.
Every day Canadians are reporting been stopped by US police and asked about their allegance- US or Canada. People are having their phones taken by border control and any hint of anti Trump content on the phones leads to harassment - for one woman - 9 days in detention before been allowed to return home.

I have family in the US, but sadly all plans for a visit this year have been canceled.