*** Tips: Tipping ***

Here in Germany, there isn't always a usual percentage for tipping, per se. But it goes something like this, from what I gather. If you order, say, just a drink at a restaurant for €2.60, you would probably round it up to €3.00, hand it to the waiter/ess, and tell them, "Das ist gut." (Translated: "That's good/fine.") And it will mean they can keep the change as tip. (Fun side note: If you're in Bavaria, "Passt scho'!" works too! Okay, I know most of you wouldn't care, but I happen to love German dialects.)

Another example. If you order a meal at a restaurant that comes out to about €18.30, you would probably round the total up to €20.00 for the tipping, and do the same, "Das ist gut," procedure.

Basically, think of a very fuzzy 15% or so of the total, round up to the nearest Euro or half Euro (half Euro sometimes for those smaller sums where it wouldn't make sense to pay all the way to the next Euro, like a coffee or something), and tell the waiter/ess to keep the change. And don't leave without tipping at restaurants. In Germany, at least, you would leave a tip just as you would in the U.S. Equally so, leaving no tip means you were completely unsatisfied with the service.

Savvy on restaurant tipping now?

(Side note: Is it weird/strange that when I briefly proofread back over this post, all of it came out precisely in the German accent of one of our tutors/guides in my head??? I have been listening to the tutors and their welcome instructions for far too much today... It sounds EXACTLY like a broken English German accent and nothing else.)