Ross and Mary (with their 2 little girls) visited last Friday, over from London for a holiday. Mary has traveled all over the US extensively. We were swapping travel stories, and she shared her experience in the US. She said that she loved New York, and like you, found the people very friendly, and the service was very good. This was the trend she experienced on much of the the East Coast.

However, she found it to be the opposite on the West Coast ie LA etc.

I don’t agree with the tipping though – I don’t think the customer should be paying that, just because the employers are too tight arsed to pay their employees a fair wage. It’s like the customer is “expected” to subsidize; (or fill in the blanks if you wish) the substandard wages, and I don’t agree with that notion one iota.
I’m in the thought that as an employer, if you pay your employees a decent wage and treat them with respect, they will provide good service for you. If they don’t than you can always hire someone else. That’s been my experience anyway.

Ross said they have tipping in the UK too, but the service isn’t much better.

As you know, we don’t have tipping here, but the service is still good, most of the time. Now, whenever we go out here, and the service is fantastic and above expectations, we always tip here. But, at least you’re not made to feel bad if you don’t.

Something else that I do, above that, is that I always make sure that the boss knows which one of their staff provided superior service.

Anyway, that’s my rant.:-)

Have a great day!

L