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Randy
 
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Default OT - Lousy Canadian tipping

Canadians don't typically interact with people based fundamentally on
money. It never occurs to us to build relationships that way. That's a
very american thing.

Most Canadians also rarely feel the need to bolster their egos by
tossing cash at people. That too is an American thing.

Canadians aren't cheap, Canadians are just different.


Evan Gatehouse wrote:
I can't recall the posting I saw that mentioned Canadians are lousy tippers.
It's true, sort of, but there is a reason. I only found this out since I
lived in Maryland for 4 years. I'm a Canadian by the way.

One area where the countries differ are minimum wage rates.

In Maryland, if you're in a job where tipping is likely to provide a
substantial part of your income, the state minimum wage can be as low as 50%
as the regular minimum wage. In MD, the state minimum wage was $5.15/hour.
Restaurant servers can be legally paid as little as $2.38/hour and have to
rely on tipping to make up the rest!

http://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/wagepay/wptipped.htm

So people that know this (and probably those that don't because it's the
customary tip) all tip at least 15% which makes up the shortfall in their
wages. I *think* they are also taxed as though a certain portion of their
wages are assumed as tips. So that poor guy who you stiff on a tip is
really hurting because he's expecting a decent tip even if the service
sucks.

In British Columbia, Canada, where I live now, the minimum wage is $ 8/hour.
Living prices are pretty comparable in MD and BC if one ignores the fact
that the currency is different. i.e. a pound of apples in MD is about $1
US/lb and is about $1 Cdn/lb in BC. So the BC waiter is making a higher
income before tipping, and nobody thinks twice about tipping 10% and
thinking it's reasonable.

--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
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