N1: Most restaurants in Europe add a service charge to the bill. But in the United States that is an exception. Tipping is the way to go here. A recent survey conducted by the restaurant guide Zagat showed that 70 percent of Americans prefer to determine the tip themselves. Like most customers, Sheereze Palmiro says it should stay that way:
AX1: "I think it's a little presumptuous for the restaurant to include the tip and I think it should be at the descretion of the customer to decide to what extent they are willing to tip."
N2: Joan Fitzgerald is a career waitress with 30 years of experience. She makes $3.85 an hour before tips and gets no benefits. Yet she says that even though she depends on the kindness of customers, she just focuses on doing a good job.
AX2: "I am not a prostitute for tips. I don't work people for tips. I just do my job. I am not thinking when I ask somebody if they want a
second cup of coffee… uuhh… I am gonna make some extra money from this"
N3: Now that Per Se has included a service charge on every bill, the restaurant provides its staff with a stable salary, paid vacations and health insurance. But although these benefits may seem appealing, Fitzgerald says she still feels that she makes a better living with tips:
AX3: "I believe that most of the people left on their own are extremely generous. You are gonna get cheap ones, but you are gonna get overly generous ones. And to insist that someone pays a flat amount, it's ridiculous."
N4: But Fitzgerald should not worry too much. In the past, a few restaurants tried to substitute tips for a service charge, but the policy didn't stick:
AX4: "Eventually tipping will be common at Per Se again."
N5: Professor Michael Lynn from Cornell University has studied tipping for more than two decades.
AX5: "It will take a little bit of time, but some people will tip to genuinely express gratitude, to help the server out, for a variety of reasons, and once a couple of people do that and becomes known that they've done that, it creates more social pressure that it justbuilds on itself."
N6: Lynn says that many customers, including himself, like tipping because it makes them feel less uncomfortable when being served.
AX6: "The status difference between giving service and receiving service bothers me. And knowing that I am gonna pay this person
directly through a tip, somehow makes me feel better about it."
N7: Lynn sats that his research shows that the amount of tips is not directly related to the quality of the service. But if you are curious about what your neighbor is leaving on the table, New Yorkers pay an average tip of 18.6 percent. I'm Meritxell Mir. Columbia Radio News.