Travelling to the US? Tip with impunity – their system’s as broken as ours

Once more, “the Europeans” have failed to tip sufficiently and the Americans are furious.

Writing on Twitter, a US waitress recently vented about a negative workplace experience in a post that has since gone viral, with more than 38 million views.

“Lmao I f***ing hate Europeans sometimes on god,” she began.

“This table just left $70 on a $700 check after chilling for HOURS. My manager even asked about their service and they were OVER THE MOON about my service so he explained the customary tip is 20% and they were like ‘ok.’ and left”.

Now, the internet is mutinous, with discussion predictably degenerating into criticism of each continent’s respective foreign policy, voting patterns, and slanderous remarks about the British predilection for beans on toast.

Nothing accentuates the Atlantic-sized chasm between our friends across the pond quite like tipping culture. Sure – we might think we have a “special relationship” but the speed with which this descends into white hot rage based on the cut you allocate to workers while in the US is quite something.

“I think it’s clinically insane actually that Americans think this way about tips as a server and don’t direct their anger towards the corporations paying them dust,” wrote one user. “No one in any other industry expects a 20 per cent tip for literally doing their job description.”

“In France, people are burning sh** down,” wrote another. “In ‘The Land of the Free’ you have exploited workers demanding customers help sustain their exploitation. US Americans are collectively ill, this is just another example of their illness.”

For those unfamiliar with US tipping etiquette, it can come as something of a shock. Often, when receiving a bill in a restaurant, you’re presented with three tipping options: 20, 22 and 25 per cent.

This is in addition to a sales tax imposed on restaurant meals, a figure that varies from state-to-state, ranging from a combined rate of 10.75 per cent in Chicago, to 5.65 per cent in Milwaukee.

While this can be an eye-popping discovery for novice travellers, there is a good reason behind it.

Restaurant owners in the US are required to pay a minimum hourly wage of just $2.13 (£1.74). There are different laws in different states around tipped minimum wage, but under federal law, employers are expected to pay $5.12 in “tip…