discussion European tourist goes viral for US trip; pans obesity, tipping culture and more

[JoeAg]

and i'm literally of german heritage i have a german jewish last name lol

[JoeAg]

oh it's a german person. whoops lol

[RideOrDie]

i just knew this thread was going to be another discourse around the broken tipping culture in broken america... 

[Edonis]

I love to lash Americans but a lot of this isn't really all true lol. And some of this isn't even exclusive to the US (see people being loud and the concept of "small talk"), but I guess that wasn't his point. Hmm. 

[nadiamendell]

1 hour ago, Gov Hooka said:

Imagine going to the trash can that is the Vegas strip and eating fast food and making these kinds of critiques and generalizations…. 
 

Several folks who "travel" don't actually travel… 

I mean generally what he said is true, but Vegas is the absolute WORST reflection of America possible.  I've been to that sh!thole once and don't plan on ever going back. 

[TeemoR]

All accurate.

[Psycho]

This is brand new information

[Bussea]

21 minutes ago, dinorhino said:

Everything that's wrong with his takes:
 

- Basing the US off of NYC (which he probably only went to Manhattan) and Las Vegas is equivalent to judging the entirety of Europe by going to select parts of London and Paris. just a moron on all fronts 

- A lot if not most of the talkative and friendly nature Americans present is to save face rather than actually being nice and friendly. You are seen as rude and chastised if you don't perform this and are more introverted

- "The American dream is live and well" meanwhile people can barely, if at all, afford homes, can't get higher education without tonnes of debt, as well as getting into tonnes of debt for basic mediocre healthcare. Basic necessities such as cars often require debt. American dream btw. 

- him acting like casinos are an every day experience for americans lmfaooooooooo i would bet money the vast majority of americans have never been to a casino in their lives

- "the lights are always on in america" no they aren't? You went to a 24/7 hour city (New York, specifically Manhattan) and Las Vegas that is known for that. The average city isn't like that, even bigger cities like Houston, Seattle, Miami, and whatnot.

- His description of American customer service lacks so much nuance. They aren't doing that out of the kindness of their hearts they're doing that because they often are forced to or they're seen as doing a bad job. American customer service workers are often abused because of how ingratiatingly saccharine they have to be to appease customers and they can't defend themselves even when they're being very mistreated. I've had my parents literally complain about a waitress being "bad at her job" because she didn't smile even though she was attentive, took our orders, and did everything else well except have a happy-happy-joy-joy tone

- Acting like the average American owns designer watches and luxury cars looooooool. And many Americans get into debt to achieve this too, if they even have it. It's not a sign of financial wealth many times and you can easily find people like this in London and Paris too so I'm not sure why he's acting like this doesn't exist in Europe???????

 

On his bad "meme": 

- Multiple countries in the EU have higher average salaries in the US, in addition to the fact that he seems to erroneously be comparing disposable income for EU to gross income for the US, not factoring in Americans tend to spend way more and need to get into way more debt for basic necessities. Also American healthcare ranks low for how much they spend on it and in general (not higher than most EU nations') so the idea of American healthcare being better is false. Shorter queue times exist in the US because less people are able to access healthcare and it's privatised. No **** a universal healthcare system is going to have more patients and therefore be slower. 

- Obviously, pretty much all of the EU has free speech. Especially as of late in the US where you have presidential candidates wanting and insurrection against dissidents in addition to American-owned companies (see: Twitter) actively censoring and shutting down people they don't agree with for trite reasons, the US does not have anymore freedom of speech than most developed countries and it actually ranks pretty lower than the EU on freedom of speech for journalists worldwide. 

- Americans can't afford a car either and taking public transit isn't a dig lol.

- the culture thing is subjective I guess, but the fact that you have relatively tiny countries like France and Spain vastly outdoing tourist numbers in the US that says quite a lot 

- The EU has more homelessness than the US...? l o l

 

Germans are so arrogant but yet so stupid. it's unreal 

Boop

[Vermouth]

23 minutes ago, KFC said:

It's insane and I really don't understand why considering they're saving SO much by not paying the staff.

It is bonkers. It's at least 20/30% more.

Except wine. Don't get me started as to why on Earth decent wine in France/Spain can be euro 25 ( less if you want the drinkable house wine - like euro 15/18) a bottle and it's like $50/60/70 in US restaurants. It's not the tax difference there way more going on than that.

 

 

[Dialamba]

I think about this Reddit post where OP said her wife was being mean by not tipping because the server refused to take a pic for them and said it wasn't his job. The replies were really insensitive imo i mean he could've been nicer but it's not their job to obey to every demand. 

[thatsmydemi]

1 hour ago, Steve Jobs said:

I'll NEVER understand why people complain about other people being friendly

He's made some points but he's also wrong in some others. Like what's wrong with being friendly? Some of the things he's described are similar to the South Europe region (being friendly and loud lol). 

 

North Europe is more like him though. Not as open as the south and unfriendly/cold. 

[aotwbys]

No idea why anyone on the planet would ever spend a dime on coming here lol

[Dear Reader]

2 hours ago, Joey307 said:

I don't know when and where this whole "anti-tipping" movement started online, but as a server it's embarrassing watching all you morons who don't understand how restaurants work ***** and moan about a system that has been in place for years and will never go away, because it WORKS JUST FINE and benefits every party involved. 

 

Europeans are a special kind of stupid to complain about Americans not respecting their culture when they visit their countries and then disregarding ours because they're CHEAP. Tip 20% or more or stay the **** home. 

 

the way that the only user that liked this was someone named ZeroPoint cause that's ironically what you made with said post 

Edited August 21 by Dear Reader

[Jack!]

1 hour ago, BGKC said:

I was a server/bartender in fine dinging in NYC and made close to $80K per year bc of the tipping culture. It goes hand in hand with the entrepreneurial culture. My case was an extreme case, but American servers overall make more than your average Nurse in Europe. I understand that the tipping culture to be exploitive, but you're talking about a country where people oppose universal/affordable healthcare as well as raising the minimum wage. It's all about individualism, avoiding taxes and maximizing profits. The restaurant owners can raise their prices to subsidize the costs of labor, and you'd still be left with paying 20% or more. That or just include a 20% service fee of the sort, which customers are known to make a fuss about anyway. 
 

Europe obviously has a better social safety net and better labor protection laws, but those are due to regulations and taxes that America business owners and entrepreneurs fiercely oppose. It's not the restaurant servers fault, but to stiff them bc you don't agree with tipping culture after supporting a business that thrives on such a model is wildly ironic. 

Your case is less extreme than you think, I would have been earning similar in my job as a server in Florida, with some of the bartenders I worked with in different locations on six figures. I completely understand the perspective argument when looking at public sector labour jobs across Europe earning a fraction of $80k-$100k, but as you say, European's have a lot more access to universal care across multiple sectors, including healthcare and education. It might be a harder pill for Europeans to swallow knowing a nurse of 30+ years can be earning the same (in principle anyway) as a college student working nights and weekends serving in a restaurant, but the outflow you need to utilise many resources in America requires it unfortunately.

 

Another thing I find interesting about the tipping argument is that speaking to many of my server friends who are still working at the place I used to, I don't think they want the gap between wage pay and tipping percentage to close. I know these people rely on members of the public being willing to give that 20% over ever time they serve someone, but I can guarantee many would keep their low wages in favour of that 20% gratuity or at least in favour of the risk of getting a good tip. It's not a system I see really changing anytime soon. Especially not if Kamala wins this election and passes her proposal on no tax on tips.

[Joey307]

2 hours ago, ariananext said:

So you're telling us that your ****** up system that underpays waiters is not the issue but it's us not understanding it when here waiters earn as much as any other worker in other fields of the same level, got it.

 

2 hours ago, Yawn said:

works for who?  people do tip 20% but will still complain because it sucks. works ~just fine~ apparently but also works a lot better without it. 

 

2 hours ago, Likingstars said:

Its giving stockholm syndrome  

Comments from those who have clearly never worked in the service industry, but I digress…
 

NEWS FLASH: American servers and bartenders don't want tipping to end because with it, we make way more than the business would be willing to pay us. Furthermore, customers would be paying the difference either way if wages were raised, and as a cherry on top your server is no longer going to care about giving you good service because they get paid the same regardless. You need your fourteenth refill of Diet Coke? Too bad, I'll get to it when I feel like it. 
 

Stop fighting a fight that no one asked you to fight because you're BROKE. No one, and I mean NO ONE is going to put up with the BS servers and bartenders routinely put up with for $15-$20 an hour. 

[Monsieurgedeon]

2 hours ago, ariananext said:

And let's not even start about the fact that it must be draining as hell - both mentally and physically - having to lick the customers' ass to satisfy them to the maximum possible because otherwise you won't be paid enough. Like that's underestimating your own job, what side are you on 

It just because they benefit from the system big time having higher salaries than a lot of people that works regular job (like nurses) for an entry level job. They don't want a bigger salary because it means that they would loose money. That said it's still an entry level job and you don't save life. 

[Monsieurgedeon]

1 minute ago, Joey307 said:

 

 

Comments from those who have clearly never worked in the service industry, but I digress…
 

NEWS FLASH: American servers and bartenders don't want tipping to end because with it, we make way more than the business would be willing to pay us. Furthermore, customers would be paying the difference either way if wages were raised, and as a cherry on top your server is no longer going to care about giving you good service because they get paid the same regardless. You need your fourteenth refill of Diet Coke? Too bad, I'll get to it when I feel like it. 
 

Stop fighting a fight that no one asked you to fight because you're BROKE. No one, and I mean NO ONE is going to put up with the BS servers and bartenders routinely put up with for $15-$20 an hour. 

Yeah right teachers and nurses have it so much better 

[SoldierofLove]

 

[shyboi]

I always tip 2.5% if service was good, 2% if it was average or bad 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

jk 

 

[Joey307]

28 minutes ago, Monsieurgedeon said:

Yeah right teachers and nurses have it so much better 

Not your servers fault that teachers and nurses are underpaid. If you don't like tipping then don't go out to eat, that's the real form of protesting restaurants, not stiffing the server. They're the only one who gets ****** in that scenario. 

[Alongoria13]

Not against tipping but it's gotten ridiculous lately, in México now people are demanding up to 20% as well? lmao

 

[ariananext]

56 minutes ago, thatsmydemi said:

He's made some points but he's also wrong in some others. Like what's wrong with being friendly? Some of the things he's described are similar to the South Europe region (being friendly and loud lol). 

 

North Europe is more like him though. Not as open as the south and unfriendly/cold. 

The german point of view may be a bit "extreme", although as an italian I've never had a bad experience with unfriendly people in Germany. They're definitely polite, I've never been to the US so I don't know how that compares.

 

As for the loud thing, I definitely notice american tourists being super loud and abnoxious especially on public transports here, while italians are definitely known for being loud I think that's mostly in social settings such as dinners/nights.

[bad guy]

A German complaining about people being normal and nice, how groundbreaking. 

 

 

And who the hell goes to VEGAS, the city equivalent to a trashy amusement park, to experience America? Don't piss me off.

 

 

Also In N Out is a California classic and is actually fresh unlike the McDonalds these Europeans are used to. The fries being ass is irrelevant. 

 

 

Oh and one other thing. How dare a GERMAN speak on obesity when your diet consists of pretzels, bratwurst, sausage, and beer. You wanna complain about hamburgers when y'all are the ones that invented it when y'all immigrated over here. I've been to many Biergarten's and every man in there is built like Doctor Eggman from Sonic while the women look like Miss Trunchball from Matilda. Only the servers are pretty but that was to entice customers clearly because it was all smoke and mirrors! 

 

 

Actually I'm not done, one more thing. You know what you signed up for visiting America that restaurants have tipping culture. Literally for decades. I know it's difficult for a German to understand politeness but that's what you do. And you have the money to do so if you're traveling to NYC so don't even try it with the excuses. Now tipping at any other place other than restaurants and small coffee shops...yeah we smash that NO TIP button but again as a German he should have no issue being selfish on that. 

 

 

At least we have FREE public restrooms in restaurants, friendly people, and ice cold free water on standby in just about any food/coffee place. Tschüss!

[StayFrosty]

1st time my family and I went to Portland, Oregon we were speechless; our mouths agape by all the badonka donk big back beluga ass ******* there. I get what he means. 

[theweekend]

he spilled

 

I still don't know how hard/expensive it is to buy healthy/fresh food to cook it at home

and for fast food five guys >>>>>>>

Edited August 21 by theweekend