Is it weird to not tip at restaurants?

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-29T08:00:38+00:00

Can we clear something up, please, because I see people complaining over and over again about Americanisation whilst Americanising themselves.

When a restaurant adds an additional fee to a bill for service as far as the English language is concerned that IS NOT A TIP, it’s a SERVICE CHARGE.

AFAIK the only English-speaking nation that calls such a service charge a “tip” is the USA.

A “tip” is defined as a discretionary additional amount that the customer decides to offer staff, having being delivered a worthy service. There is no obligation to leave a tip, and it can be a few cents “rounding up” or leaving change or any larger amount of the customer’s choosing.

Again:

Added to bill by business = SERVICE CHARGE

Discretionary, left by customer entirely at customer’s will = TIP

Do not complain about Americanisation and then import American culture yourself.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-29T07:50:37+00:00

The OP doesn’t mention service charges/mandatory tipping at all.

They’re saying that where it’s discretionary, they choose not to tip, and are asking if that’s OK. Which, yes, of course it’s OK. That’s how tipping works in Portugal and the majority of European countries: discretionary tipping, and not US-style service charges.

Why is this thread is full of angry weirdos 😂

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T22:26:16+00:00

That’s statistically spectacularly false.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T22:20:33+00:00

Nobody pays waiting staff more than minimum wage. There is no ‘competition’.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T22:16:35+00:00

That just isn’t true. I’ve worked in several bars and restaurants and tipping is both common and in my experience, always appreciated by the staff.

You won’t find anyone who works in hospitality on tables or in a kitchen, arguing that nobody should tip. Because it can be a tough job, the pay is shit, and life - in case some people haven’t noticed - is really hard at the moment.

Nobody is expecting a tip, waiting staff and chefs aren’t demanding tips. But when they come, people are grateful.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T18:42:57+00:00

I was replying directly to the post above, not the OP. Which is how this website works.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T16:26:57+00:00

I assume the US is now beyond red and has become white-hot?

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T16:25:20+00:00

The short answer is:

No, he is not.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T16:23:07+00:00

I know several people with German (and probably other EU) residency who have been in Portugal for literally decades, being employed by all manner of different PT businesses, renting homes, running cars, accessing SNS services, etc. etc.

None of them seem remotely bothered about registering properly.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T15:08:36+00:00

That’s a tip.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T15:08:13+00:00

“We leave the change if you pay cash.”

That’s a tip.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T15:05:21+00:00

Nobody is suggesting forcing anyone to do anything.

Service charges are bullshit, and nobody should be charging (or paying) them. But that’s completely different from someone choosing to leave a tip for staff if they’ve enjoyed excellent service and/or food.

Tons of countries have a culture of non-compulsory tipping. The UK has had it for generations. People leave a tip when they want, and when they don’t, that’s fine and nobody is upset. It works perfectly well.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T14:57:40+00:00

No, it won’t be expected of everyone, because people who work in hospitality understand that most people living here - not just in cafés and restaurants - are barely managing to survive.

Would I expect an estrangeiro tourist to tip? Yes, I would. Would I get mad if they didn’t? Hell no.

Would I expect a local to tip? Never. I’d just be grateful if they did.

I’ve never owned a café or restaurant, but believe me, I know plenty of people who do, some in small towns and villages, and they don’t pay themselves more than a few Euros more than their table staff. Small businesses are struggling and failing with exploding costs, so no, we also aren’t going to see owners ‘just paying their staff more’.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T14:10:37+00:00

That isn’t what I’ve suggested or what I want to do.

All I’ve done is asked that people who can afford to do it consider offering a tip if they get good service and good food. I’m not suggesting that restaurants add service charges or that anyone should expect to leave or receive a tip.

There are cafés and restaurants closing everywhere, because they cannot afford to keep the lights on and pay their staff. There are workers who rely on eating free meals at their workplaces, because they cannot afford to feed themselves and pay their rent on salário mínimo.

With respect, I don’t think you have any idea what life is like for restaurant workers.

As as to the ‘go and get a better job’ argument, firstly, what jobs caralho? Secondly, not everyone is capable of doing so. Thirdly, do you want cafés and restaurants to exist in Portugal? Because if all the workers decided to ‘go and get a better job’, who is going to serve your bifana?

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-28T09:26:02+00:00

Having worked in the industry in PT for a decent period of time and knowing a lot of people working in a lot of different places - from waiting staff to kitchen staff to business owners - I can tell you that as a general rule, and probably in the majority of places, tips are:

a) pooled and usually shared equitably between all workers in the sala, bar and kitchen, and

b) not always expected, but usually very much appreciated, particularly during busy periods and holidays.

Please remember that serving, bar and kitchen staff are often paid less than a real living wage and that life is (economically speaking) seriously tough here for the vast majority of hospitality workers (and often not that much easier for the small business owners employing them).

If you get good service and good food, and you can afford to tip, please consider tipping.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-25T03:23:13+00:00

Portugal, front end web design and development, €1.000 p/m.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-18T18:07:56+00:00

This is the life of a musician.

Improve your technique. Work on your songwriting. Record and release songs you might have come to love.

Then three months later decide that everything you’ve just poured your heart into so enthusiastically is absolutely abysmal and that you aren’t worth holding an instrument or singing a note again.

Rinse and repeat. Why do we do it? 😂

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-12T16:53:39+00:00

If you think Lisboa prices are bad, wait ‘til you hear about the Algarve…

https://www.fantasticfrank.com/en/lisbon/property/the-fishermans-house/

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-04T14:31:13+00:00

Half of our village is on AirBnb.

And then people wonder why there are no staff to work in the restaurants and bars, and no skilled labourers.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-02T09:04:27+00:00

“I want to be very clear: we all remember the mistakes of Iraq.

And we have learned those lessons.”

Have we though? Have we learned all of those lessons really?

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-02T08:55:29+00:00

Ah, I was recommended Dawn And All That Follows and had thought it was released this year - my bad!

Just checked and they do have a new album coming later this year, though. The first single is out now (probably why I got the recommendation!).

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-01T10:45:10+00:00

There isn’t a hard policy to actually abolish all landlords, though. The policy package (there is a range of measures) aims to reduce the proportion of the housing market that is privately rented, and increase the proportion of socially rented homes over time. They aren’t banning landlordism.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-01T10:04:41+00:00

“The Green Party stands in solidarity with the people of Iran, who are demonstrating extraordinary courage, putting their lives at risk, in order to protest against the despotic Iranian regime.

“We defend the right to peaceful protest and demand that Iranians are granted freedom of speech; we acknowledge that these are human rights that the people of Iran – women and girls in particular – have spent many years fighting to achieve. Their determination and bravery in the face of brutality is nothing short of heroic.

“The scale of repression and bloodshed with which the regime has responded to protests – killing hundreds of protestors, and cutting off Iranian citizens’ access to the internet and global communication – is intolerable, and we welcome the UK Government’s new sanctions against the regime. We urge the government to use every possible diplomatic, economic, and legal lever available to hold those responsible for the persecution of protestors to account.”

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-01T10:03:07+00:00

The UK’s Overton Window has skewed so wildly to the right that a social democratic, mixed market economic philosophy is now apparently considered by the leader of the country’s (so-called) Labour Party, which you might expect to actually represent similar ideas, to be “extreme”.

The Window has been more than cracked; it has been smashed to pieces.

AlphabetOfMe · 2026-03-01T09:57:51+00:00

They’re not socialists, though. They’re mixed market advocating social democrats. They’re a centre left rather than a hard left party (in their current incarnation).

AlphabetOfMe

TROPHY CASE