Hi

Apart from the post about trams, the other thing that I don't know is about tipping... The place where I lived before now, if you tipped less than 15% on a meal then you were practically spat at, and 20% is the norm...
How much to tip here? A couple of us had a 60CHF lunch and left 10CHF tip, but not sure if this is the norm or not.. Maybe I should start a poll..

10CHF was at least 5CHF too much, unless the service was really good!

Unlike the US, service employees are not dependent upon tips as such, and, unless incredibly honest and stupid, its not calculated as part of their income, so they don't pay tax on it. They can exist on their salary alone (although not much left over).

For that reason service is not always so friendly and motivated. Feel free to be generous by all means, but its not necessary. For example, if I get a 20CHF bill at the cafe, I give 21-22CHF and never have complaints. I have seen some people give 20.rp, some no tip at all.

Use tips as they are intended: a reward for good service. But 20% is definitely too much, I would say 10% tops.

Tips are "officially" included in the price. However, tips are welcome and practically the norm. I consider CHF 10.- on CHF 60.- to be very generous. I would have given maybe CHF 5.-, providing the service was good. In general, bring it up to a round figure: for a coffee, say CHF 4.00, if it costs CHF 3.50.

I think tips are not the norm here unless you want to reward EXCEPTIONAL service. So dont feel obliged to tip at all!

I come from a tipping society, irrespective of the level of service. We tend to throw money at people. I'm forever being told off by my Swiss GF for tipping too generously when the service was actually bad.

I have since learned to do what litespeed thar said and use tips and intended.

I've asked several Swiss friends about tipping rates. They all denied that there was a standard percentage calculation they do, but instead gave examples of the amount of tip for bills of different prices. Every example that they gave worked out to be a tip of about 5%, but when I pointed this out to them they denied that you could decide by using a percentage calculation. In addition, they told me that it was more important to round to a whole number than to worry about giving an exact percentage. For example, on a bill for 101 francs, leaving 105 francs would be more appropriate than would be 106.

Agree with all the comments above reagrding tipping when eating out. I'll round up a cabbies fare with a franc or two if he's a decent bloke and doesn't drive like a twat.

The times when I do tip a bit higher is when it's people who do a hard job for bugger all money. For example we had a chimney sweeper in to clean out the chimney of the oil heating and fireplace. I stuffed a 20 into his sooty hand when he left after a 2 hour plus job. I was glad I had done so as I got billed a couple of weeks later for a measly CHF 75.-
Hairdressers are not well paid here and the one I've been using for the last few years generally get 10 francs extra.

another vote for round up a franc or two.
I do say, however, that when I am out in a group of 8 or 10, when splitting the bill we just go to the nearest round 5th franc - so 51 is 55 francs. Do the maths on the 4x8 franc tip

I agree with the rounding off to the closest whole number -for restaurants and Taxis. When dining out in a big group - usually tend to leave one franc per person.

I wondering though - is one expected to tip when say an electrician comes by to fix a something, or the guy who fixes the satelite dish or the home delivery chap? If so how much?

I generally tip what i want. If it was good service and I just got paid I am usually generous. If Im in a s*** mood and the waiter/ress was a right b**** i will probally pay with my credit card which really annoys them lol

sheewie...
I usually make him/her a drink if they are there for a while!!! Again, it depends what sort of mood im in lol... I dont usually tip though, the bill 2 weeks later usually cleans me out
Regards
CC

people come do the work... I'm so kicked that the job's done... the feel good feeling lasts till the dreaded pink slip comes through the post

Yeah, I've been here a year and half and still have no clue when it comes to tipping. My Swiss BF has told me tipping isn't expected at all, but we generally tip about 5-10%, maybe a bit more if it's a place where we know the service staff. Most of the time, though, when I'm with my Canadian friends here, we overtip or spend half the time figuring out what the hell to leave as a tip!

I think in general tipping in Switzerland is very similar to Germany, where I previously lived. The comment above which said that on a CHF 101 bill leaving CHF 105 is better CHF 106 is true because one does indeed not work on exact percentages but rather on the convenience of arriving at a sum which is easy to give change on. Although I personally would consider leaving slightly more even if it is an odd number, especially when filling in a credit card slip, where one can just add the amount at the bottom. However, I would not leave more than CHF 110 unless something extraordinary had happened.

I have gone through some typical examples and here is what I arrived at. On anything below CHF 10 I tend to round to the nearest round figure as long as it is at least 40 rp. On anything between CHF 10 and CHF 40 I tend to round to the second whole number. After that it tends to be to the next 0 up to a hundred as long as it at least 5 CHF else to the next 5 after that.

Above a hundred I will usually leave something convenient between 5% and 10% depending on the service. To get 10% both service and quality have to be very good.

Bear in mind that leaving tips which are too generous also makes people uncomfortable. I used to work in restaurants and bars when I was a student and providing good service was a matter of pride and was what I was paid for by my employer. A tip was a reward for good service, which was much appreciated, but exceptionally high tips seemed odd and uncalled for.

The worst, however, was when one had large parties with say 20 people who had a bill of for example CHF 2.000 and the person paying the bill left CHF 30 or CHF 50, feeling that this was a lot of money for a waiter. Normally one would have served a number of smaller parties in the same time who would have all left between 5% and 10%, so that this was a bad deal. Especially as large parties tend to be more work than individual small parties.

First of all, tipping is not required.

At restaurants, I usually don't tip at all if the service is average or crappy, but then I tip rather generously (10-15%) if the service has been worth it.

Exception to that rule: If I get a drink for e.g. 3.80 I often round up to 4 if I don't feel like dealing with the small change.

Sometimes you encounter the type of waiter/waitress who keeps searching his wallet for change endlessly... obviously waiting for you to tell him/her not to bother. In these cases I usually insist on exact change.

I don't agree with this. I worked as a waitress in Switzerland for some time during school breaks while at university, and tips are generally expected, to some degree. Of course, 20% is not the average, but if I served a large table and didn't get any tips, that was also not normal for me. A lot of wait staff don't make enough base salary to live by, and although the tips aren't usually declared in the tax forms, they are very much necessary to the job and to the salary. In fact, salaries are often lower than other service jobs to compensate for the tipping factor.

Please don't spread the idea that tipping in restaurants is not necessary. By law it isn't, but the reality is quite different!

We generally round up to the nearest 5 francs unless service has been really great and we might leave something extra, certainly we dont use a %. When in a group we generally round up to the 5 or 10 franc total where it can be split evenly between the group.

There are times when the service has been wonderful and times when its been anything but - regardless my husband and I always tip. At the end of the day, someone did do some work for you. We give ten percent. Just like guests tend to let out their frustrations on people of service (been a witness to this many times), sometimes its the other way around. We are all affected by moods and situations...

And if people think waiters/tresses here have attitude, one must go to Paris... thats just ! And the only city in which my hub n I never tipped after the first couple of times .

PS Mark, I think thats a bit unfair...I like MisChevious have worked in that industry and because wallets are usually over loaded with coins, it actually does take a few seconds to find the right ones... 10 cents and 50's can easily be mistaken for the other.

Also I agree, tips are very needed...its only upper level managers that make enough to pay all their bills and have somewhat of a life outside of that. Doesn't matter if its 10rp or whatever.. every little bit was welcomed.

No one is begrudging a worker a decent wage, and I maintain that they should not need to rely on tips. Its obviously up to you when you tip, but for me the whole point of it is to reward someone going beyond the call of duty, often significantly.

Agreed waiters and waitresses have to put up with a lot, but it goes with the turf.

I usually tip even in bars by a small amount and significantly where it was a particularly good meal, or more importantly service. To pay the same and every time somewhat defeats the object.

A friend of mine relates the story where a waitress spilt hot soup into his lap, and when he joked "there goes your tip" she was really upset, and honestly expected to still get one. As it turned out she did by getting the sympathy vote from the rest of the group, but its still bizarre...

Tipping is an emotional response and its often no good to try and analyse it scientifically. How much to tip ranks right up there with the most popular questions from US visitors to Ewe-rope.

A surly barman who looks right through you and serves the next swiss-talking people through the door, is going to get a different response from an entertaining cheeky-chappy that bothers to ask how things are going... (Bohemia and Kerala , you can work out which is which)

Waiting an eternity to get served is unforgiveable in my opinion when the place is not busy. Having worked in a bar you learn to read the "I-want-to-order" signals. Short of waving a napkin as recommended by Michael Winner what can one to deal with it other than reflect your feelings in what you give ?

dave