Navigating the tipping minefield: As Gordon Ramsay slaps diners with an ‘optional’ 20% charge and coffee shops and gyms demand US-style gratuities, MARK PALMER reveals all

Call this “tip-creep.” Or ‘tip’.

Or you could call it a terrible manipulation of the innate but quiet generosity of the British people; a foreign, degrading and utterly embarrassing American import. Yes, the ever-expanding tyranny of the service charge.

The latest fan of this burning issue is Gordon Ramsay, who introduces an ‘optional’ 20 per cent service charge at his Asian-themed restaurant Lucky Cat in the City of London, causing all hell to break loose.

Lucky Cat occupies the 60th floor of a skyscraper. It is the highest restaurant in the capital and currently charges the highest service fee.

Full disclosure: I’m not a big fan of Ramsay, who owns nearly as many restaurants in America, the capital of the world, as he does in the UK.

While I was a restaurant critic for a national newspaper, he met me at a terrible but wonderful establishment in Chelsea, formerly known as Foxtrot Oscars, that he had just bought and was about to destroy.

I politely asked him why he felt the need to make such radical changes to such a beloved establishment that has long been a destination for a flashy but fiercely loyal clientele. He took it badly.

At that time, I was having dinner with my wife and one of her sons. ‘When do you think your stepfather will get a decent job?’ Ramsay asked him.

But let’s be fair, because some facts that produce more heat than light have been lost one after another. Ramsay’s 20 percent service charge only applies to seasonal menus such as Christmas and New Year.

The rest of the time – and consistent with most other UK restaurants – it drops to 15 per cent, which is admittedly still more than the traditional 12.5 per cent.

Even so, the consensus is that tipping is out of control and we will soon find ourselves in a situation not unlike those in the United States.

Just last week, Daily Mail columnist Andrew Neil caused a stir by telling the story of what happened when he encountered a waiter at a New York restaurant 14 years ago.

Apparently the ‘server’ – that’s what they call waiters there – was unhappy with the 15 per cent tip of Mr Neil’s $150 (£110) after a terrible dinner with friends and made his feelings known.

‘Was there something wrong with the food or service, Mr Neil… was it because the tip was a little light?’ he asked the waiter.

Mr. Neil reluctantly produced a few more dollars and handed them over. But unfortunately the waiter, Mr Neil, knew the owner of the restaurant and called him to complain. The waiter was given his marching orders the very next day.

Here we offer a guide to negotiating the increasingly complex web of tipping tradition and practice:

Who benefits when you leave a tip?

In Britain, the Employment (Tip Allocation) Act, which provides that tips from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafes, beauty salons, casinos and other places will be transferred to workers without any deduction from the employer, came into force in October 2024.

This is a law designed to benefit two million workers in England, Scotland and Wales, but is it?

There is evidence that some employers reacted by offering staff lower pay, knowing that tips would increase their take-home pay.

How does tipping work in practice?

Bad. While a restaurant will often add a 12.5 percent service charge to the bill, that’s not always the end of the matter.

When you hand over the card reader, you’re often greeted with an unsolicited invitation to add another tip of 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent, or even 25 percent. What a nerve. So how many of us protest and reject this request?

And this is an increasingly common practice. According to contactless payments company SumUp, the number of customers using so-called ‘tip screens’ has increased by 78 per cent in the last few years.

The bad news is that all kinds of other businesses, from pharmacies to gyms, are jumping on the bandwagon. SumUp says the percentage of businesses actually implementing a suggested tip on their card machines has increased by more than a third.

It’s painful. The cashier may look away and act like the choice is yours, but it’s not. You fell into the trap. And oddly enough, the question ‘Would you like to give £1 to charity’ is easier to ignore than the 10 to 25 per cent tipping fee.

Which services should we tip?

‘Tipping is a harmful system… and tipping is no substitute for saying thank you,’ wrote the late Drusilla Beyfus in her book Modern Manners.

People who traditionally expect tips include hairdressers, shampooers, beauticians, podiatrists, manicurists, taxi drivers, waiters, hotel doormen and cloakroom attendants.

Bin attendants and postmen should also be tipped at Christmas, unless they refuse to empty your bin because it’s overloaded or persistently deliver your mail to the wrong address.

But why stop there? While a chambermaid who cleans your room often gets nothing, why should a man who opens the door of a taxi outside a hotel get anything?

Why are we expected to tip the black cab driver in London and not the Uber driver? Why don’t we tip a plumber who just fixed his boiler?

Why tip… and what happens if we don’t?

The idea is that we know a good service, but what is a new service? The magazine’s survey of 2,134 adults found that one in four left a tip despite poor service because they were embarrassed not to do so.

One in five people said they tipped despite having a bad experience because they believed the optional service fee was non-negotiable.

This is a kind of tyranny. A few years ago I was sent to New York for 48 hours by the Daily Mail.

I was instructed not to tip anyone for the first 24 hours. For the second 24 hours I would be Mr. Big, tipping everything as if I were an oil baron.

Day One was excruciating. First, the taxi driver who took me from the airport to Manhattan gave me a murderous look while giving me the full fare and nothing else.

When I later checked into the popular Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking District, I was initially greeted with enthusiasm.

But when I didn’t tip the doorman, when I didn’t tip the man who escorted me to my room, and when I didn’t tip the woman who brought me a sandwich from the room service menu, I was persona non grata.

The chirpy, meet-and-greet chatterbox at the door almost turned away whenever she saw me.

Suffice to say, I was everyone’s friend when I went to the nearby Standard Hotel the next day and started throwing dollar bills around like confetti.

A World of Confusion About Proper Etiquette

Shame on you if you’re splashing the cash in Japan, where tipping is degrading; There is no need to reward good service because good service is expected. In Poland, saying ‘thank you’ before taking your change means the staff can keep the money.

Bills in French restaurants come with a non-negotiable 15 per cent ‘service charge’ charge, while a ‘pourboire’ (literally ‘to drink’) can be left as an additional tip.

While porters at luxury hotels in America expect $5 per bag, in Europe 5 euros for up to three bags is completely acceptable. In Greece it can be as little as €1 per bag.

‘If you want to tip certain people, it allows them to keep the cash,’ says Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality.

‘Leaving a tip on the bill or at the table benefits the entire team, from front of house to chefs and kitchen staff.’

At least in theory.

Why has ‘no tip’ become a selling point?

I remember going on a cruise a few years ago and the night before we left the ship we received three envelopes in which we would put tips for the crew from various departments.

It came with a guide that suggested how much to pay per day. I had to resort to a calculator, not something you want on holiday.

It’s no surprise that all-inclusive holidays (whether cheap or at the higher end of the market) are becoming increasingly popular. What a relief that the staff don’t expect a tip, but you still have the freedom to tip if you wish.

Nowadays, cruise lines are now using ‘no tip’ as a marketing tool to attract passengers, and it seems to be working. For example, Saga clearly states that ‘gratuities to all crew on board’ are included in the price.

All-inclusive hotels also adopt the same strategy. ‘All resort team members are trained to deliver first-class service as standard, not as something earned through tips,’ says Karl Thompson, managing director of Unique Vacations UK, which represents Shoes Resorts.

‘Our no-tipping policy ensures every guest receives the same level of exceptional service; it is never transactional. Compensation is built into team members’ salaries rather than relying on tips.’

What is happening psychologically?

Quite a lot. “Many British people’s discomfort with tipping may be a clash of cultural conditioning,” says Meghan Mitchell, a trainer at mental health charity Headspace.

‘Discussing money in the UK has historically been seen as rude, and recent tip-offs make it feel as if you’re being forced into a public negotiation that you never signed up for.’

Ms Mitchell adds that at the end of a long, joyful meal, our cognitive resources are diminished, so ‘when a card machine offers a predetermined percentage, it offers the path of least resistance.

‘In these moments we often don’t click the 15 percent out of gratitude; We do this to avoid social embarrassment.’

How ridiculous is this?

When big spenders spend cash

There is a suspicion that some people like to advertise how rich they are by leaving big tips.

Johnny Depp is known to be a good tipper. During the filming of the 2009 crime thriller Public Enemies, he and other members of the cast visited Gibson’s Steakhouse in Chicago.

Their meal turned into a three-hour session that included several bottles of $500 wine, after which Depp left a $4,000 tip.

The truth is we all know money talks.

There is a remarkable moment in the 1939 film Ninotchka when the lead character, Greta Garbo, chats with her luggage carrier.

‘Why would you carry other people’s bags?’ he asks.

“Well, that’s my job, ma’am,” says the doorman.

‘This is not a job. This is social injustice,’ says Ninotchka.

‘It depends on your tip,’ says the doorman.

Have we finally reached the tipping point?

Far from it. Tipping is becoming a way of life in the UK and it will take a major rearguard action to stop it. But the solution is in our own hands.

If enough people hit the ‘no tip’ button on those cruel card readers after a 12.5 percent service charge (or 15 percent or 20 percent) is added to the bill, perhaps we’ll eventually return to the days when tips were entirely at the customer’s discretion and not the result of guilt-induced compulsion.