Gawker
Foreign tourists claiming ignorance of the crude American tradition of tipping is such bullshit. Whenever I go to a foreign country, the first thing I look up in the guidebook is the place's tipping customs. That's not so difficult, right? After all, nothing is more awkward than doing it wrong.
This is becoming more of a big deal, as NYT restaurant critic Frank Bruni recently explored, since it seems that the only people left in New York with money to spend are foreigners. Will the clueless Europeans learn to tip in restaurants and bars, and can they be trained? Should we be like France and make the gratuity included?
More importantly, will they learn to tip the city's non-recession-proof strippers? They better learn. Stilettos can be used as weapons, and they hurt.
