15% !!!

So I've now visited 7 countries (Ireland, England, France, Spain, Morocco, Italy and Czech Republic) on this trip so far. I've found that each country has its own unique tipping scheme and it can be very confusing when first arriving in a country to remember what is what. For example, in Ireland (I think), if you order at the bar, and only order a drink, no tip, but otherwise, leave 5%. Then, in some other country, it's a personal affront not to tip the bartender. In another country, 10% is customary, unless it's the third Tuesday of the month and a full moon. Then you leave 7.3%. Ok, so it's not really that specific, but it's still difficult to keep track of what is normal and what is too much or not enough, when you change countries every 3-5 days.

After arriving in the Czech Republic, I forgot to ask at what the customary tip is, before venturing out into the city. I met a guy, Matt, who was staying in the same room as me, in my hostel, and we took off to go explore Prague together. After walking around for a while, we decided to sample some of the local beer. We sat down in a beer garden and had a couple of beers each while comparing notes on where we'd visited and where we wanted to go next. After an hour or so, we asked for the check (which is kind of funny when you ask a Czech person for the check). Anyway, we got the bill and our (up-until-then) nice waitress says, "Service is not included," as she puts down the check. So, yeah. She wants a tip. No problem. Also, it's printed very clearly on the bill that Service Is Not Included. Got it. Give the woman a tip. So, we figure out what we owe and see that she's overcharged us for pretzels, as we didn't have any. So, she says just to not pay for it, but again, tells us that service is not included. Gotcha. We throw some money together and give it to her and wait for our change. She takes the money and says, "And for the service?" since she apparently wants to take that money out now, too. I told her not to worry about it, that we would leave her something, just to give us the change. So, the total bill was like 220 kronas (Czech currency) and we put down a 20 krona coin to leave for her. She comes back over before we leave, and looks at us, aghast. She exclaims, "15%! Service is 15%!"

Um, okay. It's at this point that it's no longer as funny as it was before. I asked her if that was a Czech law to leave 15% and she all of a sudden no longer spoke English. "Huh?" she asked. I asked again, if it was a rule in the Czech Republic for everyone to leave 15% for a tip. She put on a puzzled expression and feigned ignorance. So, I clearly told her that she was incredibly rude to demand any amount from us and that she should be ashamed. Then, pulled out another 7 kronas and tossed them on the table. From the coins, she picked out the 5 krona coin and pushed the 2 krona coin back at me. Then walked away. Um, what???? So, that wasn't even 15%. Honestly, there was no rationale I could see behind her outburst.

The two of us left, slightly stunned by her fierce reaction and puzzled by local customs. Later we verified that 10% was quite a good tip (like 20% in the US would be), and she was just a nut case. Glad we got that straightened out!