You no longer have to travel to countries like the United States for a restaurant bill to collect a tip percentage that is suggested to the customer, because in Spain there are restaurants that ask for between 5 and 10% of the cost of the meal.
The practice, unusual up to now in Spanish restaurants, has been detected, at least, in establishments in Madrid and Barcelona in recent months and, while the hotel industry reminds that it is not mandatory to leave it, consumers believe that this tip "replaces somehow, to decent wages.”
The "tickets" reflect the total amount without tip, the amount with the suggested percentage (5, 8 or 10%) and even the option of a free tip, as EFE has verified.
Some also point out that all this money goes to waiters and cooks and there are even those who associate “emoticons” with faces to the tip left, in such a way that not leaving is associated with a sad face, 5% with a smiling face and 10% with a very happy face.
Precisely, the general secretary of Facua-Consumers in Action, Rubén Sánchez, believes that it is a technique to "create a feeling of guilt" in the client who decides not to leave anything.
Sánchez reiterates that "it is not an illegal act because they do not impose it" but he believes that asking for that money is "trying to take advantage" of the client so that, "in some way, he becomes the one who pays the bonus of too little salary."
In his view, the tip "cannot be a substitute for a decent wage."
From Hospitality of Spain they have indicated that it is a "suggested" option that also "are beginning to make some apps associated with the dataphone".
The same sources reiterate that, "it is not obligatory at all" to leave a tip: "It is still something voluntary because in Spain it is not part of the salary, but rather it is an acquired habit in which the client shows his satisfaction."
Some customers of these restaurants, such as Miguel Ángel Lozano, show their surprise at not being a custom in Spanish culture.
The "first" thing Lozano thought was that it was "a joke" but then "he couldn't believe it" when he saw it in the account in which "they also gave you a choice between three options," he admits. In his case, he decided together with his friends "not to give anything, since we feel violated."
Testimonials from customers who have been surprised and do not hesitate to express their opinion on the matter are also collected on social networks. Some of them describe the “paleón” that the waiters have to do to explain it to the diners.
For their part, some of the restoration groups that already apply it have preferred not to comment on it when asked by EFE.
The controversies over tips do not stop there because the Community of Madrid recently unleashed one after launching a campaign in which it encouraged leaving some to allow professionals in the sector to "fulfill" their "little dreams and illusions".
More recently, a few weeks ago, a message from an American waitress in which she asked to ban Europeans from traveling "until they know how to behave" went viral on social networks because a group of Spaniards had left a 70-dollar bill for a 700-dollar bill. Dollars.
Undoubtedly, culture, as in many other areas, sets the opinion on such day-to-day issues as leaving a tip when going to a bar.
