4 Ways to Insult Hard Working, Kind, and Helpful Foreigners Through Tipping

Tipping Truth – There is no universal tip-based insult

Some think the best tip-insult is to not leave a tip. Rookie mistake. There are many countries where this is the norm. This is the polite way to deal with good service. In those situations, it is clearly a bad insult.

I know, for us tip-happy Americans it seems crazy. In some parts of the world people charge exactly the amount of money they want.

1 – Insult With a Large Tip in Japan

If you want to anger a service worker in Japan, leave a large tip. Twenty percent will probably be enough to shock them into a memorable state of irritation. A tip implies that they will only do their job correctly when given extra money. In some situations it also implies that the tipper now owns a part of the enterprise they tipped and expect to receive a percentage of the income every month. OK, I made that last one up.

The point is that tipping in Japan is an insult with finesse.

2 – Insult by Omitting a Tip in Chile

Not leaving a tip in a restaurant used to actually be a crime. I’m not talking in a metaphorical way either. There was a law against not tipping at least 10% at restaurants. Modern mean people need not fret though, that law was repealed in 1981. As far as I know, it is now completely legal to comment on the poor quality of an establishment’s waitstaff by not leaving a tip.

3 – Insult with a Very Small Tip in Germany

When seen from an American viewpoint the German standard tip of 5-10% doesn’t seem like much. However, it still leaves room to give below-par tips.

Now you might be thinking “well 0% is below 5%.” But, that would be too low. A small tip is more of an insult than no tip at all. I’m not sure why. It has something to do with either the Battle of Teutoburg Forest or the general notion that a small tip is an explicit rebuke while no tip could just be forgetfulness.

4 – Insult by Tipping a US Government Official

This is probably the most dangerous tip-based-insult mentioned here. Technically it is seen as a bribe and could get you thrown in jail. However, if done properly, you’ll probably be fine.

I would suggest not trying to tip a police officer. At the very least try another government official for your first technical bribe. For example, you could develop your talents with a post office worker. You know, someone who doesn’t have the authority to arrest you.

Creative Commons picture by ryan.dowd.

If You Aren’t Totally Mean You Can Use This Information for Good

It is worth noting that the knowledge needed to practice the dark art of tip-sulting is actually neither good nor bad. Knowledge of the standard tip in a particular place can be used for good. With this information you could compliment the service at numerous establishments…or insult people with various sums of money. Your choice.

I, for one, am very reluctant to use this knowledge to insult people. It just seems too mean. Even if I did get bad service.