Tipping in Austria - New Tourist Cafe Approach?

Can I ask which cafes? Honestly, this is not typical and I think that you are correct that this is an attempt to milk tourists. Not good.

Hi Emily. One of my favorite cafes is the Cafe Hofburg (think that is the name; behind Michaelerplatz, towards Heldenplatz side). It was a youngish waiter. Last winter and in summer this did not happen to me.

Other was the cafe in the Upper Belvedere.

My first reaction was the same as yours.

Ok, both cafes are exclusively for tourists. Locals would never go to either of these unless trapped by a rainstorm.

So the behavior does seem inappropriate to you then? This is a site for tourists so I just wanted to put it out there as a warning.

Inappropriate, yes, as it is taking advantage of tourists who don't understand tipping customs and/or it makes people feel guilty.

I have come across this many times in years past all over Europe. To be fair, I believe that waiters are very frequently asked whether gratuities are included by Americans, so maybe they are pre-empting this.

In which language(s) was "Gratuity not included" stamped on the die Rechnung (the bill)?

While I take stan's point, isn't it also possible/likely that the cafe owners see this as a way to bolster waitstaff earnings without actually paying more?

Edit-this, of course, assumes the tip gets to the waiter...

Written in English.

I would say that putting that on the paper in English says more than a 1,000 word essay about why they did it.

Personally, I wouldn't like it.

Was the food good, or typical tourist fodder?

We saw that everywhere we ate in Vienna where it was written that the tip was not included. Perhaps because the tip is included in other parts of Europe they need (want) to make it clear.

At the end of our time in Europe last summer we did a 12 day whirlwind swoop through Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich. In MANY places we ate in the central tourist districts we saw this on restaurant bills and even printed on menus in a couple of cases. We had never seen this before this trip. Out of the tourist areas we have never seen this...
And yes, it was always in English.

It has nothing to do with the tip being added elsewhere in Europe, because generally it isn't. European waiters are paid a decent wage unlike US waiters who often work for about a third minimum wage. so to not tip in the US is to steal the services of the waiter. Tipping is not the norm in Europe and it is not necessary but people have learned that Americans don't know this and that 'tip not included' in English is to try to guilt Americans into tipping. Europeans are not doing more than leaving a few cents rounded or the occasional Euro. I would make it an iron rule to never tip at all at establishments that do this.

They are playing a semantics game here. "Gratuity not included* ?! Gratuity* is never included in the bill in Europe, but service is. I think it is the law. (And, by the way, people in this country don't realize that, by law, wait staff here must make minimum wage. If the base wage plus tips received does not come to federal minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.)

By definition, a gratuity is a thank you for exceptional service, but eating establishments in this country have conned patrons into thinking it is a requirement for them to accept part of their labor cost burden. I would suggest that gratuity has no meaning in Europe. The roundup left is not for exceptional service, it is just considered petty to take the small change.

When they tell you that "gratuity is not included", they want you to think that they don't get paid, but they do; they just want more than they earn.

In 2002, shortly after the switch to the euro, I stayed a couple of nights in Rothenburg. The first night we ate in a small open-air cafe on a back street in Rothenburg. The entire transaction was in German, with which I am comfortable (and prefer). I "tipped" by rounding up.

The next night we ate in a bigger restaurant right on the marketplace. The waiter was rather bombastic about the fact that he was waiting on me in English. I guess he was trying to show he was doing me a favor. (I didn't need or appreciate it; I go to Germany to speak German.) The bill came to something just over 23 euro. I didn't have a five euro note, so I gave the waiter a 20 and a 10 and said, "fünf und zwanzig euro" (twenty-five euro). He disappeared, never to be seen again. I wasn't about to give him a 30% tip so I hunted him down and repeated, "fünf und zwanzig", and got my five euro note.

We ate the cafe in the Upper Belvedere in early November - obviously we were starving and visiting the Belvedere. The food was okay, but the service was so horrible I felt like we were donating to an undeserving charity when we rounded up. If the gratuity had been included, I would have objected. This is the only negative thing I have to say about our trip to Vienna.