Re: Help on what to do in Europe
In the case of my buddy, he laid down a tip that essentially doubled the cost of his meal. At the time, the USD/Austrian Schilling exchange rate was ~$1:14 Schilling, about 60-70% in favor of a stronger USD than normal. So it wasn't a huge loss, but we took note.
Note: Most European economies weren't so hot in 2000, and the US was still doing well, pre-tech bubble burst, so pretty much the whole of Europe was a giant fire sale. We weren't too concerned about that one bad tipping lesson.
That's the information I got from my Let's Go Europe travel guide, the 2000 edition, prior to the conversion to the Euro. My buddy with whom I traveled owns the copy, but I'm pretty certain on this. I caused an insult one way, and the waitress informing me of this, and my friend got hijacked the other way. Finally, we found the tipping guide for Austria, and they said that if you placed a Schilling note on the table in excess of your bill, do not expect to receive any change - that's considered gratuity.
In the case of my buddy, he laid down a tip that essentially doubled the cost of his meal. At the time, the USD/Austrian Schilling exchange rate was ~$1:14 Schilling, about 60-70% in favor of a stronger USD than normal. So it wasn't a huge loss, but we took note.
Note: Most European economies weren't so hot in 2000, and the US was still doing well, pre-tech bubble burst, so pretty much the whole of Europe was a giant fire sale. We weren't too concerned about that one bad tipping lesson.
