Welcome to E-com Monthly Intro to American culture.
My name is Marcellus.
And I'm Heather.
Well everybody, the month is January and so, Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! Happy New Year to you, Marcellus.
Happy New Year to you too.
Thank you.
In January, what we typically do is we make a New Year's resolution.
What was your New Year's resolution?
Mine is to learn to cook more interesting recipes and food, yeah.
I think that's a really good one, actually.
It is if I can do it. We'll see.
You can do it!
How about you? What was your New Year's resolution?
Well, my New Year's resolution was to stop smoking.
And how is that coming?
Uh......... well, how about you? What's your - no, it's a joke.
It's coming along fairly well. I've reduced the amount that I'm smoking and so, hopefully, I will be able to quit all together.
I wish you luck.
Thank you very much.
And what about you out there, what's your New Year's resolution?
Well, is everybody ready?
Let's begin!
Hello everyone, today's American cultural topic is about tipping system in America.
And the key words we would like you to listen out for are: gratuity,
keep the change
and 15 percent.
Alright, so let's start with gratuity. Gratuity is basically another word for tip. It means to thank someone for their service.
Okay, you wanna show your gratitude and leave a tip.
And on a menu in America, if you look at the bottom of the menu, it usually says 'gratuity included' or 'gratuity not included'
and this may be on your bill or the menu. And if it says 'gratuity included', that means in your bill the tip is in the price.
So, you should not leave an extra tip, but if it says 'gratuity not included', that means they expect an extra tip.
And that's usually what? What would you say usually a good tip at a restaurant?
Well, usually a good tip at a restaurant depends on how you feel about the service,
but on average, I believe that 15 percent is the proper amount.
Yeah, I would agree. If it's very, very good service, maybe you leave 20 percent.
If it's kind of... it's alright service, maybe 10 percent, but...
Yeah, and if it's really terrible, you don't have to leave a tip at all.
That's right, but if you go, in general, maybe the hair salon or in a taxi, at a restaurant, I think if you don't know how much to tip,
I think 15 percent is a good guess.
That's right.
Yeah.
Absolutely. Now, another key word that we talked about is 'keep the change'.
Sometimes it's really troublesome to try and calculate 15 percent, so, for example, if you're paying a taxi bill
and it's 7 dollars and you give them a 10 dollar bill, you can just say to the taxi driver, 'Keep the change.'
Or if you go to a bar and order a few drinks and if you give him a 20 dollar bill and you ordered about 17 dollars worth of drinks,
for example, you can say to the bar tender, 'Keep the change.'
It may be a little bit more than 15 percent or a little bit less than 15 percent, but it's an easy way to tip your service provider.
Yeah, I agree. It's kind of a cool way too, you know. Everyone feels cool saying 'keep the change', yeah.
That's right. Now, what you don't want to do, is if the bill comes to 9 dollars and 95 cents and you give the person a 10 dollar bill
and say, 'Keep the change.' That's not a good idea.
Maybe not.
Because that means the tip will be only 5 cents.
Yes and that's very rude.
That's right. So again, remember these words: keep the change,
gratuity
and 15 percent.
Well, that was this month's videocast. How do you feel?
Did you figure out your New Year's resolution?
Are you confident you're gonna be able to keep your New Year's resolution?
Well, we'll see you next month and maybe then we'll be able to decide.
Anyway, I'm Marcellus.
I'm Heather.
See you next time!
Good-bye!