To tip or not to tip

Of all the unfathomable cultural gaps which remind us we are not just another state of America, it is the importance of tipping - and the philosophy that underlies it - that most vexes traveling Australians. Rounding up to the nearest dollar just won't do it. Even 10 per cent is not enough. The people working at the bottom of the food chain in the service industries in the US are effectively working for whatever you decide to pay them directly. In many cases I don't know whether their base wage would even cover the costs of them getting to work. On the other hand, at some of the high-end fine dining spots I chose to throw around my awesomely overvalued Australian dollars, the wait staff could have been clearing a thousand a night based on the level of patronage and a rough guesstimate of a 20 per cent tip.