Many people think of this as "that spoiled brat", but it usually are the adults to condemn and the children to pity.

I was at a restaurant in Munich with maybe 10 friends and friends of friends. One of the friends of friends drank a little too much of the strong Munich beer before dinner and started snapping her fingers at the server. We were mortified and apologized to him. He was gracious and laughed at off. A few minutes later, he asked her what she wanted to eat. When she didn't look up, he snapped his fingers at her. She got mad. We all thought it was hilarious.

Also, don't assume that a server smiling at you and being nice to you means they like you. Being. Nice. Is. Their. Job.

The reverse is also true: waiters please don't touch your clients! (Much, much more rare, I know, but it happened to me once. It was just my lower arm, so no sexual intentions, but still not appreciated.)

In the Netherlands you can order all you like, but when the kitchen is closed, the kitchen is closed.

I've seen servers just walking away if the customer was phoning and ordering at the same time. I'd always tip these servers extra.

Does this happen frequently in most countries? Because in the two countries I live in, customers usually wait at the restaurant's entrance until a server attend to them. Except for fast food restaurants, but usually all the tables are not dirty because customers normally clean after themselves.

A good restaurant will have waiters who are able to explain the menu, and they will be able to advise in case a customers has certain allergies or disliked. Simply ordering something that is not on the menu is rude, **asking** for something that is not on the menu is just fine in my opinion. Asking for example whether a certain ingredient you do not find in any other dish is available should just be fine – an example would be particularly hot peppers in a place that does not regularly have so spicy dishes. If asked politely, you will just get a polite answer, sometimes even met with gratitude for real interest in what the place can offer.

People actually do this?

Yup, this. I worked in a restaurant for a bit, some years back, and people grabbing things off the tray can really unbalance a heavy tray. If the server removes things from the tray themselves, they can adjust their own balance, but not when people just randomly take things while you're trying to set it down, etc. Especially with lots of drinks. I once had someone plunge their hand into a load of drinks on a tray to get to their one, and they nearly knocked over all the others.

Taking others seats while they're in the bathroom?? What.the.fu*k?!?!?!???!?!?!?

That sounds less like a “don’t be on your phone” issue and more of a “treat your servers with basic human dignity” issue. Pulling out your phone should not be a problem to the server as long as you know how to be kind to others and not be a jerk to your server.

Sometimes I ask for ingredients to be taken out, gherkins in burgers for example. If they can't do it because the food has been prepped already, I'll just order something else.

Don't ever order a well done steak for any reason...

Check with the restaurant first perhaps with what they can and cannot do. Leaving out an ingredient isn't always that much of a problem. Let's face it though, if it has a menu where you can't find anything you like or can eat then pick somewhere else.

How should you address them then?

Most restaurants I've been to solve this by having little drawings of peppers next to the meal description. Green for mild, orange for medium and red for spicy (and those for from 1 to 3 depending on how spicy it is).

Rubbish. If diners are having to wait more than half and hour for their food the kitchen needs more staff, or to review their practices. 40 minutes is too long, even on a busy night.

Frankly, why again not ask politely? There might be a perfect rationale behind the place you are seated, which is hiden to you as a customer, but it might have been a random choice out of many options.

If it's reserved, shouldn't there be a note on the table saying so? If not, and there's no hostess to sit us down, how are we supposed to know which table is free and which one isn't? *Just mentioning that I said if there are no hostess, I did not say, what if the hostess is unavailable. The post makes no mention wether there is one or not, makes no mention of what type of restaurant it is (fancy or not).

Only in USA...

Not here in Germany; minimum wage by law. A tip is a nice addition but not essential for survival of the service staff

Tipping culture is so wrong in my opinion. I know that it is expected to tip 15-20% in the USA and I do it because I know that the staff needs it. But how is it my fault that it is allowed to employ a person and not pay them enough to make a living? When I go to a restaurant in the USA I always feel so ripped off, because the price on the menu doesn't include tax and doesn't include service.

In some countries waiters get paid like normal people. Tipping might even be considered rude and/ or is not understood.

Not if you live in a country where employers are legally obliged to actually pay their staff properly, ie everywhere except the USA

I've lived in the US my whole life and I still think tipping is ridiculous. How is it even legal? And furthermore as a restaurant owner how can you sit there and think its ok to pay your employees so little that you expect your customers to make a voluntary contribution to their salary just so they can have enough money to pay bills?

Only in the f****d up disco-ball that is USA!

This is something straight from USA. I've never understood tipping culture and I never will. On abroad I will always think is this too much or way too too little to tip people who service me. We have this thing called minium wage here in Europe (Finn on voice)

Get rid of the god damn tip system already. I hate it and a server should be paid by their employer, not by the good will of someone who really should have no obligation to tip someone for doing a job they should already be paid to do. It drives me up the wall. Oh, so you would have to raise the cost of your food? By what? 20%? Just raise the prices, pay your staff, and get rid of the tip system.

Except this depends on the country & culture. Please don't go tipping anywhere where it is considered insulting...

This is really something to bring up with your manager -- convince them to raise prices, pay you a reasonable wage, and go tip free. You'll never convince low tippers to increase their tips. My dad thought that the 10% standard when he was young is good enough and couldn't be convinced otherwise. When I went out with him, I either convinced him to let me leave the tip, or I'd sneak some extra tip on the table.

For the love of god, tipping is supposed to show appreciation for above-and-beyond behavior. I'm not being tipped at my job, why would I tip a bland waiter? I tip for exceptional food, for exceptional service, good advice, pleasant company, etc. But basic "take-my-order, bring-my-order, bring-my-check"? that's the minimum requirement at your job. Being respectful towards the people serving you is being a decent human, but paying extra for nothing extra should not be the norm. I don't care if you live off tips. Get employed somewhere else. Go on strike, force governments to ensure correct payment. Don't ride my wallet because your manager is crap. I swear i will join and support a strike of servers even though i've never been one, because living wage is normal, tipping by default is not!

If you, as an employer, won't pay your staff enough to be able to have a decent life without having to rely on tips, you should be ashamed of yourselves ; if you then raid that 'tip' pot to pay your staff, you need as seriously hard talking to - or a hard smack in the face by every member of staff you have robbed. Tips are appreciated but should not be both expected or obligatory ......

That is because we feed into it and now the big guys say "why pay a decent wags, they live off tips" But we can't forego the tips to see if we can change the system. I would rather someone get paid fairly because tipping is getting out of hand. We are expected to tip more, many people get angry they werent tipped, not all jobs get tipped, more places are expecting tips. I would LOVE to have childcare employees get tips since we are on the tipping boat (oooh, unintentional pun). To out a tip jar out for parents, oh dear. No, that wouldn't go over well. But maybe one day.