Russia

Submitted by Vladimir Patryshev

Restaurant

You tip the waiter. If there are none, you do not tip anyone. The amount of the tip varies; since no one uses credit cards, the amount due is rounded to the nearest whole number. Taking into account that the tip should not be too small or too big – between 3% and 20%, depending on how much the waiter impressed you or how much you are going to impress the general public. Say, if you pay $30 for a pizza in Pizza Hut in Moscow (which happened to me), a tip of $1 is probably enough – they’ve already overcharged 2 or 3 times – and this is normally taken into account as well. Also, since there is winter most of the time in Russia, there is a heavy wardrobe all the time, and here you have to tip the person who will help you put on your coat. The sum depends on the quality of the restaurant; $1 would be very generous in most cases – remember that you are a foreigner, and you are supposed to be filthy rich (“all foreigners are rich!”) and give away the money just because of it.

(edited for spelling and content where appropriate)