The Tipping Taboo

小费禁忌

来源: https://www.bbc.co.uk

官方翻译

It's nice to go out for a meal at a restaurant.

外出去餐厅吃饭是件美事。

What makes it extra special — apart from the food — is to receive attentive service from the staff.

令其格外特别的——除了食物——是能享受到服务员周到的服务。

What can leave a bad taste in your mouth, though, is to be handed the bill and see that a service charge has been added.

尽管收到账单看到增加了一项服务费会给你留下不愉快的记忆。

You're faced with the dilemma of deciding to pay it, and whether you should add a tip on top.

你面临着支付账单和决定是否添加小费的两难境地。

Putting your hand in your pocket to reward good service is a personal choice, but it also depends on where you are in the world.

掏钱酬谢优质的服务是个人选择，但也取决于你所处的地方。

What is the norm in one city is not necessarily the norm in another.

在某个城市是惯例的事情在另一个城市不一定如此。

In some places a tip is expected; but in others, good service should be expected and ought to be included in the price.

在某些地方付小费是应该的，但在其它地方，优质的服务是理所当然，它包含在餐费里。

Adding an optional service charge to your bill certainly makes paying a tip less awkward because there's no need to calculate the amount.

把非强制性的服务费放进账单确实让支付小费不显得那么尴尬，因为你不用计算小费。

But even though it's not compulsory, you sometimes feel obliged to pay it.

但即使服务费不是强制性的，有时你仍觉得必须支付它。

In the UK, where people tend to be too polite to complain, they might pay the service charge despite quietly complaining that the service they received was not up to scratch!

在英国，人们往往过于礼貌而不会去表达不满。即使他们悄悄埋怨受到的服务未达到标准，但仍然会支付服务费。

Choosing your own amount to tip may seem fairer, but should you pay it in cash or add it on to a credit card payment?

自己选择小费的支付额度似乎更公平，但应该用现金支付还是信用卡支付呢？

And who will be the recipient?

以及谁是收款方呢？

If we are to pay extra, we want to know it goes to the person who deserves it and that it's not used as an alternative to paying someone a proper wage.

如果我们要支付额外费用，我们想知道这笔钱是给了应得的人，而不是被用作支付他人工资的替代品。

In the UK in 2009, the law was changed after an outcry over staff being paid under the minimum wage and then topping up their wages with money they had earned in tips.

在英国，人们抗议发给员工的薪酬低于最低工资标准并拿他们挣得的小费补足工资。在2009年，相关法律得以修改。

However, in the US it's still customary to leave a gratuity because tips often make up a substantial part of a server's income.

然而在美国，给小费仍是习惯，因为小费常常是服务员工资的一大部分。

Restaurant owner William Beckett told the BBC that in New York, for example,

餐厅老板威廉·贝克特告诉英国广播公司，以纽约为例，

"There's a tacit pressure to tip. Theoretically you could just stand up and walk out. You don't. Everybody tips 20%."

“支付小费是隐性压力。理论上你本可以起身就走。然而你不会。每个人都要支付20%的小费。”

Maybe we should follow Japan's approach, where tipping under any circumstance may seem rude because good service is standard and expected.

也许我们应该采用日本的方法。在日本，任何情况下支付小费似乎都是粗鲁的，因为优质的服务是标准和理所应当。

Elsewhere, there are calls for restaurants to replace the tipping system with a so-called "hospitality-included" charge — a single payment which covers both the meal and the service.

在别处，人们呼吁餐厅采用所谓的服务费包括在内的收费方式——一种既包含餐费又包含服务费的单一付款方式，以此来取代小费制度。