One of Europe’s most tedious habits is its reflexive sense of superiority over Americans.
Europeans consider themselves more intelligent than Americans (even though many more technological, medical, and economic breakthroughs come from America than from Europe). Europeans consider themselves more caring than Americans (even though Americans give seven times more to charity on a per capita basis, volunteer at far greater rates, and have the world’s most progressive tax system). They also like to ignore America’s heavy, if indirect, subsidization of medicine prices in Europe.
Yes, I’m ranting. But I got to thinking about European self-righteousness following a video published this month by an American tourist in Rome. In it, the American criticizes other American tourists for asking a restaurant server whether they could pay in dollars because the restaurant’s credit card system was supposedly down (it’s worth noting that some Italian restaurants like to pretend their system is down so they can avoid card fees and collect tax-evadable cash payments). The recording American concludes, “I used to think Europeans were too harsh on Americans, but now I don’t think they’re harsh enough.”
There are many idiotic things about this video. But perhaps the most glaring is its total ignorance of how heavily European restaurants rely on American tourists and their tips. More on that in a moment.
First, however, it’s worth emphasizing that tourism is a manifestly good thing for both Europe and America. It broadens horizons, exposes individuals to new cultures and history, and embodies the pursuit of happiness. Estimates also suggest that European tourists provide $43 billion to the U.S. economy each year, with Americans providing more than $50 billion to European economies.
We should also recognize that American tourists sometimes, and understandably, annoy their European hosts. Frequent complaints include a tendency to be loud, disregard for cultural customs, a simplistic or Instagram-centric interest in history (too many Americans know about the Colosseum because of the movie Gladiator), and a lack of effort to speak local languages.
Still, it is beyond farcical that so many European tourists think of themselves as beyond reproach.
For one, European visitors to America tend to be terrible tippers. The Europeans have, for decades, pretended this is because they don’t realize they are supposed to tip more in America. Certainly, European tipping culture is different. In contrast to the 18% to 20% tipping norm in America, Europeans rarely, if ever, tip at bars. In most European countries, restaurant bills only see tips of 5% to 10% for exceptional service. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, it is customary to tip 10% to 12.5% at restaurants, but never at pubs.
All that said, the European excuse for not leaving tips in America is highly disingenuous. Most European travelers are not idiots. Many have repeatedly traveled to the U.S. They know from past experience, conversations, or automatically included 18% to 20% tips on some bills that American tipping is different and that tips are the primary source of a server’s income.
But many Europeans choose not to tip because they prefer being cheap. From my time waiting tables in Florida and the Washington, D.C., area, I can personally attest that no server wants to get the European table! In contrast, European servers are desperate for the American tourist table.
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Like overly loud Americans, European tourists can also be rude. The French can be presumptuous and aloof, the Germans can be overly direct and dismissive, and the British can be, well, too drunk.
The point here is that we should all seek to be more gracious visitors when traveling abroad. But Europeans and their American quislings should stop pretending that they are without faults as tourists.