Tip
A tip (also known as gratuity) is a small amount of money received by some service sector professionals from persons they serve, in addition to or instead of a formally required payment. These transactions are governed by social custom.
There are no standing rules or obligations concerning whether to tip (tip is both a noun and a verb), who to tip or how much. It varies from being considered rude to offer a tip (the other may find it degrading, as if (s)he is a beggar) to being considered very stingy not to give a tip. Also it may be worse to give a very small tip than to give nothing.
Some establishments forbid their employees to accept tips. Others pool tips and divide them to include employees who don't have customer contact.
Tipping by region
In the United States and Canada, these people are likely to expect to be tipped:
Gratuity is generally 15-20%. As a rule, owners are never tipped.
In Sweden, a tip of the lowest denomination may be given as a sign of approval to a waiter who has given exceptionally good service, but never anything else.
In Australia, tipping is almost universally non-existent; in most cases offering a tip to a service provider is a highly offensive act. However, in certain restaurants and hotels in larger Australian cities such as Sydney or Melbourne tipping is optional.
Etymology
A folk etymology for tip states it is an acronym that stands for "to insure promptness". However, the Oxford English Dictionary states that it is derived from the English thieves' slang word tip, meaning "to pass from one to another". The notion of a stock tip or racing tip is from the same slang.
