And the tip… more New York

Tip sounds as for bellboys at luxurious hotels and wealthy people like Scrooge McDuck, but in New York even the most shabby hamburger restaurant requests the corresponding tip for the waiter.

Drinking a $2 dollar coffee involves spending $3 in all, and having a $12-menu for dinner means to pay at least $15.

In general, waiters devote themselves to please clients, but of course, it's normal; after all, their salary depends on clients. Waiters don't have a salary and all their profits come from tips. In short, they live from tips.

As you hear this, you may think: can one live from the little cent coins people leave by the bill? In New York, as in the United States in general, tip is obligatory. It's some kind of unwritten law.

Tourist guides say so, but there are many restaurants and bars that cover their backs and ask for the tip in the bill, in case any absent-minded has not heard about that. They give you the mythical little paper written by the waiter himself and tell you the service is not included and to pay, after all!

The thing is funny. You pay the $30 of the dinner religiously and then the "humble waiter" decides that his marvellous service has an additional cost of around euro6. Curious, isn't it?

The tip is a code request. Even when the service is not very agreeable and verges on rudeness, you must leave the corresponding tip of the 20 to 30 percent of the bill for the sir in question.

Pretending you don't know and ignoring the tip is not punished with jail terms, but actually it can make you have an embarrassing time. They follow you and demand what they deserve. It may look surrealist, but it's as real as the tip I just left at the café I'm writing in.

I used to be furious about tips, but eventually, one gets used to anything, and as a Spanish saying goes: "wherever you go, do what you see."

But last week I visited Ferrara, one of the most luxurious Italian ice-cream parlours in the city, and left the tip more reluctantly than ever. Paying $5.50 for each coffee is already painful in itself, but if you have to tip a bad-mannered and rude waitress, the thing is even worse.

As you can see, New York has quite a lot of things to show, and despite the many tips to pay, it's worthwhile.

Without tip, but once again, this is New York.