Bad tippers

Compared to other residents of Western Europe and the U.S., Italians are stingy with their gratuities: According to a recent poll, 62 percent of English tourists are regular tippers, followed by the French and then, far behind, the Italians. (American tourists are on par with the Brits.)

Few Italians tip even when they're home--not in cabs, restaurants or hotels. I figure there are several explanations for this miserliness: Italian restaurants usually add a "service" charge meant to cover the water and bread brought at the start of a meal. Waiting tables is a career here, as it is in France, so base salaries are higher. And finally, Italian wages on the whole are much less than those in Northern Europe--$29,000 a year in 2007.

Still, Italian waiters seem to expect a little something from American diners...