Þjórfé

by Gunnar Birgisson

Icelandic Roots welcomes guest writer, Gunnar Birgisson. He offers his thoughts about an interesting Icelandic word.

Photo Credit: Tomwsulcer, Wikimedia Commons

There was no tradition of tipping in Iceland before the tourist boom that started this century. Tipping was considered crude, an unsavory practice from countries where employees were exploited. Under a better system, such as in Iceland, employees in restaurants and other service industries should be paid fairly by their employer rather than be subject to the whims and fickle generosity of customers. 

In earlier times, if you left money on a table in some café or restaurant, people on the next table would assume you'd forgotten it and shout to you as a favor that you forgot your change. Or they might just snatch it up, then use it to order another drink. If the waiter found money on the table, he or she might furtively gather it up as if it had been found on the sidewalk, wondering why it was still there. 

But times have changed. Now Iceland gets visitors from all over the world, bringing their own cultural practices regarding tipping and other things, but little knowledge of Icelandic traditions.

As a result, tipping has crept into Icelandic culture. Tour guides, in particular, have become used to receiving large tips from members of their groups. 

Icelanders believe that if these foreigners, especially wealthy Americans, want to start giving us more money for no good reason, we have no problem with that. Of course, everyone wants more money! If people want to give us lots of money, we’re not going to object. 

So, yes, as of a few years ago, tipping is absolutely part of Icelandic culture. Yes sir, big time! In fact, it's very rude not to tip! 

In this regard, we note that Americans and Canadians are known to be very generous tippers. What an awesome cultural tradition! God bless those wonderful people from the wide-open spaces of North America! We certainly don’t want the vacation memories of any American or Canadian visitor to be ruined by a bad conscience for not having generously tipped a bedraggled and rain-soaked Icelandic tour guide!