>>>>Here, at the end of the meal the server usually says, "Can I bring you anything else?" I'm tempted to reply, "No, absolutely nothing". Then, when she brings the bill, I would say, "But you said you weren't going to bring me anything else!".
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>>>I managed to confuse a few people in the US by spreading my hands wide, like a bragging angler, while saying "so long" on departure.
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>>I'm sure they (the minimum wage serving staff) admired you all for turning normal social pleasantries into some sort of sarcastic linguistic exercise
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>Are you serious? I was a waitress for years and pleasant natured customers were the best customers to have... Don't your waiters/waitresses get tips over there or is it like most of Europe where the tip is included in the bill? It was difficult for me to not tip when I was in Europe - it's how we show our appreciation for great service (or even not so great service when you can tell the waiter is really trying or maybe just having a difficult time) Being a waitress can be very stressful and exhausting, a little humor helps.
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>On my first day of waitressing I dropped blueberry pancakes on a customer by accident. The gentleman's face almost turned blue. He was so angry but he stayed. When he left, he dropped a tip large enough to pay 1/4 of my rent on the table (maybe he thought I was going to be fired :o) The customers from Europe were interesting to have for discourse, but no one wanted them in their section, because they always either didn't leave a tip at all, or computed it to exactly 15%.

Yep, giving a tip is not that common over here. I had to learn it the hard way that you do differently in the US. I like the service in the US. Much friendlier than in most european places where the tip is included in the bill. OTOH, I'd like to see on the menu how much money I need to have in my pocket. Esspecially the practise to show prices before tax in shops have bitten me a few times. Why the #@!@# are they doing that?