Service in Calgary (can't speak for the rest of Canada but I am assuming it is the same) is freakin' terrible. I lived in the great city of Calgary my entire life until moving down to the states and although I knew the service was bad in Calgary, I didn't realize how bad until I moved to Houston.
In Calgary the norm is to tip 15%. Waiters/waitresses/bartenders all expect 15%. The service may be slow, drinks may take forever, the food may come out wrong but at the end of the meal if you don't tip at or above the 15% than YOU are considered cheap.
Down here in Houston they work for your tip. They know if they don't do a good job there is another person waiting in line for their job. Drinks always seem to come out faster and the people delivering them usually have better attitudes. I almost always tip more than 20% down here... for one, the service staff generally need their tips to compensate for lower wages (unlike Alberta's $9.95 minimum wage) and two, they more than earned it with their great service.
I realize I making some generalizations here but if you have ever lived in both cities you will see the insane difference in service.
-FoB
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