A quik query about tipping at the local tip.do you tip the tip worker after you tipped without any aid from the tip?

Yes.Tipping is part of the cost of travel.People who dont work that into their cost of travelling are idiots.

We found that tipping is not expected quite so much in the UK. We asked a young man to help us carry our luggage up the stairs at a tube station in London. My husband then offered him a 20 dollar bill which he refused.

How many tourists tip at the tip when on a trip? They do their tipping before they do their tripping.<BR>However if you tip at the tip and you tip without the aid of the tip attendant then you don't tip him although you could give him a tip for the 2.30 at Cheltenham.<BR>However if he has an untidy tip and you trip at the tip, then you certainly wouldn't tip him.

&gt; My husband then offered him a 20 dollar bill which he refused.<BR><BR>Martha, I'm sure your husband offered the money as sincere thanks but USD20.00 seems much too much to me. It could be taken just maybe in a negative way. I don't know, however, the exact circumastaces. Maybe you had tons of luggage. Also many people who offer such help out of kindeness (opposite to professional porters) will not take money at all, 1 or 20 dollors, it doesn't matter, i suppose.<BR>

I'm confused about that refusal to take the $ 20. Are you talking about a total stranger whom you asked or who offered to help you? Why would that be different in the UK? If I were in the states and offered to help someone or even if they asked me, I wouldn't take the money either. And was it US money you offered? If so, how rude of you!!

It's a PUN!!! In England 'tip' is what the garbage dump is called. <BR>Arne is being clever asking if one tips ( gives money) to the dump worker if one has not required the assistance of the dump worker , but instead has dumped ones own garbage.

Martha<BR>Let me too understand--you got to the tube station without any pounds in your pockets?? What were you thinking?The problem we Americans have in the world is exactly the picture you have painted---that US$'s rule the universe!!If you had just gotten to London ther's places in the airport you could have changed your money.What is a local guy in London gonna do with a US$20 bill!!! I agree that you were rude.There were other ways to get around your desire to &quot;tip&quot;.

Can you remember, we discussed tipping the pilot some weeks ago and reached a concensus that it's far more civilised just to give him a bottle of local wine or spirits.<BR><BR>Then tip the rest of the crew out.

We had a VERY heavy suitcase to transport down some stairs. I was afraid the handle would give way so we asked a young man passing by if he'd help us take it down to the platform. This he did, but seemed rather shocked when we proffered the bill. Yes,it was in dollars but that was all we had at the time. I fear that he may have taken us giving him money, like he was a bum or something. We were very grateful for his help.

I am afraid I am a bit upset inside myself when people offer me a tip. I know they mean well, that they want to thank me, that they come from another culture. But in England, indeed in Europe, you tip people who are in a service that receives tips. My list is waiters (not busmen), taxi drivers, minicab drivers, drivers of busses on day tours, hairdressers, and sleeping car attendants (but not couchette car attendants). If I think other people need the money I ask them before they start the service Shall I pay you, and abide by their reply. People doing some services I do not even ask, but I do stop to thank people I see sweeping and picking up litter on streets and railway stations, on the grounds that they are doing a useful and ill-paid service for the community.<BR><BR>Why am I myself upset when tipped ? I am afraid the root is snobbery: does this stranger think that I am a menial worker of a category that gets tips. That root seems the more likely when I pause to consider that I never mind being given a bottle of wine.<BR><BR>Some of this is complicated, but the key thing is a smile.<BR><BR>I should be glad if you would tell me: if a passing young man in America helps an old man lift a suitcase, does the old man tip him ?<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR><BR>

Ben, tipping in the States is much more common than in England, and its my experience that more people, especially the young, here expect a little something from you in return for their help. We were just trying to express out gratitude to that (charmingly English) young man. So what if we offered him dollars, if he had taken our tip all he needed to do was go to a bank to have it converted to stirling. I feel bad thinking that I may have insulted him - he was in no way rude to us; just politely said something like &quot;No thank you - glad to have helped&quot;

xxx may have taught me another difference between our societies. When I was younger I was charmed to be asked to help, and now I need help myself at times the young of London seem perfectly cheerful, especially as I thank them. Often before they leave me they ask if I need any further help.<BR><BR>I am poor nowadays at carrying a bike and shopping bags up stairs at railway stations. I seldom ask for help, but always accept an offer of help. I could avoid this by going shopping in a minicab, but I need the gentle exercise of cycling. I have similar trouble even with an unloaded bike when going to a lecture or film show. I could buy a television set, but that does seem a big price to pay for the ability to refuse offers of help. Travelling on the continent with a roller suitcase I can only just lift it up onto a luggage rack myself. I could cease such travel, but any reader of this forum knows what a blow this would be.<BR>

Martha, I disagree about the dollars, though I understand you meant well. &quot;All he had to do was change the bill at a bank&quot; well, yes, but with minimum charges and costing his queuing time at a realistic rate (you generally have to go to a separate counter for foreign exchange)..... <BR>after all, you hadn't had time to go to a bank.