I was under the impression that in Britain a tip added to the tab and put on a credit card belonged to the restaurant, but if it was left on the table it belonged to the server. Has this changed?

In very busy bars in cities, you usually have to pay for your coffee at the cash register and then give the receipt to the person making the coffee. In less busy bars, and in rural areas, you order your coffee, drink it, and then go to the cash register to pay your bill.

In either case, it's not common policy in Italy to leave a tip on the counter, although, as I said, in areas with a lot of tourists, they're beginning to expect it. I've even seen tip jars left on counters lately.

I don't know why you'd leave the receipt along with the tip. It doesn't make sense to me. Is it so they can see if you calculated the percentage correctly?

Also, it's no longer required for the customer to keep the receipt to show to an eventual finance police officer after leaving the bar. The law was changed some years ago. The bar is still required to issue a receipt, but the customer is not obliged to show it to anyone. Now most people throw out their receipts before leaving the bar.

>> I am sick of London based national restaurant chains pushing card machines in front of me with the first question " how much do you want to tip"<<

Those pushy Brits. Tsk-tsk.

Is it really possible to tip a cow???

Cows are pretty darn stable, with those four legs at the corners. The supposed cow-tippers claimed they did it while the cows were asleep, apparently not knowing that cows lie down to sleep.

Thanks jaja,
I had a feeling people were pulling my leg.Guys always say that when cows are sleeping you can tip em over.

Your average cow weighs around 1,000 pounds so, while they theoretically can be tipped, it would take several people and some adult beverages to get 'er done. And once the cow realizes what the heck is going on, she is not going to cooperate.

It does depend where you push them, as Mao said, give me a big enough lever and I can move the Earth.

Δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω.
or in english : Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth.
Archimedes 287 BC - 212 BC :)