Good tip, thank you!

UPDATE I am seriously getting a handle on my tipping excesses....I did throw our driver a USD$20 for safely delivering us from Heathrow, but have not tipped anyone in the UK for anything for four full days in spite of my urges. I discovered a sneaky little 10% service charge added on our lunch bill today in Bath but let it pass without incident. We will join the QM2 tomorrow, where dozens will wait hours in line to sniffly demand the purser remove standard and obligatory gratuities accumulated each day for the staff. I will not be among them, and in fact will give our steward and servers an additional amount for their kind and attentive efforts, which will literally infuriate many on the Cunard websites and drive them mad. But I am doing much, much better. Some addictions are just hard to overcome. ☮️

Well on your way to recovery

Just one teensy niggle (not so teensy really) . . . did you actually give your driver 20 DOLLARS? They do use £ there, not $. It'll cost him quite a bit to convert that. Back home would you be happy if someone tipped you 20 € or 20 ¥ or 20 £? Thought not . . .

Yes! A crisp, new $20 bill! Surprisingly, he did not refuse it ...nor did it appear to skew the local economy! He says one grandkid takes all his tips in dollars, the other grandkid takes all his Euros. Essentially, I have contributed to some kid's college fund!

Using dollars in Europe is horrifying, especally since the value is going down.

Of course he didn't refuse. He has some manners -- just sayin'

Reading intended tone is sometimes difficult to interpret on-line. I do hope you weren't as proud about doing that as it sounds in your post.

What janisj said.

wildiowa, you seem to want those from outside the U.S. to honor our tipping norms (see post #5), so maybe you would do well to honor tipping norms for other countries -- even if you find it difficult. JMO.

Satire...the most dangerous form of humor. Super risky. DANGER. But, like tipping, I sometimes simply can't resist. My driver was £15.01 richer after our encounter, at todays exchange rate. Tomorrow it may be £14.56, or perhaps £15.78. He did not seem to mind.

No, he will not be £15.01 richer. You apparently don't understand buy/sell foreign exchange rates?? It will likely cost him about $4/£3 to exchange -- and that is only if he can find someplace that will exchange such a small amount. Using one's own currency in another country is just plain bad-manners . . .

Trying not to pile in, but imagine next time I'm in the States and I leave a brand new Ford gear box for my waiter. Yes very valuable and in keeping with the sort of 20-30% US tipping rate, just incovenient and kinda of weird.

Another thing about satire...leave it to professionals. Don't try it at home! We've had much fun with the tipping thing the past few days, in large part due to this discussion. Last night I was presented with our bill at the table and the tip screen came up. I froze. I told the waiter I was going to be in trouble with the scolds who hassle people about tipping....and hit the 10% button..Almost £8. Not in US cash, nor a Ford gearbox. We laughed, began talking, I learned he was here from Italy, working two jobs with a wife and two children aged 3 and 6, could not afford to live where he worked because tourism has skewed rents, so they lived 10 miles away...a hard working industrious young man trying to make a go of it. So I gave him the equivalent of a Ford windshield wiper refill. Not a Ford rear end, but more modest so as not to offend anyone. Big deal. If it bought the baby a bottle of milk or the family a pound of hamburger, great. I can go thru life being optimistic, happy, joyful and spreading around a few bucks to young hardworking folks and Grandpa's, or I can be a miser, put on a green accountant visor, count my gold coins each night alone and worry about the exchange rate and if the guy lost £2 in cashing out my $20USD. On to Southampton..where the debate rages and people stand in line for hours to demand the evil tips be instantly and permanently removed from their account! While I spend those hours relaxing and throwing around dollars with wild abandon! /s/

Wildiowa, I don’t recall anyone saying you should never tip. Just observe the norms of the country you are visiting, and tip accordingly with the local currency. The only place I have heard of people refusing a tip is Australia, where service workers are paid a living wage. In the USA waiters could never live on their hourly wage, and depend upon tips to supplement their income. In this case a generous tip for good service is the norm.

in some countries it’s difficult to exchange foreign currency, eg safari guides in Africa, and they are ripped off when they try exchange $, £, € etc for their home currency.

I saw my first tip jar in Kyoto, Japan two weeks ago.

There is a 12%-15% added to my restaurant bill in London.

cafegoddess's appalling reports give weight to the arguments against imposing U.S.'s tipping norms on other countries. I honestly don't understand why its so hard for some of my countrymen to avoid throwing money around and proving that "ugly Americans" are still alive and well and traveling.

What is this ugly American talk?!

This is hopeless. Most Americans are stuck in their ways, no matter what anyone says.

As I see it, failure to adjust to the norms of another culture, instead imposing one's own cultural norms, is ugly. And as I see it, throwing money around when it is not appropriate is ugly. You are free to see it differently.

Among the consequences of these behaviors: Japanese people are forced to provide a way to allow tips without actually accepting them. (That began happening in South Korea nearly a decade ago.) The recommended percentage for tips in other countries rises. Local people have difficulty getting service because service providers favor Americans. (That began happening in Beijing 15 years ago.) IMO, these are sad and unnecessary outcomes.

A pub in Malmo offfered a tipping option up to 25% when I used my Canadian credit card. When my Swedish friend saw that he gave the server heck.
"It is not me, it is the management"
Apparently, North American cards trigger the tip option.
March 2025

Gerainger, Norway, a Disney tour was staying at the same hotel.
Resturant bills had a line to add a tip.
I drew a big X across.

Tipping in Norway, of all places!
September 2025