While in London, is it OK to tip using cash dollars?

You should tip in pounds. Since US dollars are not the currency of UK the person you are tipping would have to exchange your tip into pounds, which would be extremely inconvenient.

Are you serious? What do you think the reaction would be if a waiter in the US received a tip in British pounds? I imagine it would be the same reaction in London if you tipped in dollars!

Susan

hunterblu-

pounds, pounds, pounds.

Read this thread: "Tipping in Austria" and brace yourself for some "lecturing"
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34486804

Good luck!

My dear sir,

Why in the world would you ever consider that the Mother Country recognizes your poor excuse for currency?

Nylon stockings is what you should leave for a tip.

Ira:

I love your replies to these inane questions regarding tipping or 'gifts'
I have to assume that most of the questions that I see on this board pertaining to these issues are bogus questions. Tell me they could not be real.....please!

Oh, Dear God, you can't mean it!!!!!!

I HATE it when I see questions like this. Gives all Americans a BAD name!!!!!!

Tsk, tsk janis assuming that hunterblu is from the Americas. Maybe s/he is a misguided Aussie trying to tip in Australian dollars.

Hunterblu:

Don't let these guys make you feel stupid or like you asked a lousy question...you should always ask about stuff like this, if only to save the embarassment when you are actually over there.

I lived & worked in London for a while, and these people are correct. You should use the currency of the country where you are travelling.

If you are a first-time Europe traveller, you are absolutely starting in the right place by visiting London. Enjoy this great city and make sure you take the time to sit in a pub and meet some locals. They are truly the best part of this vibrant and welcoming city.

Have a terrific trip.

Indy: Wanna bet hunter blu is Australian (or Canadian for that matter)??

Thought not

Someone from the Commonwealth would never ask this question.

janis, why do you HATE it when you see questions like this?

A naive question was asked and answered.

The majority of people who frequent this board are Americans so it wouldn't be surprising to discover that hunterblu is US born.

So what.

Hi Allan,

>Tell me they could not be real.....please!<

As Willem Shaxsper once wrote

"'tis true, 'tis true, 'tis pity and pity 'tis, 'tis true"

(or something close to that)

allanc and ira, You both must be very well travelled and while the question appears inane to you, it might possibly provide information to others who are not.

Why the need for the smartass comments?

I must admit that there are some people who have not gotten the word that the dollar is the weakest currency of all the NATO countries except possibly for Turkey.

Tell you what hunterblu. What would you do it your paycheck came in the form of British pounds?

Hi obxgirl,

I admit that "there are no stupid questions".

I can only plead that I've had a long, hard day.

I apologise to those I might have offended.

The answer is simple - pay and tip in the currency of the country you are visiting. Understand if you pass on US dollars the service person you are giving the gratuity to, has to exchange the money same as you would/should.

If this is indeed a honest question- and not a troll please tip in Pounds. But no one has mentioned that a service charge is included on many bills and a tip is not needed in these cases. Also, Europeans tip a lower percentage than in Amrican- usually 5-10% not 15-20% in America.

Ignore all the cheap gibes.

The honest answer is "yes". Well, really "yes, but..." And it really isn't a stupid question.

About a million people a week arrive in London from a foreign country. Most of them are on some kind of business, mostly from countries that use the Euro or some kind of dollar, and all desperately short of time. Since metered cabs increasingly take credit cards, as do all tube and railway station ticket offices, many people arive at hotels with no real money to tip cab drivers or porters.

So it's not at all uncommon for people who receive tips to get them in funny money. And, since London isn't one of those insular villages like New York, getting funny money changed is very easy. Most cab drivers either pop into a bank once a week to change their dollars and Euros - or keep them in a pot at home to use on their next trip to Florida or the Algarve.

Since tipping is a trivial part of British life, cab drivers etc regard tips in Monopoly money as one of those irritating examples of bad manners that they get used to living with if they're dealing with the public.

They won't like you for it (but so what?). But you won't be the first, and they really have more things to concern themselves with than dwelling on just one more lazy, ill-mannered, visitor.

Tip in pounds, but dollars are better than nader!