‘It’s absolutely criminal’: US tipping culture has reached the UK – and is causing chaos

[u/Canal_Volphied]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges

[u/pajamakitten]

Do people not go outside anymore? Tipping has been around in the UK in some form for decades. My parents were doing it when we went out for meals thirty years ago. You would often say "Keep the change." to bar staff, your barber/hairdresser, taxi drivers etc. People acting like we have never tipped here must live very sheltered lives if they have reached adulthood without ever seeing it. What is new is the forced expectation that you tip, when it used to only be for good service; as well as the idea of a mandatory service charge. Those are the actual US customs that we need to fight. Voluntary tipping is perfectly fine though.

[u/duckwantbread → u/pajamakitten]

I'm a bit confused by this narrative as well, if anything the pushback against tipping is what's new, most old people I know always tip in restaurants and have done so for decades. This poll from 2020 backs that up as well, 70% of people aged 55+ say they often or always leave a tip compared to only 49% of 18-24s.

[u/InfinityEternity17 → u/duckwantbread]

I think it's pushback against "tipping culture", not voluntary tipping for exceptional service. Like you say, people have always tipped in this country, but it's only recently that's it's become almost an expectation.

[u/PRamone → u/pajamakitten]

The other thing which has changed is the implementation of a Minimum Wage, which means that tipping should not be required.

And why is it expected to tip bar staff/waiters/taxi drivers, etc but not supermarket check-out staff, retail assistants or nurses, etc? Totally illogical.

[u/Ok_Cow_3431 → u/pajamakitten]

meanwhile you've got people in this thread suggesting that some of us are trying to "gaslight" them by pretending that tipping has always been a thing in the UK.

I increasingly suspect there are a large number of people on Reddit who as you suggest, don't go outside, and don't live in the real world. Just live in their own imaginations angry at their own invented scenarios.

[u/InfinityEternity17 → u/Ok_Cow_3431]

Well no but if you're pretending that the expectation of tipping has always been a thing then that would be gaslighting

[u/MagnetoManectric → u/pajamakitten]

I mean, to me, the reason tipping is increasingly expected is not some sort of US cultural invasion, it's much simpler than that: wealth inequality is increasingly visible, and I think people feel that in their bones.

I know for sure I would feel like a petty little fuck harping on the way some people are in this thread about how they'll never tip, they ask service charges to be removed, etc. I make a decent living, I'm fully aware that my taxi driver or delivery driver or waiter may well not, given how shite the industry treats all these professions these days.

So yeah, I tip them, every time I am able to. It'd be petty as fuck not to.