Thanks, that's helpful. Although, strictly speaking, the first sentence is true in the US as well. Although you won't make any friends if you don't tip, particularly in a restaurant.
As I have not traveled much outside the US, I also have a naive question. Should I tip only in the local currency, or are dollars appreciated as well? I won't have any local currency until I can get to an ATM, so can I just tip in dollars when I arrive?
Thanks,
AGS
Local currency is the lev, € is widely accepted, and hotel prices are often quoted in euros. If you can try to tip in euros. They don't see many americans, so probably your tip in USD would not be helpful for many of them: the rate to exchange USD to lev, for a small amount of money, is extremely unfavourable.
My suggestion: no need to tip the bus or car driver, a thank you and a smile are enough. You can give some USDs to the bellman, working in a large hotel is not a problem for him to exchange dollars. Hotel bar: charge the tip on the bill. I suppose that when you will go to the restaurant you will have your leva available: many restaurants accept only cash.