Originally Posted by
cbn42
It may matter to the recipient of the tip. Different countries have different ideas about which cultural differences matter and which ones don't. It may not matter to you, but as a traveler, you should consider whether it matters to the locals in the country you are visiting.
If a tip offends a server then he or she can tell me about it and return the money.
I've travelled in all the habited continents. Only once has a server returned a portion of a tip because he thought it was too much and it wasn't in Asia.