Tipping in US dollars (in Italy)

Shauna, there are still many Americans who think that dollars are universally acceptable currency, and that everyone will be happy to get them. Maybe some of that comes from experience traveling in the Caribbean and Mexico, where dollars are always welcome. Yes, they were wrong to tip, and wrong to use dollars.

Cruise ship daytrippers?? In the Munich airport I was amusing myself by watching the drama of a group of Americans (all with those hanging "document holders" from their necks) and one of the older gentlemen in particular was totally clueless as to why the snack vendor would not let him pay in US Dollars. You just gotta wonder how in the world people arrive at such a mentality...to be so insulated from the rest of the world that they don't even understand the simple things like "not everyone in the world uses or wants US Dollars". And no, the reason Italians speak Italian is not just to aggravate the English-only speakers...which came from my own mother.

I don't think it is necessarily "wrong" to tip. It is just the norm that it is not expected. If I have exceptional service, I will round out the bill and give a couple extra euros, or whichever currency for which ever country. I guess it stems from being a waitress in my youth!

Hi stan
That must be it. I was just thinking that after converting the US dollars to Euros, there probably wouldn't be much left over after conversion fees! My post wasn't meant to be a criticism of the travellers as they were obviously doing what they thought was best, but more of a 'have to shake my head in disbelief' travel story :)

Shauna, yes those conversion fees. Could be up to €5 or even €10 as a flat fee to convert, which totally wipes out the US$5.
Not to mention the time. You have to find a bank with a Bureau de Change that is open, and depending where you are that may or may not be easy. And you may have to take time off work to change the money, which costs you more than US$5 in lost wages.
The US$5 would probably end up stuck up behind the till!

...My post wasn't meant to be a criticism of the traveler .....

It should be as they are obviously clueless as to proper behavior. And we wonder why the stereotype of the "ugly American tourist" continues.

Just so you know.. I travel to Mexico about once a year.. AIs in Mayan Riveria .. where tipping is customary.. and the fact is, while they will happily take a tip in American dollars, they actually prefer pesos because then they don't have to convert them. Stores that cater to tourists often have two prices listed.. American dollars and Pesos.. if you do the math, you come out ahead by paying in pesos.

We always take pesos to tip with, as do most of us who are regular visitors.. or get them from ATMS if there for longer visits.

I think the "dollar is king" mentality is a throw back to a few decades ago.

Since it was a tip that is generally not given in Italy, I'm sure the waiter still took it and was ok with it.

Five units of a foreign currency is still more than zero units of the local currency.

Pat, I was in a shop in a Mexican cruise port once, when a fellow cruiser showed me a disposable camera he was looking at which was marked 200$. He said "wow, things sure are expensive here". He asked the clerk, who said "si, two hundred". I realized later that he thought it was $200 USD, instead of 200 pesos (about $16USD at the time). Not sure if he bought it or not.

This was clearly not meant to be a financial tip, but a gift of portraits of the father of our country, George Washington. Just what every Italian wants.

I saw this happen on the week in Istanbul RS tour and it just made me cringe. There was a tip jar for the men who did the breakfast in the morning. A guy put a $1.00 bill in the jar. It wasn't the first morning we were there and a cash machine was about a block away. Hopefully he got some Turkish lire and used that the next time he tipped.

When I see people trying to use the USD anywhere it is not the standard currency, I wish they would think about how successfully a person can buy anything in the US using foreign currency.

Following up on Lo's post about trying to use foreign currency in the U.S., I remember when I was young and stupid (now I am old and slightly less stupid) trying to use Canadian dollars when we crossed the border into New York State. " Funny Money not accepted" is what we were told, adding insult to injury. Now the shoe is on the other foot for that type of American. How sad.

It boggles the mind that some tourists seem unable to turn scenarios around. If you were waiting tables in the US, would you want your tip in euros?

Michael! You gave me a great idea.
I'm going to a restaurant here in the Bay Area, pretending to be an Italian tourist, and leave a 20% tip, but in euro. See what they tell me.
Actually no! I'm going to an Indian restaurant in Fremont (half of the residents are Indian software engineers here) and leave a tip in Rupees.

Great idea Roberto, Go to an Italian restaurant and pay in Euros. If they object, say they can't be a proper Italian restaurant if the don't accept Italian currency. That is one way to get rid of leftover Euros.
And, if the have a 12-inch pizza on the menu, threaten to report them because if they were Italian it would be a 30 cm pizza.

There was a post recently where somebody asked if "per etto" (per 100 grams) on a menu in Italy was pounds or ounces. US tourists also need to know that nobody uses pounds or feet and inches for official measurements apart from the USA.

With the mention of India I remember when I was in Delhi on business a hotel porter approached me knowing I was English asking if I could give him rupees in exchange for a one pound coin someone had earlier given him as a tip.

In limited defense of some travelers, such as the old guy in Munich airport, thanks to smart registers many many airport vendors accept multiple currencies and give change in the local currency. Similarly, nowadays many merchants in towns in the US near the Canadian border accept Loonies without batting an eye.

For Norma's benefit I would like to add that 30 odd years ago, we pulled into a roadhouse bar in Sumas, WA. It was the big Saturday night hang out with loud rock and roll band, huge crowd, you know the kind of place. The entry to Canada was just down the street. We ordered a couple of beers and when we tried to pay, they were shocked. "We don't have any US money, only Canadian money!" They had to find a waitress who made change out of her own wallet.

Mike, I doubt many U.S. merchants are accepting our loonie " without batting an eye" considering that our poor old dollar is only worth 73 cents American. Hard times here.

Back to the OP, I think if I saw some Americans leave USD as a tip in Italy, I would tell the waiter I would be happy to exchange it on the spot for euros. You'd make a friend pretty quickly, I bet.

My husband works this in his favor. Whenever he and his colleagues get USD tips at the restaurant where he works, he kindly takes the USD (since we'll always use them when we go home) but I don't know that his colleagues get the best exchange rate out of him I'm sorry to say!!!

Norma, They don't bat an eye because the registers can convert the total to the customer's desired currency and they keep two cash drawers. Both Canadian and US merchants do it where we summer in the Eastport, ME-St. Andrews, NB area.

Many stores/establishments along the US/Mexico border take all Central American currency. My husband and many of my students came to the US this way and did not see/use American dollars until their local currency was spent.

I go to the Bahamas often, as well as Mexico and Costa Rica. US Dollars are often requested and preferred.

We've kind of wandered away from the original topic, haven't we?

I don't think so . . . we're still talking about using currencies other than those which are the currency of the country where one is . . .

Yes, we have wandered away from the original topic, which was using $USD for tips in Europe, specifically Italy. There is a huge difference between that and the use of $USD in countries bordering or very close to the USA. Experiences in the latter are irrelevant to the former The original poster was doing a service to the naive or uninformed traveler by clarifying this issue.