It ' s an irritating stereotype , and I ' m starting to wonder if it ' s a generational thing . Everyone I am friends with tips 1520 % whilst in the states , and at least 10 % at home London although most places now have it helpfully worked out on your bill basically what they want 12 . 5 % for example if you ' re in a group of 6 or more . In fact , I have family friends off to the states today , and the husband was teasing his wife that she couldn ' t do 20 % in her head and had downloaded a tip calculator . If people don ' t tip , or make up to the nearest 10 then they ' re just mean . The only thing I do that could be construed as a bit odd , is open up a tab at the bar so that rather than tipping a few dollars for every single drink , I just pay the whole bill plus 20 % at the end . I ' m unsure if that ' s the right thing to do , but it means I can pay on my card at the end and save my dollar bills for getting the kids ' ice creams or whatnot .