On 31Jul2021 1141, Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml
list) wrote:
>   When I was working at the local USAF airbase's 'Flight Line' cafeteria a 'Nam vet told me that it was considered very rude to ever show the sole of your foot or footwear.
> Also, a book I once read about 'Nam stated that tips were considered vulgar!The author hade a, native, character think to himself, after getting a tip;"Americans are so crude. But what does it matter if one of them is insulting?"
I understand that once upon a time tips were considered insulting in the
US - they were seen as something one gave unfree people and the
destitute. A free man works are a negotiated pay, not for handouts like
a beggar.

Tipping is something that's very variable over time and place. It was
not a thing AT ALL in New Zealand when I grew up. Nowadays you sometimes
see a 'tip jar' on a cafe or bar counter, but you don't tip waiters or
men staff directly here (though in the 90s in another city tipping
attractive young bar-staff in clubs and bars was a thing and made
barwork very profitable). You never tipped taxi drivers a decade ago
(and they weren't supposed to take them anyway), whereas now they seem
happy to 'keep the change' on solid over-payments.

That in some places people might find it insulting and react badly to
being tipped doesn't surprise me at all.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>