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The most common insult hurled at it was “offensively un-American”… tipping was blamed for encouraging servility and degrading America’s democratic, puritanical, and anti-aristocratic ethic. European immigrants surging into the U.S. were charged with bringing this deplorable custom with them. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/11/30/457125740/when-tipping-was-considered-deeply-un-american
"What's he saying?"
"He asking whether you think he looks like a beggar."
@estherschindler
If you want to make someone in Japan upset, try giving them a tip. The way they see it, you're insinuating that they must be paid so poorly they need charity to get by.
I rode in a Tokyo cab with a American executive, and got out first, and grimaced when he tried to tip the driver. The driver —who was wearing a three-piece suit and white gloves — wouldn't touch the bill, but scowled, and muttered something in Japanese.