What you and the parent say are not inconsistent. You tip taxis by "rounding up", but the parent says he never tips. By American standards, rounding up (i.e.,

What you and the parent say are not inconsistent. You tip taxis by "rounding up", but the parent says he never tips. By American standards, rounding up (i.e., up to 50 cents) is not tipping. Taxi drivers in the U.S. and Canada expect 10-15%, or even more in New York City, though their expectations have probably gone down since Uber arrived. The parent say "tipping is only common on restaurant bills". I'm pretty sure that the parent is referring to the 10% service fee, which is always optional, but that everyone pays unless the service was really bad[1]. You don't call that tipping but since it's optional, it's very similar to a tip. [1] http://brazilsense.com/index.php?title=Tipping,_fraud,_and_shop_etiquette#Tipping http://brazilsense.com/index.php?title=Tipping,_fraud,_and_s...