While old London coffee houses are generally credited as the birthplaces (a customer left a gratuity over and above the menu price "To Insure Promptness"), tipping has morphed into a mostly American custom.
Last year, fewer tourists than usual went to Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the birthplaces of the blues, and this was widely blamed on the fact that nearby Tunica is awash in cheap liquor and discounted motel rooms.