Am I in the wrong for not tipping my tour guide?
I recently visited Texas and did a 7-hour guided day tour ($120 USD) with hotel pickup/drop-off. The guide was fine, but not particularly engaging — it felt more like he was just driving us between stops rather than actively guiding.
At the end of the tour, I realized I only had $1 cash on me instead of the $20 I thought I had. I told him I wanted to tip but didn’t have cash, and asked if I could PayPal or Venmo him. He said he didn’t know how to use those.
I apologised and explained I didn’t have any other way to tip, thanked him for the tour, and said I’d leave a 5-star review instead. He just stood there staring at me awkwardly, like he was expecting me to pull cash out of thin air. He made the situation really uncomfortable and it sort of put a negative vibe on the end of the afternoon.
For context: I’m Australian and not very familiar with tipping culture in the US. It was booked through a tour company.
Am I in the wrong for not tipping in this situation?