Even before getting to the main point, bringing that money into USA as a traveler / visitor will be a hurdle as a threshold exceeding $10,000 must be declared upon entry. Will they allow the entire 5000 OMR stack in or would that be confiscated even when declared?
Like this: after paying for the food in $, suddenly giving them more money: I’m only a visitor (as I only have foreign currency, i.e. Omani Rial in cash) being like, “Here is 5000 OMR ($13,020) for your efforts” so despite that being a lot of money, will they take it?
Why are you coming here with the possibility of being snatched up and being put in a detention facility? Spend your money in a country that values your visit.
Money is money, but I’d consider it a dick move, like “Here’s your tip. I’m not above giving it to you, but I’m going to make you take an extra trip to your bank to use it.”
ATMs dispense cash in the currency of the country you’re in.
If you’re giving out money, the server will take it.
If they don’t understand what OMR is, and nobody in the US does, they will have no idea how much you gave them. They don’t know if you made them rich or insulted them. So, don’t expect an appropriate reaction, and don’t expect anyone to be able to give you change.
Some people enjoy holding on to foreign currency, and if you threw in a small OMR bill with the rest of the money in US$, they might just keep it as a collectible and never exchange it at all.
Overall, I would avoid paying in ANY foreign currency in the US. Most vendors will refuse it.
OMR bill
The highest denomination is 50 OMR ($130).
Yeah, I don’t know anyone who would know what to do with that.
I’ll give you advice for a large tip
Tipping after paying is normal. Tipping in foreign currency is not. If it’s that large of a tip, and you explain the conversion rate, I imagine most people would be thrilled. But if an unknown or average amount in OMR is the only tip you give at a restaurant, their first reaction may be anger, as they will be expecting an approximately 20% tip in US dollars.
Here is 5000 OMR ($13,020) for your efforts
The only place where such kind of tips are accepted is the really expensive hotels.
Among normal people, nodody would take you for serious, nobody would believe this is real money etc.
People would curse you, tell you to go away, or worse.
They wouldn’t know how much it was, and they wouldn’t know how to exchange it. But they’d probably go to their bank with the note(s) and the bank would tell them how and where to exchange it.
There are ATMs all over the place, and they usually charge about $5.00 or less. You can take up to $500.00 at a time.
You can pay with a card [debit or credit] and ass a tip that way.
%15 is a good tip, 20% is generous.
It varies with the server and how much work was done. If you explain it to the person it might go better. At some places the server gives a cut to other staff that help with the table. At cafes with a tip jar it is divided up at the end of the shift. The only certain rule is don’t tip with those fake half bills with a religious flyer on the other side.
