Begging for tips?

I've been to 2 T.G.I. Friday's in the last month. I ordered the same salad at both, and both were pretty good. What irked me is that at the Olympic area Fridays, when the waiter brought the bill, I put money down on the table for him to take it. He then looked at my friend (who is Chinese) and asked her if the change would be a tip. She looked at him with a puzzled look, and he then asked her, "did you think I had good service? Can you give me a tip?" Of course we refused, tipping not being a part of the culture here, but we were very shocked that the waiter had the nerve to basically beg us for money. This is actually the second time at this particular location that I've been asked for a tip, and another friend had it happen to her as well, but I'm not sure which location she was at.

I would have given more stars, but the begging for a tip just rated the whole experience down a couple of notches in our book. We would have asked to speak to the manager about it, but there weren't many wait staff there and the place was starting to get busy.