Bring on the War Against Tipperism

Penny for your thoughts...and your service!

by Sean Carter
10/01/04

It seems that every half century or so, a great American arrives on the scene to change the very fabric of American life. For instance, in 1955, Rosa Parks made her stand against racism by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Well, almost on cue, 49 years later, another American, Humberto A. Taveras, has stepped forward to confront injustice.

Earlier this month, Taveras was out to dinner with eight friends. Not satisfied with the service, the Taveras party left a tip of less than 10 percent and proceeded to walk out of the restaurant. However, before they could make their “getaway,” they were told that they were subject to a mandatory 18% gratuity because of the size of their party.

While most of us would have bowed to the pressure to pay an unearned tip, Taveras is made of stronger stuff. Therefore, following in the footsteps of Parks and others, he chose instead to go to jail on the charge of theft of services. In doing so, he struck the first blow in the war against tip terrorism, or as I like to call it, “tipperism.”

We are all increasingly becoming victims of tipperism. It seems that everywhere we go; someone is pushing a tip jar under our noses. In short, we’re all now expected to just start handed out money to strangers as if we were Oprah Winfrey during sweeps week.

This wasn’t always the case. As you probably know, the term “tips” started out as an acronym – To Insure Prompt Service. By giving TIPS, you were paying for better service.

Yet, nowadays, we’re expected to give tips regardless of the level of service. For example, there is a tip jar on the counter at my local Starbucks. And even more than that, it has money in it. This means that some of us are actually tipping people for the great “service” of handing coffee across the counter to us. Apparently, before we began tipping for this service, they used to make you hop behind the counter and drink the coffee directly from the machine.

In a very real sense, receiving tips is now viewed as a “right.” How else could you explain the concept of a “mandatory gratuity”? It’s an oxymoron, much like jumbo shrimp, friendly fire, or government worker. After all, if it’s mandatory, then it’s not a gratuity and vice versa. In fact, the authorities have agreed and dropped the charges against Taveras.

However, we shouldn’t let it go at that. Now is the time for the rest of us to join the battle. We should organize boycotts and “tip ins.” We should even have a March on Seattle, the home of Starbucks.

My fellow Americans, I have a dream; a dream of a world where a person is tipped not for the color of their uniform; but for the quality of their service. I have a dream of a day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old consumer spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I don’t have to tip your lazy #$%!"

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Sean is a practicing attorney who writes a weekly humor column on current legal events called "Lawpsided." Lawpsided pieces appear in a growing number of general circulation papers across the country, including The Los Angeles Times. Moreover, his musings on the law appear on nationally recognized websites, such as jewishworldreview.com, findlaw.com, newsmax.com and etherzone.com, and legal publications, such as The National Law Journal and The Los Angeles Daily Journal. Lastly, he is a regular contributor to national magazines like Razor and Tirade. If you would be interested in publishing this piece or seeing other samples of his work, please feel free to contact him by e-mail, by phone at (626) 786-2095, or through his website at:

www.lawpsided.com