4.14 Tipping is un-American

There is this movie I love called "Palm Beach Story," from 1942. One of the characters, despite being a millionaire (self-made, if I remember correctly), carries around a little ledger and carefully keeps track of every penny he spends. One of his repeated lines is "Tipping is un-American."

I thought that was strange at first, but on some reflection, unlike most trades, with tipping there is no agreement in advance about price. At the end, one party has provided a value, but the other party is free to pay anything they feel like for it—even nothing at all. It occurs to me that the reason someone in 1942 might have said tipping is un-American is that then, at least for some old-fashioned people, the issue would have been less about ‘us versus the communists,’ but of ‘us versus the aristocracy.’ Working without a guarantee of payment puts people in a position they might not like if they associate it with being servants (read: slaves) to an aristocracy.

On the other hand, I have a friend who used to serve sushi at a place in Colorado and make okay money. But now he’s making mad gobs of cash doing the exact same job—but he’s doing it in a place where movie stars and billionaires go to eat. And lets face it, nobody’s putting a gun to his head making him work there.

Personally I like to tip decently if I can. And really well if she’s cute.

2007.3.30
Based on a post to objectivismonline.net