Let's keep the discussion away from what your state or country's actual laws are and more talk about what policy you'd want to live by and whether or not it'd be feasible where you live.

So news broke out today, or at least the news article that's trending right now is a famous NFL football player tipped only $0.20 on ~$60 burger joint bill. This particular player probably makes around $9.7 million a year, which apparently is incredibly relevant because the media is having a field day with all of this.

Basically this sparks the discussion - should tipping be mandatory despite any quality of service? For instance- if you had incredibly bad service, do you feel you NEED to tip if you were the one making the policy on how waiters/waitresses/bartenders/busses, etc make their pay. Additionally- should the fact the player who tipped this burger place have a larger impedance to tip the restaurant simply because his income is in the top .001% of the world?


Personally- I think it sucks that someone's income is coming into play with tipping. I don't think millionaires need to just "donate" money arbritrarily with gigantic tips when they're only being provided basic service. We don't need to report our salaries when we come into an Outback Steakhouse and base our tips off that. Additionally- when someone tips only 20 cents, it's not an accident. It's not like he had a "brain fart" and he forgot to tip, but he very clearly wanted to send a message by only leaving that tip. I assume that message was "My service was abyssmal."

I'm well aware that minimum wage with waiters is only 2-3 dollars because there's a tip factor and if they don't hit minimum wage STANDARD management steps in and pays the difference. In an ideal world for me, we could make dining out very similar to car salesmen where it's okay that waitresses need to go above and beyond otherwise they may not receive a tip or at least no guarantee of 15 or 20%. I think that'd work out better for everyone but lazy waiters and waitresses because it makes amazing waitors and waitresses get compensated, the men and women dining out are also more assured to have great service, and those who aren't ready to bust their ass can choose a different field to work. I understand though that the downside to that is it happens all the time where waitors and waitresses work their ass and then don't get tipped due to just a stingy customer. But still - if we make an evident change in policy, I think the "standard" social norm would shift towards people living bigger tips for the right situations.

What say y'all?