Let's Break The Tip Jar

Can anyone tell me when the "tip jar" became a part of American business? Nowadays, you can't go anywhere without a big ass tip jar staring you in the face. And personally, I'm sick of it!

Before I go any further, let me say that I generally tip well in normal circumstances. What do I mean by normal? When a waitress/waiter serves me food and and keeps my beer mug filled with Landshark draft, that would be a normal situation. Therefore, my server (providing that my beer mug doesn't stay empty for more than thirty seconds) can expect a generous gratuity.

And although it seems like bartenders do nothing more than pour drinks and hand them over the counter, in most cases, they are working their asses off. I volunteered to work the beer line a couple of times at a Baltimore Ravens game for my son's high school football team. For three hours, I could hardly catch my breath! So, if I order a drink at a bar, I feel like a tip is definitely in order.

However, when Jalib hands me a Bear Claw and a cup of coffee over the Dunkin' Donuts counter, I don't feel obliged to throw a tip in his jar. If he did a decent rendition of The Temptations "My Girl", perhaps I would feel a little differently. Am I wrong for thinking like this?

Recently, I was at a party where the DJ had a tip jar set up. From what I understood, the guy was already getting paid generously for his services. So, the tip jar seemed a little tacky to me. If that wasn't bad enough, towards the end of the evening, someone started walking the jar from table to table pressuring everyone to contribute. I felt like I was sitting at a red light and the "Will Work For Food" guy was coming my way. I'm sorry, but if you got to resort to high pressure solicitation to make a living, you should be selling timeshares instead of spinning CD's.

To fight back, I'm thinking about carrying my own tip jar. Whenever I see a business displaying a tip jar, I will  set my own Mrs. Filbert's mayonnaise jar on the counter. I will leave it there until my transaction is over. To show that I'm a reasonable guy, for every dollar that Mrs. Filberts receives, I will match that amount and deposit it in the counter jar. Somehow, I don't think there's going to be many exchanges.

So, unless you're a street performer, it's time to break the tip jar once and for all. It's really nothing more than glamorized panhandling. And although most people probably won't tell you, trust me, it's tacky!

kw