The United States has a tipping culture. Therefore it’s customary in this country to tip workers who provide certain services. Some countries also have a tipping culture built into their cultural norms, although they may or may not be exactly like those of the U.S. And in other countries, workers expect little to no tips.
This is an excellent international tipping guide that goes into the tipping culture of over 80 countries – whether or not it’s appropriate to tip people working in certain industries and, if so, how much appropriate tips would be for each industry in their respective country.
I wrote that post years ago and each time it’s come up on message groups, there have been people who’ve said they don’t tip. Their reasons have varied:
- They’re from a non-tipping country and if they don’t tip there, they’re not going to tip when they’re traveling, either.
- They think the U.S. should pay better wages and therefore they don’t want to give more power to the tipping culture.
- They’re already paying “too much” for whatever it is and don’t want to pay more than that.
That last reason is, well, kind of stupid. This travel agency owner and so-called “Disney expert” discovered that the hard way when she refused to tip a server at Walt Disney World.
And now we have another story about how things can go wrong if you don’t tip. It’s much worse than what happened to the “Disney expert.” In this case, it got two guys arrested.
Earlier this month, I wrote about this iconic Key West attraction that was set on fire during the early hours of New Years Day. A few days later Joe wrote that the two guys who had done the damage had been identified. It turns out that the story behind HOW they were identified is as crazy as their middle-of-the-night antics on New Year’s Day.
Key West, as you may know, is a tourist town. It’s known for many things – its quirkiness and beautiful sunsets, for example. But it’s also known for its plethora of bars on the island’s “main drag,” Duval Street. In fact, that one-mile strip alone has over 40 bars.
Irish Kevin’s, located at 211 Duval Street is one of those bars. And on the first night of the new year, Cameron Briody was bartending there.
Like many Key West residents, tourists and fans, Briody saw the footage of the fire. But besides being surprised and angered by the footage, he also felt something else. He knew that he had seen the two arsonists before. He recognized them as the only people who had been to Irish Kevin’s that night and, after being served, didn’t tip Briody.
People are, “more memorable if they leave you a big tip or not a tip at all instead of a normal tip,” Daylin Starks, the GM of Irish Kevin’s, to the New York Times. “Of all the people Cameron served that night, it just so happened that these were the only people to not leave him a tip at all.”
One of the three drinks the guys bought, one was paid for with cash but they used a credit card for the other two. It didn’t take long to match the timestamps on the card slips with video footage of when the two men were at the bar, from Irish Kevin’s security cameras.
The two men were identified as Skylar Rae Jacobson, 21, of Henrietta, Texas, and David Brendan Perkins, 22, of Leesburg, Florida.
The police were contacted. They, in turn, obtained felony arrest warrants for both men, on suspicion of criminal mischief.
As per the police report, an investigator reached the men by phone, and they quickly confessed. Perkins said they found the tree on Duval Street around 2:30 or 3 am, and they had no intention of damaging property. According to the report, they said they used a lighter to start the fire and did not add any fuel. Perkins called it “a colossal mistake.” Jacobson said they “weren’t thinking.”
The two turned themselves in and are awaiting sentencing.
Meanwhile, the Southernmost Point Buoy was repaired a few days later, at a cost of about $5,300.
The City of Key West's Community Services crews are hard at work restoring the vandalized Southernmost Point Buoy. Depending on the weather, it should be as good as new in three to four days. pic.twitter.com/nv2VkTOJXM
— City of Key West (@City_of_KeyWest) January 3, 2022
Coming right along! We expect to finish by Thursday evening! pic.twitter.com/s42ZNKifhf
— City of Key West (@City_of_KeyWest) January 4, 2022
So yeah…not tipping when in a tipping society? Probably not the smartest thing to do.
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1 comment
Kind of a misleading headline, but true, all in all.