Why tip your waitress when you could just not tip your waitress, right?
It’s a commonly held belief among American Republicans that people generally do not deserve money unless they already have it—a real “catch 22” for the brain-dead and/or heartless—and two Republican members of the Tennessee House have done their part to bolster their own false sense of meritocracy by tipping their Hooters waitress a generous sum of $0.
The waitress, Amanda Anderson, waited on Mary Littleton (R-Dixon) and Tilman Goins (R-Morristown) on Monday. She posted Littleton’s receipt on Facebook, writing, “State representatives are supposed to exhibit class and integrity … this one acted like a child.”
The Nashville Scene reached out to Littleton—who has co-authored a bill making the Bible the official “State Book” of Tennessee, as well as voted to authorize firearms in public and to prohibit the enforcement of federal gun laws—for comment. She wrote:
“Everyone has had a bad experience with service at some point when dining out at a restaurant. It is unfortunate that my private note to the server regarding the quality of service in this instance was made public. Due to the overall experience that evening, I decided not to provide a tip. In hindsight, rather than writing a note on the receipt, I should have asked for the manager so that I could register my concerns with the quality and promptness of service. As the mother of someone who has been a server, I know that servers have difficult and demanding jobs and, as such, it is has always been especially important to me that I make sure to tip generously when I receive good service.”
Oh, fuck off. You’re not teaching anyone a damn thing by shorting them $6. Tipping is a terrible system, but as we currently live within a restaurant world governed by this terrible system—in the way that Tennessee taxpayers live in a world governed by a system in which their representative Mary Littleton regularly votes against gun control—one must be decent within it; unless your food gets spat in, you tip.
Littleton’s pal, Tilman Goins, did not tip either.
Contact the author at [email protected].
Image via Wikimedia Commons