I do not believe in tipping.

I am sure a lot of you enjoyed the NCAA Final Four this past weekend. You probably enjoyed it with some pizza or Chinese takeout. With the food purchase comes a driver, who delivers the food and has expectations of being rewarded with compensation.

If you compensate this person, everything will be all well and good. If you do not tip the server or delivery person, verbal abuse is sure to come from someone.

This is where society has lost its mind. The lost art of choice seems to have been taken out of the equation when it comes to tipping. Tipping is, by definition, a voluntary act on the part of the customer. Therefore, it is my choice whether or not I decide to tip a waiter, waitress or delivery driver. If I decide not to do so, then that is my business and no one else’s.

I know servers want my money to make up for their salaries, but what they do not seem to understand is that I want my money, as well. After all is said and done, it is my money at the end of the day.

Whether or not I decide to spend it will be up to me and no one else.

There is no mandatory tipping law that states I have to tip a person for just bringing me my food. Some countries have the idea of completely abolishing the act of tipping, including the United States, as they should.

Tipping is a foolish notion that depends on whether or not a server is polite, fast and overall competent. Do not get me started on what effect facial expressions have on tipping.

Why are fast food workers not given some sort of compensation in tips for their service? Restaurants, like McDonald’s and Wendy’s, do the same type of job. The employees at fast food establishments are not given a second of thought about being tipped. Why is it acceptable for one set of employees to be tipped and not the other? Society is OK with this social hypocrisy.

My final grievance with this idiotic social policy has to do with the employers. The managers/owners of restaurants get away with paying their serving staff piss-poor wages. I cannot see how an employer values his or her staff, but not value them enough to pay minimum wage. They must not be that valuable to the establishment or to the job.

Everyone accepts the reality of working for less than minimum wage, because they believe tips make up for it. That does not work for me and I think I am not alone.

I am not going to tip someone just because an employer under-values their worth. I never signed an agreement with any restaurant, its servers, or delivery people that says I will make up for their salary, because the job they work does not pay enough.

I also do not like the idea of society getting upset because people do not want to tip, but find it acceptable that restaurant employers can keep paying below minimum wage.

It is not my responsibility to make up for what the employer is lacking.

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