Politics by Another Name — No Justice, No Tip?

By Mark Mayberry 
Paul Lynde, noted comedian and actor on the cult hit “Bewitched”, was once quoted as saying, “I wish I had the nerve not to tip.” It’s an interesting quote that goes right to the heart of tipping etiquette. When you go out to eat a tip is almost expected for the hard working waiter or waitress at your favorite restaurant. To not tip them frankly takes a lot of balls or just a complete lack of class.
Since the George Zimmerman verdict, a new trend of non-tipping has started. “No Justice, no tip.” Basically waiters and waitresses are beginning to be punished by people for simply working at a restaurant that is located in the country that acquitted George Zimmerman. I thought this movement was all about “justice” and “fairness.” How does taking income from a person who makes $2.50 an hour fair or just?

Over the past decade those on the front lines of the hospitality business have been forced to endure political anger aimed at them. In another instance that became a sort of fad for a little while was people practicing a “redistribution plan” of their own. This plan was simply not to tip and to tell the waitress they are redistributing income. I bring this up to show that it’s not just liberals, but Republicans, practicing this classless political protest as well.
I understand better than anyone the anger and frustration at the political goings on in America, however, to force another American to suffer because of something that they have nothing to do with is the essence of incivility and mob mentality.
Aristotle said, “All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.” You see, in America we have established political lines in the last decade that I personally believe will never go away. We have become more divided politically, spiritually, racially and ethnically than ever before.
A large part of this is because we have allowed these things to bleed into everything else in our lives. I am guilty of this myself, although I have never attacked a person verbally or physically in public for a shirt they have on or refused to leave a tip because Barack Obama thinks others are entitled to my money. I do tend to choose the places I shop and the movies I see based on the political agenda of those who create or run them. It is something that I have endeavored to change about myself. I will be the first to tell you that Jamie Foxx is a ridiculous libt-dolt who rarely furthers any debate, however, his movies are pretty funny and I have a good time watching them.

The main issue here is that we can’t have fun or do anything without having to take a political stand and because of this we are surrounded by our politics and racial feelings twenty-four hours a day. We eat, sleep and dream our politics today and so we literally have nothing in common with the other side anymore.
In closing, we need to understand two things. The first is that your waitress at the local Denny’s wasn’t on the George Zimmerman jury nor was he or she the person who shot Treyvon. This garbage needs to stop, don’t abuse your wait staff because of an incident that they had nothing to do with. Two wrongs don’t make a right and no matter how many waitresses you are rude to, the verdict will remain the same.
Secondly, lets stop injecting politics and race into everything. Look, if you want to go see a good movie go see it, who the hell cares if George Clooney is a bleeding heart liberal, he is also a great actor. If we lose sight of what we have in common like good movies, good food and great beer, then we have lost sight of what makes us all Americans. Your ribs are not red or blue and your beer of choice is not Republican or Democrat. It’s simply ribs and beer, so do America a favor and crack open a beer and enjoy it, just please remember to tip your waitress.