The mechanics of tipping US-style

On March 7, 2009 the BBC had an article about tipping.

On March 9th, someone posted it to a message board.

I wrote:

I don't like the idea that tips are expected, but if I were with others I don't think I would have the courage to not tip. A few weeks ago I went to IHOP for dinner and I enjoyed the food, but thought the service was crappy. I paid about 11% for a tip.

Someone responded to me:

Servers get paid about $2 an hour, it's why tips are expected.

Normal situations -- I leave 10% for AWFUL service, 15% for ehhhh, 20% for normal, 25% or more for great service.

If I'm sitting up at a bar for myself at lunch and suck through a few drink refills, I leave about 40-50% but it's usually a bartender I know and the lunch tab is pretty small to start with. I usually go out to a local watering hole on Sunday nights, and the bartender will charge me for a draft or two less than I actually drink, the cost of which mostly goes back into the tip.

I worked in the business for a while when I was in law school, at least long enough to know when a screwup is the kitchen's fault, and when it's the servers fault. The only time I ever left no tip was when a server blamed her own fuckup on the kitchen. I can deal with incompetence, never dishonesty.

I think restaurants should pay at least minimum wage to their employees.  I think tipping should be optional for great service or to help someone out.  I think restaurants should stop including tips on their receipts and include a note saying they are optional and that a tip will not be added to your bill or credit card.

Another person posted a clip from Reservoir Dogs where Mr. Pink (played by Steve Buscemi) refused to give a tip:

Then I wrote:

I was thinking about some other scenarios:
Do you tip the driver who delivers your packages?
Do you tip the paperboy?
When you stay in at a fast food restaurant such as McDonalds, do you give a tip?
Doesn't the price of a meal at a restaurant include some type of service?

Someone responded to me:

We don't get the paper so no on that one. My Dad used to get the paper delivered to help out a friend who was the paperboy for our street.
I used to tip the guy delivering flowers my husband sent me.
I never tipped the UPS drivers who deliver our packages. Hmmm. Maybe I should.
I give the mailman a tip at Christmas. My parents always did that so I do it.
As far as I know, tips aren't allowed at McDonald's or Burger King. They weren't when I worked there as a kid. I've never seen a "tip cup" there either. At least not here. But, I see them at Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, Panera, etc.
We always tip the pizza delivery drivers. I hate that they charge for delivery now but figure it's not the driver's fault.
Interesting. Something to think about (for me).

Another person wrote:

Tipping is a much more flexible wage option. It ties payroll to income and gives the wait staff an investment in the success of the business. Piecework.

One of the legitimate objections to piecework is that employers would gradually drop the rates in the boiling frog scenario.

Tipping takes the employer out of the loop, enabling waiters some control over their income.

I responded with:

If tipping is nearly unanimous, then there really isn't an incentive to do a good job. Just do the job and you will get paid. Now some might try harder to get a better tip. Since the waiter doesn't even get the tip until after you are gone, you can't really send them a message about how they did their job. If you pay 10% instead of 15% because the service wasn't very good, it is probably too small of an amount to matter.

Conscription in the United States

The New Neo has an old post from September 28, 2004 about an e-mail campaign to scare young people into thinking that Bush was about to reinstate the draft for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It turns out that President Bush had nothing to do with it and that it was actually Democrats who proposed this legislation to promote an anti-war political message.  Snopes also did an article about it about a week later.  In my book I suggested this plan for the draft:

Congress shall have the authority to create a draft for the military if the need arises.  Every citizen who is at least nineteen years old and up to a maximum of sixty-five years old shall be eligible for the draft.

If I'm ever fortunate enough to do an updated version of my book I plan to lower the age limit to "less than sixty".

On February 24, 2019, Ed Driscoll posted an article to Instapundit about a lawsuit that may require women to register with Selective Service.  I shared my proposal on the draft, and someone compared it to slavery and said the 13th Amendment prohibits it.  I've also heard that forcing a business owner to do work in violation of his or her beliefs is a form a slavery and I think that is a much better comparison.  And actually the 13th Amendment doesn't completely ban slavery but leaves it for punishment of a crime.  One book reviewer accused me of supporting slavery because I included that quote in my book.

Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution lays outs congressional authority over defense and war and militias and that is used to justify a draft.  It has been used in six major wars: American Revolutionary War, American Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War.  Even though nobody is currently forced to join the military, requiring young men to register for the Selective Service System is like having a partial draft.  It is currently required for ages 18 to 25, although federal law allows conscription from ages 17 to 45.  Setting the limit at 45 definitely makes a lot more sense than just 25 and there are a lot of people in their 40s and 50s who would be healthy enough to serve.  I raised the minimum age to 19 because I also think that should be the voting age and by then most people have graduated from high school.  Democrats think the voting age should be lowered to 16 and yet they also think you should have to be 21 to purchase alcohol, marijuana, or guns, and 26 to purchase your own health insurance.  If you're not mature enough for those other things, then you're not mature enough to vote.  I say let the states decide the rules on alcohol and drugs and leave the federal government out of it unless it crosses state boundaries.

While I think an all-volunteer military force is the ideal situation, if it is not enough to defeat the enemy and defend our freedoms then I think a temporary draft is an important idea.  I'm sure there are a lot of patriots who would love to defend this country if the need arose.  There are several peaceful and democratic countries with mandatory military service, and it seems to work fine for them: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Israel, South Korea, Norway, and Switzerland.  Military service can provide important skills like survival, first aid, and weapons training.

HBO, Mormons square off over airing of sacred rite

On March 10, 2009 the Associated Press had an article about HBO:

HBO on Tuesday defended its plans to depict a sacred Mormon temple ceremony in an upcoming episode of “Big Love.”

The drama about a Utah polygamous family will show an endowment ceremony Sunday.

HBO said it did not intend to be disrespectful of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and apologized.

“Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology,” the premium cable channel said in a statement issued Tuesday.

But the ceremony is an important part of the “Big Love” story line, HBO said.

Big Love aired between 2006 and 2011.  On the 11th the article was posted to a message board.  On the 12th I responded with this:

I was raised Mormon and fell away from the church, so I feel a connection to the topic. Some of my ancestors were polygamists, but I am very opposed to such marriages and have no interest (nor access) to this TV show. Hollywood does seem to have a fascination with Mormons. I disagree with most of their beliefs and think some of them are peculiar. Smith likely borrowed the rituals from the Masons. However, if Mormons believe these rituals are eternal and sacred, then they are free to do so. The likely way HBO obtained this information was from a disgruntled former Mormon. I do not think it is appropriate to show the scenes and I imagine most viewers will side with the Mormon church on this.

A Russian immigrant responded to me:

well, not knowing the content or the procedure of whatever rite was to be depicted [nor caring about it- don't even have a TV to watch it even if I wanted to] I could imagine the viewers might be attracted by pure curiosity. Now, if that rite is of a regular boring variety, then depiction of its choreography - who says what, in what order, and whether the participants walk clockwise or counterclockwise etc.- will satisfy that curiosity in no time, and the rite depiction will induce "huh?" reaction and yawning, rather than "siding with" the mormon church: the church will continue on as before and the non-mormon viewers will continue to yawn as before. No harm caused. The only exception I could imagine would be if the rite to be depicted contained objectionable elements [for discussion purposes - say, human or animal sacrifice]. Then the attempts to prevent its depiction would become understandable - but then it could be guaranteed that the "siding with" will be precisely the last thing that was ever going to happen.

Someone posted a cartoon mocking the Mormon Church:

A Jew responded with this:

And if the Klan made a cartoon about Judaism, I'm sure many Synagogues would ban it, too.

Then I wrote:

You make a good point that you should also look at the official beliefs and not just judge someone on what other people say. Mormons believe God resides near a star called Kolob. Here is their verse from the Book of Abraham 3:2-3: "saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God;....and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest."

They have a hymn called "If You Could Hie to Kolob."

The highest degree of the Mormon heaven is called the Celestial Kingdom. Married couples that follow all of the rules and rituals will go there. They do hold the belief that men can become gods. They don't talk about it much, but I know it was still being taught in 1999 (I stopped being involved a little while after that). Joseph Smith explained that the title Eloheim is actually plural meaning Gods. "I will teach on the plurality of Gods.....Eloheim is from the word Eloi, God, in the singular number; and by adding the word heim it renders it Gods. It read first - "In the beginning the Head of the Gods brought forth the Gods" or as others have translated it "The Head of the Gods called the Gods together...."(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pp.370-372)

In 1844 at a General Conference, Smith gave a speech known as the King Follet Sermon and he said: "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!"

He then responded with this:

I have had the thought that the universe is a way that God might create new gods, out of humans and other intelligences. I didn't know that it was a Mormon concept, as well, until someone told me.

In any case, the "-im" ending in Hebrew is plural -- and "elohim" is sometimes used as a word for "gods" plural in the Torah, including in the Ten Commandments "Thou shalt have no other gods [elohim] before me. However, when "Elohim" refers to God the grammar around it is in first person. There is also the Eden account, where God says that man has become "as one of us."

So, while I don't agree with Smith's interpretation, it's not exactly completely out of nowhere.