Shady Tip-Gate

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McCoy during a December 2011 game with the Eagles

I've always operated by a credo that I heard Steve Martin use in the film "My Blue Heaven":

"It's not tipping that I believe in: it's over-tipping."

I almost always tip well. Check comes, I do the math out to 20%, and then usually round-up a bit. I realize this is how many servers make much of their real money.

But...and this is a key "but"...whether it's me, or Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean "Shady" McCoy, or you, or anyone else, a tip should always reflect what the customer feels is appropriate based on the service that they received in their given situation. 

I could care less if the server is a "great guy", or if everyone else on earth had them before and the server was "great" to them. What matters is how you are treated/served in your specific encounter.

If Shady felt that he was treated poorly in his encounter at the PYT restaurant in Philly, then he would have been reasonable in leaving nothing at all. A "tip" is something one has to work in order to earn, it is not something to be assumed. It is a bonus, something placed by the customer on top of the check. But only if the customer feels they received good service.

Many sources that I have read report that Shady usually tips, and tips very well. This is the case with many pro athletes and others of means. I feel very secure saying that had Shady received good service at this local joint, that he would have again tipped well.

That he chose to make a specific point of his poor service by leaving a tip, but one that reflects his quite obvious poor opinion of the specific service that he received is entirely appropriate. 

Had he left no tip at all, it could perhaps have been speculated that he simply had forgotten. By leaving the .20 cents, he made a statement. There is nothing wrong with that statement.

In fact, the server here should have been happy. 

Happy? Yes. He got a tip. Sure it was just .20 cents. But guess what? He earned nothing as a tip. He simply earned his salary. It is the customer who determines tipping, not the server. So he got more than he earned...again, in THIS specific encounter.

Now if Charlie Sheen wants to send the server a $1,000 bucks, or others want to give the server their own money, that is those folks business. But to do it because the server was only given a .20 cent tip by Shady McCoy only shows that all of these folks are idiots. Period.

Work in a service industry and have a bad day, or a bad moment, or just don't for some reason get along with and have a bad experience with one customer? Then don't expect a tip at all. If you get a small one, even an embarrassing one, take it, learn from the encounter, and move along. Don't blast your poor moment all across the internet and in the media.

Good for you in this particular instance, Shady McCoy. Shame on you, Charlie Sheen.