In this follow up to the Warren Sapp "TipGate" story earlier this month, I'd like to point out that A) all journalists exhibit some degree of bias, whether intentional or not, and B) there is no such thing as a simple narrative. While I came to realize that my take on the situation was skewing my judgment, I still feel like my opinions had validity, and I feel like they had a place. I just put them in the wrong place. So, in the case of Warren Sapp stiffing his waitress on the tip based on racial justice and semantics, I'd say he's not wrong to be mad, he's just a crappy civil rights leader.
Earlier this month when I wrote about "TipGate", I made light of the fact that Warren Sapp got mad at his waitress for calling him and his friend "boys". My thinking was that context and intent mattered more than Sapp's feelings. This was irresponsible. The term has a distinct racial connotation, whether the waitress meant it or not. I wrote the story with a slight bias based on Sapp's notoriously ornery persona. He has a chip on his shoulder the size of Mount Rushmore, but that doesn't' mean he was wrong to get angry.
I changed my thinking after reading a pair of e-mails from a William Cantrell:
"I appreciate your general sentiments. To be sure Warren Sapp has moments that leave me scratch[ing] my head...
"On the other hand, the waitress incident does not leave me wondering 'WTF' ---at least as it pertains to Sapp. I KNOW why he was upset...so does every black man over the age of 25...
"Drew, I am normally not a fan of Warren Sapp, however I have to side with him on this one. Calling a black male --especially a grown black male--- is just disrespectful. It is akin to referring to a Caucasian male as 'honky' or 'cracker'. POSSIBLY Corey didn't know and POSSIBLY Warren could have used it as a teachable moment. POSSIBLY. Nevertheless, it's something that a person who serves the public, the waitress in this case, should have known..."
So while I still think that two wrongs don't make a right, and I still think Sapp should have tipped her, I definitely changed my tune about the waitress when I came across an article explaining that she was the one who made the story public and posted a photo of the receipt. Very tacky (via Design Trend):
"The manager also explained that not only will the waitress be reprimanded but that her actions have caused negative publicity to the eatery with phone calls from people voicing their opinion."
Bottom line is, Sapp should have gone to the manager with his complaint in the first place, and after he stiffed her, the waitress should have gone to the manager instead of the internet.
What do you think?
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it's never acceptable to tip under 15%, even if you hate the service. The way to handle terrible service is to complain to the manager like you would in a non-tipping situation-you're not allowed to stiff on the tip and make them work for free.
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