Yes, and so is calling out a jerk.
Those IRS comments an excellent reminder. I had some vague idea of the practice, but I never think of that when I read these kinds of stories. A number of poor tippers actually takes money out of her pocket.
Because the guy leaves some petulant drama queen, who gave $hitty service a wake up call, he’s a “jerk”?
I’ve had servers who wouldn’t respond to requests, I actually had one that I told I was going to leave a crappy tip unless they changed their attitude and service...it had NO effect...they felt ENTITLED.
Screw that. They got $1 on $50+ check, much more than they deserved, but wife convinced me to leave it...so yeah, that makes me the “jerk”.
The customers of an establishment didn’t set up that IRS rule and most probably know little or nothing about it. TIP stands for “To Insure Promptness” and if the service isn’t to the liking of a patron, for whatever reason, they are under no obligation to tip, unless you’re suggesting mandatory tipping. I would never frequent a place that required me to tip the staff no matter what the service was like. I once had a sister-in-law who was a low-life skank, but she was a terrific white tablecloth waitress and was in demand by high-end restaurants and private clubs and never seemed to bring home less than $200 a night and often quite a bit more. It’s a trade like any other, and the better ones make more money.