njhartsh

Most of the moral conundrums described on this forum tend to be high-stakes questions: life and death, rape, murder, Hell, etc. Heavy stuff. I thought we could use a question that doesn't have quite so much riding on it. So here goes:

--

One evening while I was in law school I was at a campus bar with some friends. Partway through the evening I headed to the counter to buy myself a drink.

As I arrived at the counter, a woman next to me was receiving her order--a pitcher of beer. As the bartender placed the pitcher down on the bar, I asked him: "Could I have a Coca-Cola?"

"That's a dollar," he replied. I paid him a buck and he turned away to fill my order.

While he was away, the woman next to me placed a dollar tip on the bar, picked up her pitcher of beer and walked off.

The bartender then returned with my Coke. When he arrived, I slid the woman's dollar across the bar to him. "You already paid for the Coke," the bartender said.

"I know," I replied. I left the dollar bill in front of the bartender, picked up my drink and left.

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So: was I in the wrong? Note that I think there's a case to be made for the defense here, though the one famous philosopher I know (she's a professor at my law school) didn't buy it. At least she was amused.

- Nathan

scigirl

Hi Nathan,

Ok maybe I'm a little slow this morning, but I wasn't sure what you were asking. Are you asking if you were wrong because it appeared you tipped him a dollar, when it was the other person who had tipped him a dollar?

I would say - yeah taking credit for someone else's generosity is slightly wrong. I personally would have said, "Oh that lady left it." Of course, I also think you should have been drinking beer - you were in Law school! I don't know if you guys partied a lot, but I'm convinced that medical school is going to ruin all our livers.

scigirl

Derec

You mean you have real campus bars up there? Man, South does
suck!

And yeah, you were wrong for taking credit for the tip. Obviously.

UMoC

dangin

On a related note. Tip a buck everytime you go to the bar when it is busy. The bartender will respond to you more quickly after you have established a pattern of tips. And yes, you should tip a dollar even for a one dollar coke. But taking credit for someone else's dollar still gets the bartender to pay closer attention to you so . . .

njhartsh

Well, okay, but:[list=1][*]I never told the bartender (or anyone else) that the tip was from me![*]All I did was to allow the bartender to retain his misconception--doesn't that mean that the age-old "act/omission" distinction protects me?[*]It seemed very possible to me that the bartender wouldn't notice the tip or that it would be swiped while he wasn't looking; I rescued it for him.[*]Finally, it's hard for me to see exactly whom I hurt in this scenario.[/list=1]I suppose to some extent (4) rests on the moral aspects of the practice of tipping. Not to rehash the entire opening scene of Reservoir Dogs, but did the woman in my story really buy something for her $1 that I then stole? That proposition seems to me at least somewhat questionable.

- Nathan, happily rationalizing

tronvillain

Well, I don't think you did anything wrong. The woman was too lazy to actually give the tip to the bartender, you made sure he got it and so got a credit for tipping without actually lying. Seems like everything turned out pretty well.

Bookman

Your original question: "Was I in the wrong?"

To reply to your points.
1) Your lie of omission is still a lie; if you consider lying or being intentionally deceptive wrong then you were in the wrong.
2) I disagree. You did not allow the bartender to retain his misconception; you created it when you acted to move the dollar closer to him.
3) Does being able to justify an action after the fact alter the rightness or wrongness of the act in your view?
4) The bartenders position appears to be zero sum, but is it possible that the woman might derive some benefit from giving the tip? Faster service on the next round? A better tip in return if the bartender should happen to visit her at her service job? You have deprived her of any such benefit if it exists.

Bookman, enjoying the light-hearted diversion.

njhartsh

Alas, no. But it's nice grist for an iidb thread!

- Nathan

long winded fool

I agree with Bookman. You caused the bartender's misconception. If you honestly believed that the bartender would not assume the dollar was your tip, then you would have inadvertantly decieved him and your actions might be unfortunate but they would not be "immoral." But you obviously at least suspected he would assume that it was your tip. So it boils down to honesty. Another person could go through the exact motions you went through and not be acting immorally, (a very naive person, perhaps) but you were acting immorally because you intentionally created a situation where the bartender would likely interpret something false, were aware of it when the misinterpretation occured and refused to correct it to your own benefit. In other words, no one could prove you were doing anything immoral, (you could quite easily plead ignorance as you cleverly pointed out) but because of your own admission that you were aware of the bartender's understandable assumption that you were tipping him, you were acting immorally. (Assuming of course that intentionally being dishonest to another person for your own benefit is always immoral.)

SimplyAtheistic

Tipping is wrong. Period. So by supporting the woman in tipping, yes you did wrong. Watch Reservoir Dogs.
Jake