Tipping in America is out of control, and we’ve got to end it

Mitch Hedberg, the incredible comedian who died at just 37 of a drug overdose, used to tell a great joke about the silliness of modern life.

“I bought a doughnut the other day, and they gave me a receipt. I don’t need a receipt for a doughnut. I’ll just give you the money, you give me the doughnut. End of transaction. We don’t need to bring ink and paper into this. I just cannot imagine a scenario where I’d had to prove that I bought a doughnut. Some skeptical friend? ‘Don’t even act like I didn’t get that doughnut. I got the documentation right here!’”

Here’s another thing we don’t need to bring into the doughnut transaction: a tip. I went into Dunkin’ Donuts the other day and got a cruller. When the server rang it up, the screen gave me the option to leave a tip: 15%, 20% or 25%.