My wife and I went for ice cream, single scoop, keep it real. The server was ringing it up by the time we finished speaking, such was her hurry. She printed a receipt and there, by the total, was a place for a tip.

For a scoop of ice cream!

Vanilla!

As much as I support the ice cream industry, I couldn't do it. This young lady worked in an ice cream parlor. IT'S HER JOB TO SCOOP.

My wife argued that servers are not paid well and rely on tips, and there-oh-there is the chewy center. Restaurant owners have hidden behind this tipping scam far too long. Why can't they pay employees like everyone else? It's not for want of business: Half the time they page you when your table is ready.

Surely if we tip the ice cream girl for scooping, we should tip teachers for teaching and nurses for nursing and carpenters for ... carpentering. We're ALL in the service industry. Even parking attendants serve somebody.

I dream of a world without tips, a world where employees are paid fairly and the customer is not guilted by a tip request when his wife is looking over his shoulder wondering how cheap he'll be.

It all left such a foul taste in my mouth that I had to go back for hot fudge.