Red Carpets, Guilt Tipping, and Leprechaun Lore
The allure of traditions that captivate America
🎬 1st Bite for Prestige 🎬
At the 94th Oscars in 2022, Will Smith was ensued a ban for his misconduct, which stripped his voting and participation rights for the next 10 years. It became the 6th addition to the academy’s hall of shame. From Carmine Caridi in 2004 for the offense of leaking private screeners on the internet to Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski, and Adam Kimmel proven guilty on charges of sexual assault, thanks to the rise of the #MeToo movement. Why Will Smith got to keep his Best Actor award despite the ban alludes me but it caused many Oscar traditions to break.
For the first time in the academy’s history, the 95th Oscars in 2023 did not have previous winners as presenters of the nominees for their winning categories. They also broke a 62-year tradition when a champagne colored rug was revealed instead of the red carpet.
“Roll Out the Champagne Carpet” doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?
The official reason for the change: to keep up with the fashion trends and make sure our stars shone bright without their Gucci’s clashing on the bright red carpet. I suspect the photo shoppers weren’t thrilled with this change. The choice of color also called for some calm and peacefulness that the academy needed to recover from the infamous Will Smith slap.
The real message: Dear actors, spill our champagne not your blood.
Many Oscars night traditions were restored in 2024 including a return of the red carpet roll out.
The new message: Fashion be damned, for the red carpet covers up all that bad blood.
The 96th Oscars aired on Mar 10th 2024. Travel back in time to catch-up on its best moments right here on The Marinade.
The Academy Awards are a good example of customs and beliefs being passed on from generations to become traditions. Most of them are self-contained within a sect of people, therefore not impacting everyone else. Let the believers believe, we don’t care.
💵 2nd Bite for Promptitude 🫙
It is believed that the word “tip” originated from the 18th century English practice of placing boxes at taverns and inns labeled “TIPS” in order “to insure promptness” in service. The Americans adopted it before emancipation as a customary way to reward slave laborers for attending to their masters' whims and needs. In 1938, it was certified as an acceptable practice when a sub-minimum wage was introduced as the lawful renumeration for tipped workers, giving birth to a culture of tipping in America.
Ask a few people at random, and we get to hear varying opinions on the pros and cons of tipping. The opinions vary from industry to industry too.
Ask someone who has served customers at a restaurant, to hear reasons for why tips are a necessity to afford an hourly wage living. Ask someone who served at the same restaurant flipping burgers or washing dishes to hear about the unfairness of it all.
Talk to a ride-share driver who transports passengers or delivers food for a living, and you will hear battle-scarred stories of dealing with customers who don’t tip well. Ask the passenger for the flip side of that story, about dangerous encounters with aggressive drivers and delayed orders not worthy of the tip.
When the gratitude of customers is relied upon as a reward for great service, it emulates a tradition where the one with the power to tip is the master, even if it just for a moment.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Saru Jayaraman, the President and Co-founder of One Fair Wage, a non-profit taking on the National Restaurant Association and its chains since 9/11 to eliminate sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and standardize federal minimum wage for all.
As one of the loudest voices of recent times, Saru wants to change our perception of tipping. In the interview, Saru vehemently disagreed with my notion that tipping is the American way of receiving quality service, that such thinking is what the restaurant industry relies on to offload their responsibilities of paying living wages to tipped workers.
Head over to the Podcast section for the episode on America’s tipping culture.
☘️ 3rd Bite for Prosperity ☘️
St. Patrick’s Day is the time to get gaudy with green outfits, bloat up your bellies with beer, and do the leprechaun dance. It is a day of celebrations and parades, of painted green faces, dyed green hair and emerald rivers. It is a tradition deep-rooted in the history of all things Irish.
Except, St. Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was kidnapped from Britain, enslaved by the Irish, and prisoned for 6 years. He then found strength and solace in God and escaped to Britain. Later, another blessed revelation showed him his true calling. He was to return to Ireland as a priest, as a shepherd of faith. Upon his return to Ireland after being ordained as a priest, St. Patrick began his mission to convert the Irish from their ancient pagan beliefs of legends and myths, towards adopting catholic life.
March 17th is a national holiday in Ireland. It is also believed to be the day of St. Patrick’s death.
The thing about traditions as old as St. Patrick’s Day is that over time these facts fade. They morph into exaggerated versions of nomadic storytellers and bards working for those extra tips.
That’s all for now. Remember to tip your wait staff, not because they smiled at you, but because they made you smile.
