Burning a Key West Symbol Was Bad. Not Tipping a Bartender Was Worse, Locals Say. – By Vimal Patel (The New York Times) / January 13, 2022
The 20-ton buoy in Key West, Fla., is a shrine to the quirky city at the southern tip of the continental United States, a Cold War-era object that has long been a tourist attraction and the pride of residents.
So community members were naturally upset when a pair of young men in shorts and backward caps were seen in security camera footage setting fire to the Southernmost Point Buoy in the dark morning hours of New Year’s Day.
But the locals were outraged about something else that also violated Key West’s laid-back sense of island community: One of the tourists didn’t tip their bartender.
The lack of gratuity on three separate drink orders was viscerally upsetting to many locals, especially since the regional economy depends on an army of low-wage workers in the service industry who are trying to live in an expensive tourism hub that is only two miles by four miles but welcomes about three million visitors a year.
