I saw an interesting story last week - Russell Westbrook, star guard for the Houston Rockets, left an $8K tip for hotel staff as he left the NBA bubble. This was a serious gesture of gratitude and generosity, and before I stick my tongue in cheek I want to point out that eight grand is always eight grand; it changed lives, and those lives were changed by Russell Westbrook.
But we here at TOA, sometimes we can't help ourselves, at least when it comes to the numbers, because some things are better understood in a personalized context. So I had to ask myself, what is an $8K tip for the True On Average Joe?
I started with Westbrook's annual salary - $38.5M for this season. Then, I calculated the proportion of his salary that was represented by his tip - 0.00021%. I came up with the following figures based on a series of True On Average Joe salaries:
- $7,500 annual salary
- You would pay $750 income tax on this amount
- Tip - $1.58
- $12,760 annual salary
- Federal poverty level
- Tip - $4.20
- $61,937 annual salary
- Median household income in the US
- Tip - $13.01
Thirteen bucks, for the average American! And those figures aren't even adjusted for the bubble lasting months. I'm not here to pat my own ass, but even in 2020 I've left larger tips (in proportion to my salary) - for a one-off concern like takeout.
So what's my point? It's not to suggest anything about Westbrook - he's one of the NBA's great examples of giving back, and the work he's done for his community through his foundation speaks to his immeasurable off-court impact. But maybe it's better to highlight those accomplishments, which would demonstrate a more significant truth to how Westbrook changes lives, rather than settling once again for the distraction of fluttering dollar bills or glittering silver coins; our adulation of money, even in a legitimate sense, only makes it all the easier for frauds and phonies to flash wads of bills as they fake their way into power. Or maybe we should merely be consistent - the next time the president leaves a $3 tip, we should all applaud, and toast the man whose generosity is twice that of certain NBA superstars.
