I am spending this winter on cruise ships, trying to escape the cold, the snow, and everything back home that reminds me of working in a law firm.
With a cruise ship comes shore excursions, and with shore excursions come busses, and with busses come bus drivers and tour guides. With tour guides and bus drivers come tips. For those of you who may not be aware, tour guides and bus drivers share their tips, much like partners in law firms split up the year’s profits. Which brings me to my story.
At the end of a recent shore excursion, I overhead our tour guide speaking to the bus driver, in Spanish. They were debating who should be entitled to more of the tips. As I understood the argument, the bus driver was saying that he had the greater responsibility to be certain that we cruisers all got to where we were supposed to go, and then back again, safely, and that he was deserving of the greater portion of the tips. Without him, the tour could not even leave the parking lot, and if he did his job poorly, everyone would be dead, and the deceased are notoriously poor tippers.
The tour guide saw things quite differently. His point was that it was his charm and communication skills which brought in the money. He had to establish a rapport with the rich, mostly white, entitled, English-speaking American (and Canadian) tourists, and it was a result of his efforts that the money flowed. Without him, there would be a much smaller pot to split.
The argument got heated. Each of the driver and the tour guide seemed pretty certain that they were in the right, and entitled to the lion’s share of the money. I think that I heard the tour guide say that he could get a job on another bus, and then the driver would be so very sorry.
It all seemed strangely familiar to me. It was like deja vue at a compensation committee meeting all over again.
Of course, I am full of sh*t. I don’t speak a word of Spanish. The bus driver and the tour guide seemed to be great friends. They cheerfully split their tips 50/50, worked together with mutual respect, and I imagine are happier and healthier for it.
Do you ever wonder if it is all of that specialized education that we lawyers have which makes us so competitive, and often greedy, stupid, and miserable?
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.