Last week, we talked about DoorDash warning its customers that anyone who doesn’t tip when they place their orders risks it taking longer to deliver than those who tip up front. We also discussed how tipping has increasingly become a hot-button issue in America, as it seems like everywhere you turn, there’s the option to add a tip, and most of us feel badly saying no. Well, I do, at least. You should give a gratuity for good service, but it is kinda crazy to add a tip for the cashier at the grocery store. It feels like companies that refuse to pay their employees a living wage are passing the burden of their employees’ cost of living onto consumers.
A recent study done by Pew Research Center reveals that Americans are divided and confused over when and how much to leave in gratuities. TThe study also showed that 72% of the 11,945 surveyed aren’t into recent trends that add service fees and suggest tipping amounts. Basically, Americans are frustrated by “tipping culture” and feel the same way that many of you do: that it’s getting out of hand. Tipflation is real y’all!
72% are against the added “service charges”: Most don’t like the addition of “service charges,” the amounts that many restaurants and other businesses have tacked on to customers’ tabs under various names, often to cover the higher costs of things like food and labor — without having to raise their prices. An overwhelming 72 percent of people oppose them, with only 10 percent saying they favor them.
They also don’t like the “suggested tip” screen: They are also more likely to oppose a suggested tip amount than favor it, something businesses have recently taken to putting on touch-screens at takeout spots or on printed bills — ostensibly to make calculating them easier, but often used as a prod to get customers to shell out. Forty percent of Americans oppose such suggested tips, while 24 percent favor them. (About a third neither oppose nor favor them.)
Confusion over knowing when to tip: But with more opportunities to tip, and with some restaurants and other businesses offering prompts, there’s still plenty of confusion about whether customers should leave a gratuity — and if so, how much. Thirty-four percent of U.S. adults say it’s “extremely” or “very” easy to know whether to tip for different kinds of services these days, and a similar share, 33 percent, say the same about knowing how much to tip.
Tipping as an obligation vs. choice: While these recent and fundamental shifts in tipping might be confusing and unwelcoming, the survey also indicates that the practice in the bigger picture is divisive — Americans are not even on the same page about what tipping is. Twenty-nine percent of Americans think of tipping as an obligation, while 21 percent see it as a choice. Forty-nine percent, though, say it depends on the situation. Younger and more highly educated and wealthier people were more likely to see a tip as an obligation, Pew found.
Technology is contributing to the confusion: Advances in technology — like delivery apps and tablets at counters where you can tap to leave a gratuity — might be convenient, but they are contributing to the uncertainty. “It’s different than having a jar on the counter — people feel like they are presented with all these tipping options — but does that mean you are expected to tip?” DeSilver said. “We haven’t as a society settled on the rules for that.”
Gratuities by demographics: But apparently, not everyone abides by that, according to the Pew poll. Given a scenario in which they experienced “average, but not exceptional” food and service at a restaurant, 57 percent of people said they would tip 15 percent or less. Two percent said they would leave their server nothing. Just about a quarter said they would leave 20 percent or more. Wealthier people tend to be better tippers, the survey found, while older people are slightly more likely to tip 15 percent or less — perhaps reflecting a holdover from the earlier standards on a sufficient gratuity.
Systemic inequalities: It’s not just customers who seem dissatisfied with the American tipping system, in which workers who regularly receive tips have an hourly wage that’s lower than standard minimums. Some labor activists say the system creates inequities and leaves workers more vulnerable to the whims of their employers. They also argue that relying on tips makes women — who make up the majority of the tipped workforce — more likely to suffer sexual harassment or abuse from customers and managers.
I have mixed feelings about suggested tips. I do like when the amounts are written down on the bottom of the receipt and I can think it through privately. There’s a lot of pressure when the person who I’m tipping is standing in front of me, holding up the screen, watching what I pick. At restaurants, I generally tip 20% because that’s what I was taught. 20% is also an easy amount for me to figure out in my head. (I love math!) When we go to the movies, there’s a tip screen for the concession workers. We always leave a tip, but I honestly don’t know what the proper etiquette is in that situation! This came up when we talked about leaving credit card vs. cash tips for DoorDash drivers, but when in those non-restaurant situations, I always wonder who actually gets the tip left via card. Do those employees actually see any of that money at the end of the day?
I completely emphasize with workers who are reliant on tips. Last month, WaPo did an eye-opening story that chronicled the very long day of an Instacart/UberEats worker and shed light on gig-economy workers. That’s so stressful. How much money you make at your job should not be dependent on the goodwill or toleration of harassment from others. Gratuities should supplement income, not make up the bulk of it. It sucks that the waters have become so muddied that people are confused and fed up by the whole thing. You know what would solve this problem? We need to raise the minimum wage for all workers.
Photos credit: Tom Tillhub on Pexels, Antoni Shkraba on Pexels, Nathana Rebouças on Unsplash
In 2021, Prince William and Kate started their own YouTube channel. The original idea was possibly to get into a “content war” with the Sussexes, given Harry and Meghan’s Netflix contract. But really, the YT channel ended up like everything else Will and Kate touch – kind of boring, handed off to other people, and unappealing to the public. The Kensington Palace media team still dutifully post “slick,” expensive-looking videos, and it’s clear that William has hired some videographers and commercial directors who know what they’re doing. Speaking of, the KP YouTube channel just got around to posting a video made in 2022, during the Waleses’ Caribbean Flop Tour.
They brought along a whole-ass commercial director to film this video in The Bahamas. It features an eco-project, Coral Vita, which won an Earthshot Prize in 2021. Here’s what I don’t understand… why did it take a year and a half to post this video? And why are they spending money to hire a commercial director to travel with them and make these videos? Who or what is paying for that?
Also: Will and Kate spent a lot of time in the water during that flop tour. They also went scuba-diving in Belize, in addition to snorkeling in the Bahamas. Is that why they sat on this video for 18-19 months? Because they didn’t want to remind people how f–king tone deaf that whole tour was? And to think, they hired a commercial director to travel with them and capture all of this behind-the-scenes footage of their snorkeling and scuba diving.
Here are some photos from King Charles’s “birthday party” at Highgrove on Monday. Charles invited a few dozen 75-year-olds to join him at a reception thrown by his foundation ahead of his 75th birthday today. Charles was in his element – surrounded by old farts and posing with a big cake. There are no photos of Charles eating that cake, but I hope the guests all got a slice. Today, Charles will be launching his Coronation Food Project. He wanted as many eyes on his launch as possible, which is why Charles is once again using his son’s name for added clout. It’s become quite a regular thing, Charles using Prince Harry’s name to draw attention to himself. The palace leaked some news to the BBC:
King Charles is celebrating his 75th birthday with a business-as-usual approach and the launch of a project to help people facing food poverty. But it’s understood that he will be getting a birthday greeting by transatlantic phone call from his younger son, Prince Harry.
The King’s birthday plans will also see him hosting a reception for NHS nurses and midwives.
Ceremonial gun salutes will mark the day, including at the Tower of London.
Public service rather than glitzy partying is being emphasised in the King’s birthday engagements, although it is expected that there will be a private dinner for close family and friends.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, will not be there, but well-placed sources say that the US-based duke will be putting in a birthday phone call to his father. The plans for a phone message might be seen as an olive branch, after claims that there had been no contact with Prince Harry about the birthday plans.
There was no public contact and no social media posts from the Windsors for Harry’s birthday, which he celebrated in Germany at the Invictus Games. But was there actually “no contact” between Harry and Charles on or around Harry’s 39th birthday? If that’s so, Charles really is the sh-ttiest of dogs-t fathers. Couldn’t even send Harry a birthday card or a birthday text? And now Charles is using Harry’s name AGAIN. Harry shut it down when Charles briefed the media that Harry had been invited to his birthday party but Harry “snubbed” the invite. I hope Harry skips the call and just sent his father some rude “over the hill” card.
Hilarie Burton thinks Travis Kelce & Taylor Swift will be engaged by May. [Just Jared]
Lupita Nyong’o looks incredible in green/teal. [Go Fug Yourself]
Gordon Ramsay & his wife welcomed their sixth child. [Seriously OMG]
Austin Butler is still talking like Elvis in Masters of the Air. [LaineyGossip]
Review of The Marvels. [Pajiba]
Sofia Richie also went to the Baby2Baby gala. [RCFA]
Trailer for HBO’s Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God. [OMG Blog]
Jinger Duggar-Vuolo put her daughter in a “Christian hybrid” school. [Starcasm]
Britney Spears has a girl crush on Taylor Swift. [Hollywood Life]
Timothee Chalamet spoofed Troye Sivan on SNL. [Socialite Life]
These people are having the toughest week ever. [Buzzfeed]
They are gonna have the most flannel lined, pie and red ribbon kinda Christmas….and then these babies are gonna be engaged by May. https://t.co/e01on1aLJs
— Hilarie Burton Morgan (@HilarieBurton) November 12, 2023
Here are some photos from Remembrance Sunday in London, where the Windsor men laid wreaths at the Cenotaph as the royal women looked on from the balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Keeping with Kate’s recent style theme, she repeated a coatdress from a previous Remembrance Sunday – this is her “Sgt. Pepper” coatdress, as I like to think of it. It’s from Catherine Walker, back when Kate would regularly drop thousands of dollars on a coat with loads of buttons and tassels. Her hat is a repeat too – a Philip Treacy hat she previously wore in 2006, 2012 and 2017.
The real news is that Kate seemingly got to “borrow” a particularly gaudy pair of earrings from the royal collection. These are diamond-and-pearl earrings which are part of a suite including an equally gaudy brooch, which Kate wore at one of QEII’s funeral events. QEII rarely, if ever, wore any of these pieces but the earrings are being called a “tribute to QEII.”
Kate got to stand beside Queen Camilla and they spoke to each other a few times. Kate didn’t pull a face or indicate that she was not happy with Camilla. Which shows that she can act when she wants to – I’m absolutely sure that Camilla and Charles have authorized a big part of the Middletons’ downfall this year.
(Before now, I never realized that someone has to actually put tape down on the road to show the royals their “marks” for the wreath-laying.)
So many people completely ignored this year’s Earthshot Awards. It was amazing. I love that for Prince William. The stupidest part about the Singapore awards was that William really was faced with one of the biggest dilemmas of his soft, lazy life: bring Kate and get more attention OR be able to launch himself as a sexy single statesman with significantly less attention. If he truly wanted to get the most attention for himself or Earthshot, he should have brought Kate along. But he can’t stand to be around her and he didn’t want his ass groped in Singapore, so here we are. People paid such little attention to Earthshot that we forgot that William was supposed to announce where next year’s Earthshot would be held. Well, the big news: Earthshot is going to China.
The Prince of Wales will take his annual Earthshot prize awards to China in an attempt to engage with the country and fast-forward change to its environmental policies. He will visit the world’s biggest polluter despite severely strained relations between China and the West, a decision that is in marked contrast to his father’s approach.
The King, who will be 75 on Tuesday, has never visited mainland China because of his views on the regime’s treatment of Tibet and its human rights record. By comparison, William is said to believe that you “can’t exclude a big chunk of the planet when thinking about fighting for its future”.
William, 41, discussed his plans for China with the prime minister and president of Singapore last week, during his three-day visit to the country which hosted this year’s Earthshot prize awards ceremony.
A royal source said: “Prince William believes that when it comes to the climate and the environment, Asia is critical. He’s of the view you can’t exclude a big chunk of the planet when thinking about fighting for its future. To fast-forward the change and impact he wants, he knows he has to engage with China and India — two of the world’s biggest economies and biggest emitters of carbon dioxide. This is not him commenting on government policy. This is about his approach to the environment and ability to create real global change. It is him thinking, ‘Where can I deliver impact and change not just here but around the world?’ That is his longer-term view.”
A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “Scale and ambition is something the prince thinks a lot about. He wants to make Earthshot truly global.”
[From The Times]
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-william-earthshot-prize-china-p2qk5z77h
While I know there are many American politicians who use China as one of their go-to boogeymen, I don’t think I realized until just now, with this Times piece, that British politicians are so wary of even going to China or doing any kind of diplomacy. When your country is stuck in an isolationist rut, perhaps “sending a dumb, lazy prince to China” is groundbreaking or important. But… it’s not 1955 anymore. China has opened up in some ways. The rest of the world is in China, and China has reached out to the rest of the world. That being said, given China’s strict social media and media censorship policies, next year’s Earthshot is going to get even less attention.
Meanwhile, Peggington posted these “behind-the-scenes” photos on Instagram where he was preparing for his big Invictus speech. He made sure to pose like Prince Harry at Invictus. It’s just sad that Will and Kate are so insecure, so obvious and so unoriginal.
After four years, even royal reporters are starting to understand that they’re stuck in a holding pattern of their own creation. As much as the Windsors expected the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to fail, to capitulate, to come crawling back “to heel,” so to were the expectations of the royal media. They can’t believe that they ran two attractive royal superstars out of the country and now they only have (strained) access to the lazy, ashy Royals. Some reporters try to play make-believe, pretending that they still have a say in what the Sussexes do, or that Harry and Meghan’s lives are their business. At least Katie Nicholl – the Wig’s biographer – is acknowledging that Harry will not be “home” for Christmas.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be planning for a Christmas in California as their feud with senior members of the Royal Family continues, according to an expert. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spent the last three Christmases in the US. Meghan Markle has not returned to the UK since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl told GBNews.com that there is zero chance of the Sussexes returning to Britain during the festive period this year.
Nicholl said: “He [Harry] is getting used to a California Christmas. I don’t see that this Christmas will be any different. Relations with his family are very strained. He does not speak to his brother. He barely talks to his father. There is absolutely zero chance of him coming back to Britain for a British Christmas.
“He seems to be enjoying his Californian life and everything that the lifestyle affords him. California is home, his children are growing up very much steeped in their culture, speaking in American accents, and enjoying Thanksgiving before Christmas. I think that is what we will see them enjoy again this year.”
I know Nicholl probably said this in a perky, matter-of-fact way, but the way GB News reported it, it comes across as seething. Like, four years later, their worlds are still being rocked. “You mean to tell me that he hasn’t enjoyed a British Christmas since 2018? You mean he celebrates American holidays now? What do you mean, the children open gifts on Christmas morning??” I would absolutely love to know the holiday traditions Harry and Meghan have made for themselves these days. I want to know if Meghan cooks for Thanksgiving, and whether Harry wanted to carry on some of his family’s Germanic Christmas traditions. Anyway, yeah, lmao, they’re not coming back. They weren’t asked and they probably would have laughed if they were asked. Nicholl and the rest of them have to make do with leaks from the Kensington Palace bewigletted gopher.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, the Sussexes’ 2021 Christmas card.
As an American, I know I’m not one to talk about soap-opera politics, but wow, the British government is particularly bonkers right now. About thirteen months ago, Liz Truss was ousted as prime minister. The woman could not outlast a head of lettuce. Truss’s Tory replacement is Rishi Sunak. Sunak is seemingly a steadier hand than Truss, but again, a head of lettuce was a steadier hand than Liz Truss. Sunak, his government and the Tories are all deeply unpopular.
One of the most despised figures in the Sunak government was Suella Braverman, the Secretary of State for the Home Department. Every week, Braverman made international news for some new dystopian policy or cruel statement. One of her latest kerfuffles was writing an unauthorized op-ed about policing of pro-Palestinian protests in the UK. Braverman literally just attended all of the Remembrance events this weekend, and then bright and early on Monday, Sunak fired her. Not only that, but Sunak has appointed former prime minister David Cameron to take over as Foreign Secretary in his cabinet reshuffle.
Britain’s beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak carried out a dramatic reshuffle to his Cabinet on Monday, firing his divisive home secretary and bringing back former premier David Cameron to the heart of government after a seven-year absence from politics.
The hardline Home Secretary Suella Braverman was sacked early on Monday morning, after making inflammatory comments about the policing of pro-Palestinian protests in central London over the weekend. Her tenure had wrought with scandals and divisive remarks, which had long caused fractures in Sunak’s government.
Sunak then announced he was bringing Cameron back to frontline politics as foreign secretary, in a stunning move that has few parallels in recent British political history. Cameron served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016, resigning after Britain voted to leave the European Union in a referendum that he had called. His premiership set the course of 13 years of Conservative rule, but the self-inflicted chaos of the Brexit referendum and its aftermath threw his party into years of instability from which it is still struggling to emerge.
Downing Street confirmed that James Cleverly, formerly the foreign secretary, will take over from Braverman, a shift that made space for Cameron’s remarkable return to Cabinet.
Braverman had served as Sunak’s interior minister throughout his tenure in Downing Street, but her confrontational rhetoric towards migrants, protesters, the police and even the homeless had caused rifts in the government and sparked speculation that she was plotting a future leadership bid. She most recently courted criticism by accusing London’s police force of applying “double standards” in the way they manage protests, in an op-ed in the Times of London newspaper condemning a pro-Palestinian march that Downing Street said had not been cleared by Sunak.
It’s funny but also just… sad. I feel bad for all of the people suffering under thirteen years of disastrous Tory rule, and the reemergence of David Cameron should hopefully mark the last days of this Tory sh-tshow. Cameron’s Brexit vote – and the mismanagement of the vote – really started this seven-year descent of Tory psychodrama.
King Charles and his consort attended the Festival of Remembrance on Saturday evening, as you can see in the photo above. Before the festival started, they unveiled new statues of QEII and Prince Philip. Charles seemed unaffected. This is a busy week for him – he turns 75 years old on Tuesday, and he’s planned several days of events to celebrate. On Monday, he’ll go to Highgrove (his country estate) and host a “tea” for other 75-year-olds in the Orchard Room, overlooking the gardens. Then on Tuesday, he’ll do a big launch event for Coronation Food Project, which is just his scheme to end “food waste” (and not food insecurity, hunger or poverty). Later on Tuesday, he’ll have a small party with assorted family members and friends. Ahead of these events, Charles posed for a special birthday portrait and the palace authorized a completely bizarre piece in the Daily Mail, written by Becky English. The headline is “Why Charles is still in ‘great pain’ over Harry.” But Becky actually reveals some tea about Charles and Camilla’s marriage. They basically live separately full time now. Wow, and they didn’t make that the headline. Some highlights:
Charles is in good shape: Other than a nagging back pain he has suffered from for years, the King is said to be in ‘very good shape’ – a must, given that he regularly works 12 to 14-hour days. ‘He’s surprisingly abstemious and lives quite a simple life personally,’ says an insider. ‘He doesn’t drink that much and never over-eats. And he never ceases to delight that even in his 70s he can still fit into all his old uniforms.’
Separate lives: By his side on many of his engagements is Queen Camilla, with whom he has a mutual understanding that they need their own space. The pair operate more as a team now then ever, but the couple still keep separate homes, friends and interests, in what friends see as a ‘sensible and pragmatic’ approach to the stresses of royal life. Returning from foreign tours, where they have often been living and working together 24/7, it’s not uncommon to see ‘his and her’ cars waiting on the runway to take them off to their respective country boltholes for some well-deserved downtime.
Separate wings: Camilla will enjoy a few days with her family and friends, and Charles will potter in his beloved gardens or on the farm. And at Windsor Castle or Birkhall, their Scottish estate, it’s not unusual for them to sit reading companionably – in separate wings. ‘It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that time apart really works for them,’ one insider says. ‘They are better for it.’
William & Charles’s relationship: William, like Harry, was previously hostile towards what he regarded as his father’s media ‘spin machine’, his youthful shouting matches with the King permeating even the thick Palace walls. Now a father himself, William is far more understanding of his ‘Pa’. ‘Has His Majesty made mistakes when it comes to parenting? Yes. Would he privately admit he could have done some things better, or at least differently? Of course,’ a source says. ‘But while I am sure they still don’t agree on everything all the time, he and the Prince of Wales are firmly united now around a common shared interest, which is to keep the institution in a place where it can serve the nation. This was happening anyway as the late Queen got older, but there’s no doubt what happened with Harry brought everything into sharp relief.’
Pain over Harry: The latter is a subject that still brings His Majesty ‘great pain’. I am told there is currently ‘barely any level of communication’ between Charles and Harry. There is undeniable anger at the anguish the King believes Harry caused the late Queen in the last years of her life, not to mention the insults he has heaped upon his own wife Camilla, of whom Charles is understandably protective. Charles is a man who notoriously hates confrontation and will never close the door on his younger son. But sticking to his guns, he has rejected Harry’s demands for an ‘apology’ and put the whole issue to one side for the time being as he concentrates on the business of state.
Whether Harry was invited to his father’s birthday: Much has been made this week of whether his younger son has been formally invited to his private birthday celebration next Tuesday. In fact, he has not. But I can reveal the event is just a small, intimate dinner in London for close friends in any case. Hardly any family members will be present, in line with the King’s diktat that he just wants it to be an average day. ‘There’s a lot of hurt on both sides, but time is a healer. For now it is baby steps forwards,’ said one informed observer. ‘It’s very sad His Majesty doesn’t get to see his son or his grandchildren, but there’s no rush to patch things up.’
“There is undeniable anger at the anguish the King believes Harry caused the late Queen in the last years of her life” – f–k all the way off, Charles. He literally gave his mother Covid and he was openly wishing QEII dead for decades. As for all of the stuff about Charles and Camilla’s separate lives… some of that is old news, they’ve always maintained separate residences and needed “space” from one another, but it’s bonkers that it’s entirely built in at every level of their schedules now, that Camilla is always off with her family and friends and Charles is just… alone, having alienated, exiled and/or neglected his sons at Camilla’s request. I mean, I don’t feel bad for Charles, but I definitely underestimated Camilla’s long game. She not only set out to destroy Charles’s marriage and his first wife, but she never wanted Diana’s sons around either. And after all that, Charles and Camilla take separate cars when they get off the plane.
Last week, Keke Palmer filed for sole custody of her son Leodis and she also requested an emergency domestic violence restraining order. In her court filings, she revealed that her former partner Darius Jackson had repeatedly assaulted her and emotionally abused her, and even broken into her house after they broke up. She had physical evidence to back up everything, including security camera footage from inside her home, from cameras she must have installed after she broke up with Darius. Well, the emergency order was granted on Friday:
Keke Palmer has been granted temporary sole custody of her 8-month-old son. On Thursday, the Nope actress, 30, filed a request for a domestic violence restraining order against the infant’s father, Darius Jackson, in Los Angeles. Palmer asked the court for full physical and legal custody of Leodis, detailing multiple allegations of physical abuse in the filing, according to documents reviewed by PEOPLE.
In response to the emergency filing, the Los Angeles County judge granted a temporary restraining order that states that Jackson must stay at least 100 yards away from both the actress and their son, as well as any childcare or schooling established for the infant.
In addition to granting Palmer temporary sole physical and legal custody of Leo, the temporary restraining order states that Jackson is not allowed to have visitation with his son, with a hearing set for Dec. 5 to determine further action on the temporary arrangement.
While I know there are thousands, if not millions, of horror stories of how the legal system compounds abuse as battered women try to navigate a broken system, BUT it does feel like there are some smaller changes in certain areas, where judges are starting to understand that they need to take this sh-t more seriously. I absolutely hope that the courts take Keke seriously and take the evidence she’s compiled into account. Meanwhile, People Mag had this very depressing story about how Darius’s online freakout about Keke going to Vegas (over the summer) was the beginning of the end.
“This is a big surprise,” says the source, who claims Jackson and Palmer appeared publicly amicable late last month during an event in Los Angeles for her streaming network KeyTV. “The baby was there, everybody. Darius went to support her, they were all congratulating her.”
However, the insider acknowledges there have been issues in their relationship in the past. The pair, who reportedly met in 2021 while attending a Memorial Day party hosted by Issa Rae and Diddy, had navigated tough times over the years, according to the source.
“There was at least one breakup, before the Vegas incident,” says the source, referring to the public drama that unfolded this past July after Palmer attended Usher’s Vegas residency, where she was serenaded by the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime performer. At the time, Jackson publicly called her out for her outfit by quoting a tweet showing a video of Palmer dancing with Usher and writing: “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom.”
Says the source: “I don’t think the Vegas incident caused all of this. There were problems before, but I do think it was the beginning of the end.”
“There was some genuine love there,” says the source, who claims, “Around Leo’s birth things were really good.”
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but regular old bystanders have no place to talk about how “there was genuine love there” once a woman files for an emergency protective order after her former partner repeatedly assaulted her. Like, was it love or was it love-bombing? Was he “supporting” her or was he keeping tabs on his victim? His abuse had gotten so bold that he felt perfectly comfortable shaming her outfit when she had a girls’ trip to Vegas! That was how he punished her because she A) went out with her girlfriends and B) flirted with Usher.