We describe a simple, achiral, terminal chain that appears to readily convert the synclinic SmC phase to the anticlinic SmC_A phase. If the α-carbon of a terminal chain is di-substituted, i.e., if either 1,1-dimethylpentyloxycarbonyl or 1,1-dimethylhexyloxycarbonyl is used instead of the usual chiral chain, 1-methylheptyloxycarbonyl, the terminal chain in the well known, antiferroelectric mesogen MHPOBC, an anticlinic SmC_A phase is observed exclusively below the SmA phase. Moreover, the dimethyl-substituted terminal chain can induce the SmC_A phase in very ordinary mesogens: n-hexyl decyloxybiphenyl carboxylate (HDBC) changes its conventional synclinic SmC phase into the anticlinic SmC_A phase when mixed with a molecule having the same HDBC core but containing the dimethyl-substituted terminal chain. The simple structure of this achiral terminal chain suggests that a generic mechanism is responsible for tilt sense propagation in smectics: we posit that subtle intra-layer packing arrangements within the aliphatic stratum give rise to a topographic pattern on the layer interface, and that this pattern communicates tilt sense preferences, anticlinic or synclinic, from layer to layer.