Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference between bad service and good service might only be 15% vs 20% and IME most American's do not tip punitively anyway, and tip the same no matter what. The employer is in a much better position to assess staff performance than customers... And it's not the customers job. If a waiter sucks they won't fire themselves just because they're only getting 15% tips.
>The employer is in a much better position to assess staff performance than customers... And it's not the customers job. I disagree, after all it's the waiter who interacts with the customer most, while the employer mostly can only watch from afar or has other (better) things to do. In that regard a 5% difference on the tip won't do much at all. If the waiter expects to get tipped anyway, regardless of how bad the se…
The manager, for example, can observe if the employee is the problem or the customer. I've observed customers (from the outside) fly off the handle for no reason whatsoever. An employee shouldn't be paid less because the person they are serving is awful. They also shouldn't be paid less because the back of the house is short staffed so the food took an hour to be cooked, because people will tip less for that reason.
Also there's the people who believe "good service" means being served by a young attractive woman who smiles at you.
I'd like to know what good service means to other people. Good service to me is you take my order and bring me what I ordered.