To tip or not to tip?

As someone who's both received and given tips, I love them. Why? Because they're a dead-simple way to convert money to happiness. When I received a big tip, it always brightened my shift a bit. And now, every time I go out to eat, I know that I can do the same for someone else.

Do you stand in the street and give people money? You can buy other's temporary happiness there too.

"Tipping looks like an anachronistic hangover from a time when restaurant staff were the lowest of the low"

This is unfortunately still the case in America. I can't believe the author writes a long, elaborate article mentioning tipping in America without mentioning the minimum wage for food service in the US. Federally, it's currently $2.13/hr though employers are required to compensate employees so they make at least minimum wage ($7.25/hr currently). Waiting jobs are not minimum wage jobs, however. They require a ton of difficult work and I would venture to guess that if waiters/waitresses were only paid the typical minimum federal wage, we'd quickly see a shortage followed by a rise in wages (the current average wage in the US is $11.82) (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_Stat...).

At least in the US, this is not up for debate until we change the law. Until the 'to tip' is the only answer anyone who wants otherwise, no matter how good their intentions, is just greedy. The discussion, at least in the US, should be framed in terms of legal issues, not customary or other issues.

I think we would do best to change our stupid laws, pay waiters and waitresses a lot more, and be done with tipping. It really is un-American. But then again, sadly, so is paying someone a decent wage.

Oh, trust me, there's no shortage of retail jobs that don't do tips. You can work at a supermarket or a department store or any other store that employs cashiers. Even at a restaurant, you can always be a busboy or a dishwasher. If you're working a tipping job, it's because you specifically sought one out over other retail jobs.

People who work tipping jobs do so because they pay better on average, not because it's the only job available. Tips scale tremendously. If you work at a high-volume restaurant or, better, a restaurant with high prices, you'll be pulling in decent cash. And every once in a while, you'll get that mythican high-roller who decides to be charitable and drops a wad of cash on the table. Hell, a server at a fancy restaurant will be pulling in so much money that it would be absurd to categorize them them with other retail employees (once you get into super-fancy restaurants, serving is treated more like a concierge job than anything else).

Restaurant staff has a pecking order, much like high school. Of all the non-manager positions, servers are the most prestigious. Why? Because they make the most money.

If you have a repeat customer that is nice, but doesn't tip (or tips very poorly, like say 5%) does the staff treat him with less quality?