I don’t understand why we’re so caught up with the world ‘tip’? If we called it ‘froggle’, and it was part of a worker’s expected wages, would it be less optional? Tipping a minimum amount should not be optional and it should be as much a crime as skipping out on your bill.

John- Do you really think that it’s a matter of ‘taking advantage of employees’? Employees want tips- a business is free to include tip in the price and not have tips, but they don’t. Because it is popular because it allows people to work harder and make more money. Aside from that, a very small number of restaurateurs are in any position to ‘take advantage of employees’- I doubt there is any business that goes bottom up as often as restaurants. It is probably the most difficult industry around, due to competition and conditions, and the people that own and manage restaurants are usually in it as a labor of love (or they are lifelong screwups). I will admit tip inflation may be a bit out of hand but I have a soft spot- either way, just cause there’s been some inflation doesn’t mean we should remove the floor.

Joe- once again, tips are part of wages (with exclusions such as Ken’s above). I explained how servers have money taken out per-dollar, if they don’t get tipped that, they are working for free (or paying you for the privilege of serving you). How can a member of the human race and society in which compassion is a virtue be so heartless and naive as to punish hard-working individuals because their obviously superior intellect disagrees with the philosophical underpinnings of a minimum wage law.

The rule of thumb I have, which I’d urge you all to have, is- the only reason I’d not tip is if I either 1) didn’t get service at all or service stopped and I couldn’t find anyone (both have happened), or 2) the experience was so horrible I will never go back, period (maybe, the food had a bug in it and they refuse to comp it, or the waiter was openly hostile and yelling at you?).

And another thing- one reason why I say, tipping isn’t optional, is not only do servers have bad days/tables/moments that are sometimes not their fault- customers do too. You may be a douchebag (or behave like one sometimes) and not realize it. And then you have some percentage of people who shouldn’t be allowed into a full service restaurant at all. So remember that you may be partly responsible for your bad service, and avoid punishing your server.

But more to the point, we should not encourage this system! Why should celebrity restraunteurs , and other business owners get away without paying their workers salary! !

Tip inflation only encourages the system further. If people would not tip so much, eventually the business model (or taking advantage of employees model) would be forced to change.