You expect good service at a restaurant and the server expects (and the IRS expects and taxes the server on) the appropriate tip. You know this going in. Why is it fair for you to receive what you expect but the server not to? If you truly feel that tipping should be abolished, simply inform the server in advance. Otherwise you are taking advantage of the situation for your own benefit.
Funny thing is, people want to complain about poor service in restaurants while at the same time saying the restaurants should pay them a flat wage. In order to have both would cost far more than what a 20% tip costs you now. There are restaurants that do so successfully but the cost of a meal there is many times the cost of, say, Chili's.
Basically what you are saying is you have no respect for anyone who is not on your economic level.
This is the prime example of the "existential dilemma". Some will see the transaction as just that, a transaction of goods and services for pay, whereas other will see it as a moral, ethical, socially acceptable transaction...... there will never be a resolution.
A customer CHOOSES to go to a certain place of business to get the goods he wants and does have the expectation to get a certain degree of service which will make his experience "worth the money". If the goods or the service is not to his liking, he will still get his goods but from different place.
An employee can have personal desire to work in a workplace that is friendly, cordial, uplifting, and can desire all they want to only serve customer following the same ideology HOWEVER the reality of it is completely different than this utopia dreamt of. The fact remains that the service industry has always and will always be driven by the customer and the customer experience, and the service person will be at the receiving end. As an employee you entered into an agreement with the employer to get paid for a fair wage and fair hours, and a safe environment...... and your personal expectations (albeit altruistic for a better society) are just wishful thinking. As an service employee you are
required to SERVE regardless if the customer is nice, a good tipper, cute, of the right ethnicity etc... UNLESS the owner/boss chooses to allow you the latitude of not serving (to a certain legal extent, since it is his business and his rules), or UNLESS it is prohibited by law or UNLESS it is physically unsafe. Your personal expectations get checked at the door once you choose a service job. If you don't like it, then select a different job or renegotiate..... but again the burden is on employee/employer to resolve and not a between the customer and employee (since the goods and service contract is between customer and establishment not service person (unless laws applies)).
I am a well read individual and owner of 3 businesses (2 of which are service business) and I have yet to see a single legislation that stipulate that a customer breaks any laws by refusing to smile, say please or thank you, or leave a tip. From a social and moral standpoint I can agree that it will make for a much better society to do those things HOWEVER those are wishful expectations and definitely not market driven. The market is Supply & Demand and if the customer demands cheap goods and excellent service then the person supplying will win and the place with high expectations of their customer base (and attitude to reflect) will FAIL, therefore no wage and no possibility of tips. If you are an employee of a fail business with a desire to please and serve yourself over your customer base and you decided to go get a job at the thriving place down the road then you will have to abide by the rules and regulations of that business..... and just to reiterate a statement often used (and so true in the service business, even if we don't like it), "The Customer is Always Right!!"
.... and he is!
Nth, your expressed opinion seems to indicate that someone going to eat out and choose not to tip is abusive and takes advantage of the server. I will agree with you if you are taking feelings and moral standards as your standard HOWEVER when you choose to go eat out, your
only expectations (as a customer) is to not hindered the work of the server by not selecting your food, and wasting their time, and taking valuable "retail space".... and second pay your bill. A tip, aka a gratuity, is defined as a gift, present or reward, not an "expected" add-on.
Personally if I go to a place that automatically add an 18% gratuity to large groups, then I don't go back.... and if enough customers complain then the management has a decision to make. I've seen PLENTY places change their policies (or choose not to implement their own policies) because of market demand. I will offer a tip to any service person that goes above and beyond as a gift for making my experience the best they can, and I will offer an even greater gratuity to the new employee frazzled and discombobulated that tries so hard, but failing. If I get a seasoned server that barely does the minimum and couldn't care less to make my experience better then I will not tip (and won't be discourteous about it) but will make sure to select a different server
IF I decide to go back to that establishment.
We should not reward mediocrity because it is expected, we should reward excellence
