system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Tipping is supposed to be voluntary and for exceptional customer service. Expecting or mandating tipping is rude and detrimental to customers and employees alike. CMV

If I'm in an ordinary US restaurant, I don't really know what the prices is... it's whatever's on the menu plust some unspecified amount that's based on shame. If I pay any less than whatever is expected (and the amount varies depending on the kind of restaurant and service), I'm some kind of asshole.

Why? Because somehow restaurants are granted an exception to minimum wage laws *because of tipping* so now they're basically working for free unless I make up the difference. But bad laws aren't my fault nor are they my responsibility. 

The next excuse is that it improves customer service, but having standards and holding to them solves that problem. When I worked retail, I helped people to the best of my ability because that's *what you're supposed to do*. If waiters aren't making people feel welcome, then it's not my responsibility to make it known by tips.

Even worse, the employee tips can be affected by the quality and timliness of the cooks, whether the restaurant is understaffed, whether they have to share the tips with kitchen staff or with management... it's just an enormous moronic mess and I hate it. 

There's nothing good about tipping and it should be abolished. I would think that everyone would agree, but they don't. What am I missing?
gpt
I think this is simple enough - you would be paying a higher cost for your meal if the businesses paid their employees accordingly and no one tipped anymore. In other words, *you're paying that tip one way or the other* - as it stands now, there's some incentive to do more than "just your job", and allows the patron to determine the final cost of their meal.

You're entitled to not pay them, but if you've ever seen the opening to Reservoir Dogs, you'd get the fact that you're *going* to pay them one way or the other, and they work hard for their non wages.

Should the system be changed so the companies can't "stiff" their employees? Maybe - until you realize most waiters/waitresses make more than minimum wage, some upwards of $20 an hour in posh establishments, but *only*, and this is key, *only* if they provide exceptional service. This differentiates a shitty waiter from a good one. That doesn't mean we shouldn't set a minimum bar, but doing so requires an increase in the cost to the customer one way or the other; otherwise, small businesses die while corporations and mass-service industry can skate the costs on sheer volume.

Long story short, your meal is gonna include that extra 10% no matter what, so you're forking it up one way or the other. This is just the current method our culture utilizes for the transaction. It may not be ideal, but you need to participate.