system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How did the restaurant industry convince the American population to pay their employees for them?

Where did we buy into the tip system?
gpt
Before the Prohibition of alcohol, tips were basically bribery so some customer could get better services like bigger plates of be given food faster. When the Prohibition of alcohol came, restaurants saw a huge income decrease and they encourage their waiters to accept tips so they could get paid, instead of readjusting the whole prices so the money before spent on alcohol was driven to food and non.alcoholic beverages. 

This become so strong that now reataurants can pay little no nothing while their customers live out of tips. In reallity, they can accept the tips and if they dont get to minimun wage, they can legally ask the money to their employer so they can get minimun wage.

This is something just in USA and maybe some other countries. In Spain, where i live, tipping is not mandatory but is somewhat encouraged if the service is good, fast and take more orders than normal, if the table was big, if they bring bread and tap water instead of bottled when we ask for it... In Japan is even considered of bad education to give money as a tip cause is seen as a way to show off how much money you have.