Originally Posted by
Mr. Mastodon Flyer
...watching a bunch of Euros spend hundreds of words trying to come up with (and justify!) schemes to stiff poor people out a few measly bucks. We may be a lot of things, but at least we're not *that*.
Look at it this way: maybe we don't want to encourage employment practises that take away the responsibility for the employers to pay their employees.
As said before in this same thread, I would be happy to pay a higher base price for services in order to avoid the tipping practise that is embarrassing for me and might be embarrassing for the service employee as well. I would be happy to pay the employer for the services so that she/he would make sure to hire the best employees and keep them motivated and ensure a fair pay among his/hers other employees. Something I, as an occasional tourist, am in no position to ensure.
Btw. the really poor people really in need of help are somewhere completely elsewhere than working in the U.S. service industry. Or else the situation is even worse than I can imagine.