Free idea for any restaurant that wants to try it:
Announce in writing on each check that tips are not accepted, but customers are asked to mark the service on a scale:
- Terrible
- Adequate
- Acceptable
- Superior
- Excellent
Each server would receive a bonus
from management equal to 5% of the bill (before tax) for a 2 rating, 10% for a 3, 15% for a 4, and 20% for a five.
No doubt there would be some things to work out -- are bar drinks tipped separately? how do you prevent cheating? what if customers in a party disagree? how do you count customers who neglect to fill it out? -- but the basic idea may still be sound.
Some might ask how this would be different from the current system. I can see several ways: it would make taxation of the tips easier and more honest, it would prevent the need to calculate tips, and it would bring about a systematization of the tipping standards, making it more predictable and promoting a common understanding of what the tip means. It would also make it much easier for both management and staff to rate the service "score" of each server.