And it is important to remember that taxes ARE calculated on presumed tips, at least in restaurants and bars.

Some of you might not think that it's necessary to tip, but it is actually expected, not just by the waiter or bartender, but by the US government.

The servers and bartenders are expected to declare tips, based on their sales, WHETHER OR NOT YOU TIP them. Depending on the situation, it's at least 8% of sales, but in many cases, it's expcected that the tip will be the average of what credit card tips (the only ones that can be verified) are. The IRS has gotten a lot more careful in how they look at tipped employees, and most now declare most or all of what they make. And with credit cards becoming the vast majority of sales in restaurants and more and more bars, tipped emplyees must actually declare all of their tips.

Whether or not you actually tip them, they will have to declare that you did, and pay taxes on it. That comes to about 1/3 of what you should have tipped, but didn't.

So, please understand that if you use the services of the waiter or bartender and don't tip them, that you are actually COSTING them money. Is that fair?

As for complaining that it's not fair that you have to pay for their salary because they're underpaid, that may be true. But the savings comes out of the price of food and drinks. In Europe tips are generally not expected in restauarnts and bars. But the servers and bartenders get a LOT more in wages than they do here. That extra cost is passed on to the customer in the form of higher prices for food and drinks. If the US were to switch to not tipping servers and bartenders, prices would go up dramatically on food and drinks because the businesses would suddenly have much higher payrolls to cover -- and not just for servers and bartenders. Bussers, barbacks, food runners and others often don't get full minimum wage either. All of their increased wages would go into the prices of the food and drinks.

Waiters in most US states make less than $3 per hour. That's significantly lower than the minimum wage. That's because it is expected by the government that they will make tips to augment that salary.

For better or for worse, tipping is not optional, unless the service was truly poor. Well, unless you're a complete jerk and don't mind that the bartender or waiter is effectively paying YOU for serving them.