Originally Posted by
LTBoston
Because you HAVEN'T "already paid." You've paid a price the owner has set based on the assumption that you'd be tipping to supplement the sub minimum wage he's permitted by law to pay his employees.
I don't know why people have such a hard time understanding this simple concept. Eliminate tipping, require the restaurant owners to pay servers a fair wage, and they'll raise menu prices to cover the increased overhead. Then you'll all be whining about how expensive it is to eat out.
Oh, I know I shouldn't get involved in a thread about tipping.
So on that logic it would be acceptable if I dine in a restaurant in LA where the minimum wage is $8/hr and spend $500 over 2 hrs to leave a tip of $16 if I have sole use of a dedicated server as the purpose of tipping is to make up the shortfall between what the employer pays and the minimum wage. That way I am certain that at least for the time period that I required service the server is earning the minimum wage plus whatever the employer pays - or is there some other purpose of tipping that has not been mentioned in your post?