Originally Posted by
serioustraveler
It seems like anti-tipping people have some kind of chip on their shoulder....
Given you've just written a post largely agreeing with us "anti-tipping" people, it's hard to see how you get to that conclusion.
But you did provide a textbook example of why I hate tipping cultures:
Servers will get
0%(terrible service, the server royally ....ed up and was made aware of it DURING the meal, the managers were involved, etc)
10%(bad service, inattentive server, meal was alright)
15%(normal service, decent meal)
Tipping for bad, heck, even for "normal" service completely defeats the argument in favour of a tipping culture.
Why would you tip someone for doing a bad job if the point of tipping is to encourage good service ? 
Coming from a non-tipping culture, this is how I calculate those numbers:
Complaints to the manager (terrible service, the server royally ....ed up and was made aware of it DURING the meal, the managers were involved, etc)
Complaints to the staff (bad service, inattentive server, meal was alright)
0% (normal service, decent meal)
Or in other words doing the job they're being paid to do.
10-20%+ (above and beyond what I expect of a server at the appropriate restaurant)
To pre-empt Americans jumping down my throat, I tip appropriately when I'm visiting the US, when I've been made aware that it's actually appropriate. Restaurants, of course, are easy - it's all the other ones like valets, bellhops, masseuses, hairdressers, etc where it gets unintuitive and stressful.