Am I alone in wondering why the percentage of US expected tips has inflated, as well as the check cost it is based on. What was once 10% became 15%, and then 18%, and then 20%.

In the US I have had room service outside restaurant hours. It commonly turns up luke-warm 30 minutes later all on a tray which is slammed down with a dreary expression and a hand out for tips. I put this down to the universal US practice of tipping, whether warranted or not.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to take just one overseas example, two waiters arrived with an absolute complete table setting (including flowers in a vase) which they expertly set for three of us business colleagues. It included things like a water jug and glasses we had not ordered, a real class job. It took them about five minutes to set it up and the steaks were still hot. This all cost much less than a comparable US place would, and the waiters were not expecting a tip but grateful to receive one. Coffee and dessert turned up 20 minutes later, not all at the start. A telephone call at the end, and it was all whisked away within minutes, none of the trays laying outside room doors for hours seen in US hotels.