<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by anonplz:
You don't have to tip anyone if you don't want, but the system here in the US is that businesses expect their customers to tip for service accordingly.
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It's simply not fair to not tip when you should, and I feel that most of the time, it's your burden to find out when to tip, and how much.</font>
I think that many of us have different opinions on "tipping when you should." I agree with taucher that there are far fewer instances where tipping is appropriate than we now see during our day-to-day travels.
I think it is well-known both in the US and abroad that waiters and bartenders in the US are "tipped" employees. But many other employee groups appear to expect tips more and more frequently.
And this is my primary concern -- that by tipping people like the candy store operator or the dry cleaning employee, those who tip have the effect of devaluing work for wages. And it can ruin the everyday standard service that the rest of us expect. I think 'good' service should be the standard from all service employees, whether they are the traditionally tipped employees or everyone else. (I also assert that the vast majority of people do not tip for these sorts of traditionally-non-tipped services).