Well said. As someone who worked as a waiter (albeit a long time ago), waiters are at the very bottom of the restaurant totem pole -- only busboys and dishwashers are lower. Waiters can't determine restaurant policy and, as with any job above minimum wage in this economy, good waiting jobs are hard to find. Withholding tips should be a response to one thing and one thing, only: poor service. Displeasure with management policies or, for that matter, poor quality food, should be directed to management. I have had to walk out of a restaurant a couple of times for reasons unrelated to the service. I [U]always/U] left a tip because, by occupying a table at the waiter's station, I prevented other diners, who would have left a tip, from sitting there. Each time, however, I made a point of asking for the manager, explaining my dissatisfaction and why I was leaving, and specifically explaining that it had nothing to do with the waiter, who I made sure to take care of.