IME it's fairly common to see a tip already on the bill for parties of six or more.

A novel suggestion on my receipt tonight

Tip $0 and put a checkmark beside that.

Agreed.
As a rule I never tip more than 10% and will often leave nothing if the service has been lousy.
If service charge has been included and the service is poor I ask them to remove it from the bill.
I also do this if a service charge has been added and an open line for an additional tip has been left on the bill.
I also enjoy explaining why to the restaurant manager if they complain.My wife doesn't mind as it gives her time to enjoy a cigarette outside before we head home.
This and Tripadvisor reviews dripping in caustic bile are my little ways of fighting the tsunami of poorly-run restaurants.

If everyone was like you, I'd be in the poor house. $2.13 an hour isn't much, and even if they have to make it up up to $7.25, that's nothing for the amount of work involved. I don't understand why people like this eat out.

Some people expect Le Cirque/French Laundry level service at the local diner.

Yeah, but this guy seems to imply that even if I were to provide service worthy of a Michelin-starred establishment, I would still only get 10% max.

One of the chain sandwich shops near my current project site:

You start at the beginning of the line, tell the counter person what bread, what filling and what topping for your sandwich. You then pick up your own bag of chips, and the cashier hands you a cup so you can get your own drink from the dispenser. He also hands you your sandwich so that you can carry it to your table. The meal total shows up on the credit card machine, along with suggested tips starting at 18% (and I think, post-tax.)

What is the tip for? Listening?

(I don't appreciate tip jars either...)

I'll usually give a small tip at counter-service, nicer-than-fast-food places I'm a regular at. I sure as heck don't tip 18% though!

(My usual tip at my local counter-service burger place is a $2 on about a $22 pre-tax bill.)

I don't tip the guy behind the deli counter if he serves me well.
10% is the norm throughout much of Europe - it's only in the States that people expect to be paid extra for delivering what is often crap service.
As I mentioned in a reply to a PM someone sent me there's a very good reason why servers are only just above the dishwashers in the restaurant food chain.Most often they're people not good enough or bright enough to get employment elsewhere.
I know the truth hurts but that's the reality.

I'm sure there are others here who will be flaming you, so I'll lay off. All I'm going to say is that I and many others that are servers at my restaurant are only there as a way of getting money while in or to fund school. I went to one of the most prestigious public colleges in the country, and my potential for employment opportunities post-education look great. Beyond that, the reason people expect to be tipped higher than 10% in the US is that tipped minimum wage (federally, although locality-to-locality it varies widely) is $2.13/hour--hardly enough to feed one's self. It's pretty weird to impose your own nation's customs on another's, and doesn't seem to be like a good travelling habit. And serving in the US can be a good career if one actually wants it to be. One of my buddies from my old restaurant now makes six figures being, as you seem to indicate, stupid or, "not bright," serving at an upscale restaurant in Atlanta, and that's not unheard of.

Anyway, I think it's funny you want to resort to insinuating that I am not bright when you have essentially no information about me other than that I am a server. Have a great day.

Odd, I usually hear that in Europe that it's not mandatory to tip there at all (and an awful lot of table-service places have a separate service charge, whether a fixed table charge or a percent of the bill.)

As sky303 already said, America isn't Europe, and the servers in Europe will be being paid more as a base wage by local standards to begin with. You'll also typically pay (by local standards) a higher base menu price to begin with.

Trying to compare the two is a bit silly, it's like saying you should tip tons in the third world because the servers are paid so little.

Or in other words, If you want to apply European norms to restaurants, do so in Europe.

Failing that, at least make sure you don't give repeat business to the same restaurants here because you are very likely to get even worse service the next time around... although if the service is so "bad," why give them the business at all in the first place?

The only reality is that there is a norm about how restaurant workers are compensated, and while there's some reasonable variance in how that's calculated, pretty much everyone actually living in the US has a basic sense of what's standard.

It's very much possible to KNOWINGLY abuse that but that's hardly something to be proud of -- whether the abuse is for ideological reasons or just because of being a cheapskate matters not at all.

I tip very well, but I don't appreciate passive aggressive suggestions. I don't mind the printed suggestions, but the checkmark reduces me to a walking wallet, not a valued customer.

I do at least 20% if service is good. 10% if it's bad. And I'll stiff anyone who circles or checks the suggested tips. But I at least let them know why they're getting stiffed.

Can never understand a culture that not only allows but encourages people to open up restaurants and have their customers pay for the staff wages on top of their food bill.

I think you misunderstand the point.
A tip is a way of acknowledging good service not an automatic right to a minimum hourly wage for employees.
I believe 10% is a good starting point for a server providing reasonable service - ie doing the job they are employed to do.
If they're very good I may give them more,if they're very poor I may give them less or nothing at all.
But a good server can earn a very decent wage for what is an unskilled job( as your friend earning six figure will testify.)
An obnoxious server whining about their tips to customers shouldn't even be in the service industry and if I was their boss I'd get rid of them.
You're welcome.