I'm with you on this pinniped. I research the country and determine whether to tip and, if so, the appropriate amount. Regardless of what others on this board think, cultural norms and usual and customary are important, regardless if you're in your home country or not.

I agree too, although it's annoying when publications oriented toward tourists encourage overtipping or try to say that excessive amounts are usual and customary. I tend to ignore the tourist board (or "tips for visitors" that are now appearing on some hotel websites) and follow what locals do. Fortunately in most places I visit, there are people I can ask.

I agree and do the same - tends to be around 10%

I agree

Casinos, particularly in LAS VEGAS, are "tip happy"--the whole culture there is tip oriented. In LV there are numerous publications (they are left in your room), noting "suggested" tips. In my OP the buffet I referred to is MGM (in the last month, they changed from wait staff bringing you drinks to SS).
At one time buffets were < $10, now (if its a champagne brunch) can be > $50.
If a wait person regularly clears plates from your table and keeps your champagne glass full (which would be the ONLY service they provided), a tip should be given. But, as I noted in my OP, they are no longer serving drinks.
PS: The intention of my post was not to start an anti-pro tipping discussion, but to get FTer's opinions on tipping with ONLY SS drinks.
PS(PS): At many buffets there are "stations" where food is specially prepared: omlets, Mongolian, crepes, pasta, fresh scooped ice cream, etc.--all of these EXPECT tips (they leave a few $ in a cup, prominently displayed)--but that is a separate issue.

In the US, the usual and customary tip at a buffet is 10%. If there is very little service or the buffet is very expensive, I suppose you could go a little light on that. I have been to $100+ brunch buffets (Four Seasons DC IIRC) and I usually tip 15%...it comes with the territory. Don't play if you can't afford it.

I never tip at a buffet. I rarely go anyway because they are overpriced -- $25 or more for food that's been sitting there a while (I guess some of that $25 is for food that is wasted) or $20 for a restaurant that prepares only what I want and only when I want it? And the buffet employees should be tipped on that $25? LOL yeah right!

buffet = McDonald's <> sit-down restaurant with menus and servers

Errr, we're discussing your choice of the word "donation." An authoritative reference such as the dictionary is relevant since our personal definitions seem to differ. If you don't care what M-W "thinks," you are free to use another authoritative reference to show that gratuity/tip is equivalent to a "donation."

Shame, I thought you heeded me request to either discuss the whole argument or not reply at all...

It's not relevant because the use of the word "donation" was a very small part of my argument - none of which relied on the use of the word donation being 100% factually correct.

I already conceded you could go with "like a donation" instead, but as, for reasons unknown, you're obsessing over it, the Oxford dictionary says:

"Give (money or goods) for a good cause, for example to a charity".

Tipping involves giving, and the recipient is a good cause (unless you'd like to claim they don't deserve the tips?). The use of the word donation was perfectly valid.

I've visited places where people would rather work at a resort hotel where they get tips from tourists than continue being a doctor where they don't get tips - there is just something so screwed up about that.

I won't dwell on the whole "donation" discussion...I suppose you could test it by putting your total tips given on your 1040 Schedule A and see if the IRS wants to discuss it further with you...

But I will say this: I also tip because it's customary, and I think that's a compelling and important reason to tip. As I mentioned before, waiters, restaurant owners, and diners are all completely aware that the tip is part of the cost model in both the meal price and the labor market. I would much prefer a no-tip culture where the diner isn't the variable, but that's not the case in the U.S.

So the question becomes: if enough of us think the current model sucks, who gets to change it? A few diners doing it is unfair to other diners and the unlucky waiter. Waiters are obviously never going to do it: I think they would almost universally see it against their short-term interests, even if long-term labor demand curves eventually correct for it. Thus the change has to come from restaurant owners. The problem is that, for a given local market, a critical mass of them would need to move to a "no-tip" model somewhat in unison. I'm not aware of this really happening anywhere...yet.

The only time morality plays a role here is advocating and ensuring that the labor market is competitive and fair, with a reasonable degree of government regulation if necessary. The wages paid will be driven by the supply and demand for the skills. Whenever I hear someone complaining about not being paid a "fair" wage, I'm skeptical. Since people are free to accept or decline a job offer, it suggests that the negotiated wage is usually fair...unless there is collusion or some other illegal activity going on to fix the market.

By "get screwed", I just mean that they will make less money than they were anticipating. In my state there are no tip credits so they are likely to make a killing anyway, and in every state they are guaranteed at least the state minimum wage.

Right now, the economy is improving, so it's a good time to fight for these changes. A few years ago, when the economy was bad, people had no choice but to take any job they could get, so they were in no position to threaten to leave.

I think option 2 has already been implemented in some states. Servers in California make full minimum wage plus tips. It's not uncommon for competent servers at regular, casual restaurants to make $70K a year or more. Yet, the tipping culture is still exactly the same as in states where servers are paid $2.13 an hour.

Tipping is entrenched in our society. Short of a law explicitly banning the practice, the political system cannot change it.

I never refrain from tipping unless the service was poor, but I adjust the tip based on the location. In states where servers get full minimum wage, 15% is enough, or maybe even a little less if we ordered expensive things (like wine) that don't take much effort. In states where they are paid sub-minimum wage, I would tip higher, and base it on the quality of service.

That actually raises the only interesting question on this thread. Aside from the point above this thread seems mainy a re-hash of pro-tipping and anti-tipping arguments made ad nauseum.

But the interesting question is: what types of food service establishments are considered by wage and hour law to be those where tipping is customary and thus employers are allowed to pay a sub-minimum wage hourly wage?

Casino buffets (mostly, but not entirely, self-service)?
Fast food restaurants?
Starbucks (there's always a tip jar)?
Etc.?

Buffet where drinks are brought to me: a buck or two per person for coffee/coke service, a little more if they're topping up your sparkling wine or mimosas regularly.

Self-service buffet, fast food, coffeeshop: no tip. I'm in a Starbucks maybe once a month, and I never have to sign for anything...so I'm not even sure *how* I'd tip unless I had dollar bills on me (which I never do). The tip jar is sitting there, but without any mobile/electronic functionality, it's kind of useless to me even if I *wanted* to tip.

I would hope that all employees in all of these scenarios are paid a non-tipped wage, although it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if casino operators hose their employees when they can get away with it. I'm pretty sure Starbucks isn't paying baristas $2.13/hr.

Do you also list your blood donations on that form? Not being an American, I can only assume they use a specific definition that only applies to donations of cash or goods to a registered charity and not the generic term "donation".

You can think that's a compelling and important reason to tip if you want, but it's certainly not a good reason to coerce others into doing through peer pressure and slinging insults at them like Beven12S does.

Anyone gets to change it, tipping is voluntary. If you don't want to do it, don't do it. I wish I had the confidence to not do it but alas I don't - largely because people like Beven12S exist (so I guess their tactics work!). Tipping is also inherently unfair, though I don't see Waiter A getting a non-tipper and Waiter B getting a tip as being much more unfair than a Californian waiter getting a full wage and a Georgian waiter getting a minimal wage. In fact, the only way it could be unfair at all is if the tipped waiters are significantly exceeding the state minimum wage - which goes against the mantra that tipping is necessary because of the lower tipped minimum wage.

So you would propose changing our tipping culture by increasing the number of free riders on the system, hoping that eventually the waitstaff talent pool pressures restaurant owners into paying them more directly?

It *could* work. Well, economic theory would probably say it could work. But it sounds like a rather painful way to get there. And in practice it probably *wouldn't* work, as I doubt diners at the best restaurants (which have the best waitstaff who would presumably have the greatest bargaining power) would actually choose to free-ride on the system en masse.

If one guy just free rides for the hell of it, he's just being a d*ck to borrow the upthread term.