I’m American and have worked in the service industry in the US and Germany. I fully support tipping in the US, because waiting tables is one of the few jobs in the US where you can actually earn a good living without breaking your body (as much as construction, as a comparison) and without a training program. In a place where unions actually make a difference, it’s just a nice thing to do, and that’s obviously a better solution generally, but that’s not currently the case in the US.
Or…maybe if the restaurants paid a good living wage to servers then tipping wouldn’t be necessary. In my experience, my opinion here goes against the grain in the US :)
The problem is that they aren’t legally required to do that. They should be. And thus tipping would not be as necessary. Of course some servers like tipping, and I get that, but if they were paid effectively the same as a proper salary then they wouldn’t have to hope for a busy night or hope people are generous on any given night. Whether any given server likes the notion of tipping, it is a stress they have to endure — and in my opinion, an unnecessary stress.
I have never talked to someone outside of the service industry who liked tips. I’ve talked to a few people who made their livings off of tips and don’t support them, but it’s rare ime.
Yes, restaurants paying their employees a living wage is ideal. However, we don’t have that and I honestly don’t believe we’ll get it for a long time. Right now, there’s basically one job where an untrained, not especially strong person can make pretty good money (I made ~$20/hour for being not especially friendly, but most of my coworkers made $30/hour). Getting rid of tipping gets rid of that job, which feels like a worse thing than tipping.