When did tipping start anyway? It seems that it has always been around but has gotten aggressively higher. The reality should be that a person is not expected to subsidize multiple workers eg. ,waiter server and busboy with a tip that can easily add 20% to the cost of the entree. A tip is expected regardless of quality of food so it is not a "gesture of thanks" but an expected pmt. Why not just raise the prices and enstate a no tipping restaurant. Make sure that the menu clearly states this policy. Customers should not have to subsidize worker's pay. This would be a far fairer system then an uninforcable voluntary? Tip. It would also ensure that workers were actually paid a living wage by those who profited from their work.
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Tipping started in 1997 for me when I personally started waiting tables. I had to pay for my college education back then. I continued to wait tables until 2005 even though I graduated college in 2000. Good tips ensured I never took out or had to pay back any student loans.
Even if you disagree with tipping as a concept or think that workers should be paid a higher wage, it's still very important that you tip. I'm a barista, and if you don't tip then I WILL judge you and think you're entitled.
In the US, tipping originated in the post Civil War era as a way to continue to exploit the newly freed slaves. Former slaves gravitated to blue collar work and the service industry. White employers were able to pay little or nothing to their employees as long as they were being tipped. It has continued this way ever since.
