It's amusing the way everyone who lives in tipping countries swears by how much better it is and how much they prefer it. And conversely, people who live in no-

It's amusing the way everyone who lives in tipping countries swears by how much better it is and how much they prefer it. And conversely, people who live in no-tipping countries say the same about their system. Most people simply like what they're used to, and don't bother considering the other side of the argument. In my own case, I live in a tipping country. I find that I have maybe ten restaurants I frequent. And since I've been here for twelve years, I constantly run into the same waitstaff. Incredulously, I once ran into the same waiter at three separate restaurants in my time here. If I were to give one of them a bad tip for bad service, there's a good probability I'd end up having them serve me again, and that does not sound pleasant. So the tipping is basically mandatory for me, unless I'm willing to never eat at a place again. And to date, I've left no tip exactly once for a waiter who took our drink orders, came back ten minutes later to say there was a problem with the machines so we asked for water and took our order, the backstaff brought out the meal, and we finished the meal without ever having received anything to drink, and had to ask the staff at the front for our check because the waiter never came back. Another time we left a bad tip and never went back to a restaurant that made us wait over 30 minutes in a near empty place before anyone took our order. The staff knew we weren't served, and the longer they waited, the more awkward it became, and we kind of both decided we weren't going to leave until they served us. It's also strongly worth considering some of the racial undertones of tipping. It's pretty well regarded among waitstaff here in the US that black people don't tip well, and as a result, they receive worse service, which in return leads to worse tips. It's a self-fulfilling circle. I can imagine myself as an employee. If tips are resulting in huge paydays, I'd obviously prefer that system. But if I were constantly getting highly variable paychecks, that would be a big problem as my landlord wouldn't take a smaller payment because business was slow this week. A steady income provides much-needed stability. I can also imagine myself as a customer. A tipped waiter would try to upsell me more and push wine on me. Yet a non-tipped waiter might not be as attentive since there's nothing in it for them to do a better job. Weighing all the pros and cons, I'm personally of the opinion that we should abolish tipping, abolish the $x.99 bullshit pricing and just say $x+1, stop charging $2-3 for a ten-cent soda to subsidize the food prices, and roll taxes into the prices so if it says $10, you pay $10, period. Leave "how'd we do?" cards that customers drop off into a sealed box on the way out to control for good service. But, I doubt I'll live to see any of that here.