In the US the tip you leave may or may not go directly to the staff, depending on how much other people tip, due to the weird way minimum wage works for tipped

In the US the tip you leave may or may not go directly to the staff, depending on how much other people tip, due to the weird way minimum wage works for tipped positions. If a position is classified as a tipped position the federal minimum wage is $2.13/hour. For a non-tipped position it is $7.25/hour. (Many states also have minimum wages but for the examples I'll assume a state where their minimum wages are not higher than the federal ones). If the tipped employee does not receive $5.12/hour in tips (the difference between the non-tipped and tipped minimum wages) they employ has to pay the work the difference between $5.12/hour and the tips they got. The effect of this is that it is as if the tipped employee was paid a base wage of $7.25/hour, and the employer gets the first $5.12/hour of tips left for the employee. Any tips above that $5.12/hour go to the employee.