Personally, I'd say the biggest argument against tipping is that it tends to reflect many things that are largely outside the server's control: food quality, fo

Personally, I'd say the biggest argument against tipping is that it tends to reflect many things that are largely outside the server's control: food quality, food preparation time, atmosphere, general dining experience. This is tangent to your argument, but to this end, good servers have sense enough to leave bad restaurants. Servers are also the gatekeepers for feedback. If they aren't telling the cooks "this isn't coming out fast enough, my tables are getting hungry" or the manager "the silverware is filthy, who'd eat with this?", then they aren't doing their job. I'm not saying they should necessarily be penalized for poor cooking or management, I'm saying they are smart enough to take their services elsewhere, because good servers might be harder to find than you think.