I guess you could think of it as implicitly outsourcing the performance evaluations and bonus assignment to the customer, who, after all, in the best position t

I guess you could think of it as implicitly outsourcing the performance evaluations and bonus assignment to the customer, who, after all, in the best position to make that decision. That's the theory, I guess. In reality though people aren't particularly objective, and also the social norm is to apply some percentage to the bill; so effectively, the waitrons get paid partly based on how expensive the food is that they served (which just highlights part of the absurdity).