I totally agree with you that bad service is not inevitable from no-tipping - some of the best service I've ever gotten has been in countries without tipping. A

I totally agree with you that bad service is not inevitable from no-tipping - some of the best service I've ever gotten has been in countries without tipping. And I do think The Linkery had particular issues, especially with the way it was managed. But I left feeling the lack of tips enabled poor service. I personally am uncomfortable with the concept of tying someone's pay to an arbitrary decision, but a small or zero tip sends a very strong message to a server in a targeted way. I think it's hard for a manager to micromanage service; the way they can do it is pretty inelegant and probably often inefficient. The manager could have fired the waiter, but maybe he was just having a bad day. The manager could have cut the waiter's hours, but that doesn't fix the issue. Also the manager likely doesn't hear about a lot of issues that go on - many people prefer not to complain except in the most extreme circumstances.