[redwitch]

Once upon a time, TIP meant To Insure Prompt Service and was given prior to service. Over time, it was discovered that tipping in advance was an exercise in stupidity. So, if you wanted good service, you let the server know you would tip after if you were happy (and if you didn't, you weren't surprised if your horse lost a shoe or your carriage a wheel).

In the 40s and 50s and part of the 60s, tips were not expected but highly appreciated. They were only given for exceptional service. Then, it became a thing of keeping up with the Joneses, who probably had a child working as a server; the guy impressing his date; and so on. Tips became SOP. The owners saw this and started paying servers less. Minimum wage laws were created in the 1930s. By the 1950s, minimum wage laws had exceptions for those tipped -- namely gaming dealers and food servers. As time has progressed, diners are expected to help pay the wages for servers and the servers are expected to help pay for the non-wait, non-managerial staff. If the diners boycott tipping, the only ones hurt are the ones you're trying to help. If the servers speak up and try to not tip out or not pay for credit card fees, they lose their jobs. It is not a pretty business when you think about it.