I think it would be a huge mistake to eliminate tipping and pay only a higher than minimum hourly wage. Tipping is immediate and direct feedback a customer gives about the server's job performance. Tipping INCENTIVIZES the server to do more for the customer than just appear to take the order and slap down the drinks and food and then leave.....leaving the customer without cutlery when he just got a steak, without a drink refill, or having the steak be too raw and nobody comes back to correct things.
Tipping also allows the server to develop "regulars" who come back and ask for him/her, and that is a good chance for young servers to see how to grow a business, or kill one with laziness and doing only the bare minimum.
This work is one of the best ways to learn how free enterprise works and how commissioned sales can become a career for a person who is motivated....and courteous......and hustles to please the customer.
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