In 40 plus years after countless 13 hours of trauma surgery, not at any time did anyone in the room think they deserved a tip, for saving an infant, child, or adult.

We always thanked everyone in the room for their dedicated work, and sometimes a nod to what ever higher being you believed. We believed it was a team effort no matter the outcome. The hard moments always came in the waiting room full of family members.

I have watched ignorant, arrogant and entitled people treat wait staff so poorly that for no amount of money would I do that type of work. Not only do they have to wait tables they also have to clean the mess up after the customer leaves. I watched a family make such a mess at their table, it took 3 servers 10 minutes to clean up after the pigs.
I once worked in retail for a, thank God, brief time and I made the decision that I would only work that kind of job if I was starving.
I know in many other countries the tip is included in the meal price and in the past, it was usually 15%. If you receive terrible service, you still pay a 15% gratuity. With our system you can let the server know their performance was subpar by reducing the tip amount. It doesn't matter what system is used, you are going to pay a gratuity.

Tell that to the people who used to work at Gator's Dockside. They got the "tipped employee" minimum (which was lower than the regular minimum). All tips were pooled for each shift, and the cooks and host got a share of the pool even though cooks and host were both paid the regular minimum.

Sometimes, servers would go home with just minimum wage, because another server might have earned NO tip at all, but they'd get an equal share of the tip pool. A bad server might not last long, but however long they did last, affected the pay of everyone else on the shift.

You can if you want to, but they aren't "tipped employees." It's an actual category in the Federal Labor Department laws, and in every state that has a labor department (Florida does not have a labor department).

Tipped employees can be paid less than minimum wage, as long as their total pay including tips comes to minimum wage or higher.

So if minimum wage is $15/hour - and tipped minimum is $10/hour...

Then if you work your shift and combine your tips for the shift with your $10/hour pay, and it comes to only $13/hour total...then your boss has to kick in the other $2/hour, for a total of $12/hour.

If you work your shift and the combined total comes to $15/hour, then your boss only has to pay you that $10/hour.

If you work your shift and the combined total comes to $50/hour, then your boss still has to pay you that $10/hour.

A lot of people see it as out of control.

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And you know as well as I do, and as well as everyone else does, that the pandemic and shut-downs was an unusual circumstance. Most people were out of work entirely, and those who were working in tipped service positions were taking huge risks, and dealing with insane employee shortages because many quit or were too sick to work (or died).

During normal times (which we have now, thankfully), overtipping can be (not always, but can be) harmful to the employee's bottom line, and healthy for the employer's bottom line. This is completely reverse to the intention of tipping.

Absolutely out of control imho. What started as a "thanks, keep the change" Gratuity has morphed into cost saving for business pushed onto customers to cover what should be covered under business expenses/wages. When and why did this happen? Make one wonder how some can keep the lights on.

Let's do a little math $13 X 8Hrs. = $104.
Assuming the person works 5 days a week that comes out to $520.
Let's all assume since in today's world $520 a week is not a living wage, the person deiced not to take a vacation.
So, a person working for $13 an hour working 52 weeks a year will earn $27,040.
That is not a living wage that is why I always leave a tip.

You try living these day on $15 per hour!

Do you leave the same tip at McDonald's or Wendy's where the employees make the same amount?

I'm assuming you received health care, vision, dental, a pension or 401K, and paid vacations. I also assume none of the restaurant workers around TV or FL for that matter get any of those benefits. Most restaurant workers don't even get 40 hrs per week as then their employer would have to pay them additional benefits.

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The tips are not built into the prices everywhere. Have you seen them broken down on your receipts? It is amazing sitting back in this community and watching the old misers under tip, I feel bad for those servers. No wonder why it is so hard to get help in the services industry.

Tips are optional. If they are built in to the menu price, they are not tips.

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Yep, started about 4-1/2 years ago.