I know? Foolish isn't it? Probably twice as much for 1 plate brought to the table. The % deal is a scam. Equal pay (read "tip") for equal work!

No, you'd tip possibly just 15%, if that was the minimum expected customer service provided. If the expected customer service should have been more than that, and the smiley waitress failed to provide that minimum customer service, I personally suggest tipping nothing, and asking to speak with the manager, to the side, not in front of other customers or wait staff. The waitress might need some course correction, or she might've just had an off day. Or she might be just really bad at her job.

Personally, I expect more from a server than simply delivering food and smiling at me. That would be worthy of a 0 tip and a complaint to the manager.

Simple answer: Yes

Longer answer: Yes, because whether you know it or not, you want it that way. You want the smiley waiter who delivers the quality of service deserving of the 20% tip on the filet. If more customers chose not to tip then that smiley waitress that provided the good service might find somewhere else to work.

Still longer answer: Yes, because you really don't want to lose the service and whether you know it or not, you really don't want to pay the price that would come with a non-tipping restaurant. While you ordered only a burger and a coke, you ordered that from a restaurant that also serves filet mignon. It is likely that such a restaurant has a "filet mignon" quality of service, something better than you might find at a fast food restaurant. You like that quality of service and that's why you ordered a burger there rather than somewhere else. If you want that quality of service you have to have a level of compensation that attracts servers able and willing to provide it. If the restaurant chooses to go to non-tipping they will need to raise prices in order to continue to pay their servers. The price of the filet may go up 20% but that would make a very expensive steak outrageously expensive. Another alternative would be to raise the price of the filet a little less than 20% while raising the lower-priced items more than 20%. The good servers would continue to get the pay they deserve but the money would come from the price of the meals rather than tips. Every customer would pay more, probably about 22% more (the increased cost would come with increased sales tax) but your burger would likely increase even more than that.

Now you finally got it.

congratulations.
If you can afford the filet, you can afford the tip.

Equal pay for equal work! Deliver one plate of food, hamburger or filet should be equal. What I can afford shouldn't enter in to it. What if you can afford the filet, but want a burger. Your logic would have you paying the cost of filet for the burger because you can afford to. That is just stupid. How about a car wash that provides the same service for all cars but expects payment based on your car's value. Cadillac price for the Chevy service, just because " you can afford it". Idiocy, imHo.

Whatever makes you feel better about being a skinflint apparently works for you, so go with it.

They are taxed 15% on their total sales. If they get less than 15% tip, they still get taxed 15%.

The restaurant reports 8 percent of gross sales as tip income and reports it on the server's W-2, in Box 8, "allocated tips". The server only needs to pay income tax on that amount. It doesn't matter whether or not the tips were paid in cash or credit card, it is based on the restaurant's total gross sales that they report as income to the IRS. That is the IRS rule.

You really should check your "facts" before presenting them as facts.

If that were a requirement to post on TOTV, there would be far fewer posts!!

Interesting read so far - Many people very passionate about this subject on both sides - Some posters have stooped to name-calling and being snarky, which is sad to see - Interesting, people feel the need to defend their tipping position here with such intense vigor, as if they can somehow convince others to sway to their way of thinking - No one is going to change their outlook on tipping based on any arguments here, though I do find the information about how tips are pooled interesting.

My opinion is based on a variety of things:
1. Being a waitress in a few different restaurants throughout my life, and one posh summer resort.
2. Being a bartender at a bowling alley for a couple of years, and a bartender at a dive bar in my home state for a few months (til I found out they were using the bar as a front for drug trade - I quit a week before they were raided and shut down).
3. Working full time for a non-prof (American Cancer Society) in downtown Boston and living on a budget there.
4. Learning that being a street musician in Boston was lucrative, and supplementing my budget with that, having a LOT of easy cash at my disposal, and able to pay good tips at the Ritz-Carlton restaurant.
5. Enjoying the dining-out experience at least monthly for most of my life, and learning from the other side of the bar tab what it's like to be a tipped server - and from the diner's side, what it's like to be a "regular customer" who relies on my server being glad I'm there.

Well, that’s the problem with tipping. It’s personal. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Some people prefer one way, others differently - that is why there should not be such a system. It’s like going into a store to buy bananas - for whatever price you want to pay. Then if someone doesn’t pay enough in someone’s opinion, people call them names… lol.

As far as service is concerned, workers should be paid a proper wage in the first place. I don’t go to a place to eat to make friends with the staff, they don’t make my day. I would just like courteous service - which should be part of the job definition.

That is probably true, but then think of all the fun we would miss out on!

In what way do you "relies on my server"? Other than the normal job functions they are employed to provide, what? Extra napkins for the chili nachos? Re-fill your coffee, or catsup for your fries? Are they the only person that has a matching blood type for transfusions, or something like that?