Not surprising, american restuarant culture is based around mandatory tipping. Doing something alone is never gonna do anything but make you look silly. They need to get everyone in the town aboard if this is going to work, and that's hard because there's always some idiot that sees a chance to make a buck off the others.
Agreed. To me the biggest compliment for good service at a restaurant isn't to tip - it's to return on a fairly frequent basis. Having a friendly waiter/waitress is nice and all but that's just a tiny element of what eating out at a restaurant involves. If the food is excellent then much of the credit should go to the chef. If the atmosphere and decorations are pleasant then the credit should go to whoever is responsible for keeping things clean.
You can't really tip everybody involved and there's no guarantee that a tip will truly go to those who deserve it either.
Couldn't they just raise the wages, put a notice saying that they do pay them fair wages (instead of paying them sub minimum wage and hoping the tipping makes up the difference, which is baloney) and then if people still want to tip then they can? To my knowledge that's how it works in other countries and it works fine.
As a Firefighter I should get tips for saving peoples lives right?!... No, tipping is stupid. Putting on a fake smile and all won't make me give you free money for doing you're job.
You know what Icelandic waiters to if you want to give them a tip? they say no thank you, know why? because they are paid enough for their work.
“A man will contend for a false faith stronger than he will a true one,” he observes. “The truth defends itself, but a falsehood must be defended by its adherents: first to prove it to themselves and secondly, that they may appear right in the estimation of their friends.”
-The Acts of Pilate.