All these comments have made me so angry! To those of you who say we're in a recession. . . there are thousands of servers, bartenders, etc who live solely off tips (servers get paid $2.13 an hour here), what about our recession??? I know I surely can't make rent using a $5 starbucks gift card. With the economy the way it is, if you can't tip a good server 15% or better, do not go to a restaurant. End of story. Go to McDonalds. We are a huge part of this economy and to all those people who think we are being ungrateful, you are ignorant. You choose to go out with the knowledge of tipping; it is rude to think not tipping or any of the various suggestions made above me are ok.

Ouch

Okay so i think that i need to clarify my opinions it is not the ACT of tipping i have a problem with it is the WHOLE PREMISE of tipping that I (and i would guess most) have a problem with. I really dont see the need of the whole "restaurants pay you less for you to make it up with tips" WHY THE **** cant the restaurant just fairly compensate you in the first place. Why must it fall on me to provide a portion of your paycheck. Last i checked you dont work for me so why am i essentially paying you. I believe that ALL jobs should just have an HONEST/FAIR hourly wage. So that I am not "culturally required" to pay you more FOR DOING YOUR JOB. Yeah, yeah, yeah you have to deal with annoying/rude customer, but hey that comes with the territory. If you were a beekeeper wouldnt you expect to get stung occasionally? Another problem i have with tipping is that usually people get overpaid when tipping occure. And #100 I know that this is off topic and not really the point of you post but you brought up a pet peeve of mine "And those of you who are saying, you chose the profession. Uh, not necessarily. This is a recession, and a job IS a ******* job." It doesnt matter the circumstances as long as people have free will they always have a choice. There is no such thing as someone/something forcing you to do anything you always have a choice. Everybody loves to bring the whole gun to head scenario, but even in that case you still have a choice death/pain or giving in to the demands. So dont try to tell me that they didnt chose their job, because thats exactly what they did, they may not want the job, they may not like the job, hell they may even hate the job, but they damn sure chose the job and with that comes all the positive and negative aspects of the job.

Seriously people who don't tip 18percent or better deserve to be lined up and shot waiting takes an exceptional amount of skill patience and plain hard work. People need to realize that there is also a lot going on behind the scenes especially in a large corporate restaurant mine in particular has tip out standards of 4.1percent to our support staff and when we are not tipped we have to pay to wait on you you can't hand your Busser a gift card and expect him to be happy its a freaking gift card we get paid 2.13 an hour and for that couple to have the audacity to leave a gift card for five bucks after raving about their experience is utterly ridiculous and the epitome of ignorance. People who leave the tip go back to school can screw themselves because they have no idea the circumstances that have brought you to where you are and obviously weren't educated properly themselves I have worked with many servers who have college degrees. People who leave Jesus pamphletes as tips couldn't push a server further away from Christianity with that crap. 20percent is the standard and if you don't have the intention of tipping that then don't go out and certainly don't expect someone to bust their ass to get you what you need the next time you come in there is a special place in hell for people who treat servers like crap. One day in as a server and you would be in tears to those of you who think that anything related to what happened to that poor girl is acceptable

dude, there is sooo many things other than coffee at starbucks.

And what is with this whole "Holier-than-thou" If you cant afford the tip go to Mcdonalds. Until tipping becomes mandatory STFU and let me exercise my freewill. I am supposed to downgrade my experience to help pay your rent... WTF (Again I am not saying you should live off the $2/hr but instead abolish tipping and have your employer just FAIRLY compensate you)

for those of you who are saying that tipping is optional, it's not. I'd like to see how happy you would be if your boss decided that paying you was optional, you wouldn't like it too much. And the argument that servers know what they're getting into? Well so do you when you start at a job that pays $13 an hour, you expect to get that money, do you not? I served for years, and in New Jersey, the wage is $2.13 an hour. Do the math, that ALL goes straight to taxes. Our checks are usually VOID. So #83, you really just sound like a cheap douchebag. Seriously, I think you should serve sometime and then see how you feel about optional tipping. Why should you tip your server? Because this eating out experience you're speaking of, would be shit without the server. That server is CREATING that experience for you, down to the way your soups and salads come out, wiping the fingerprints the line cooks put all over your plates, and making sure that the people who can't read english in the kitchen know what the hell YOU WANT. If you can't afford to tip your server 20%, you can't afford to eat out, so maybe YOU should go to McDonald's and get a BigMac then next time you decide you want to sit down at a nice restaurant and have a wonderful eating experience. Believe me, the server doesn't want to deal with ignorant people like you who don't know how to tip and who run them around like chickens with their heads cut off. Yes, they are there to serve you, they aren't your bitch though. If you think that tipping is optional, stay home and cook your food yourself. It should be MANDATORY that gratuity is added to every check, just for people like you.

get a frappachino

People need to understand that your pay is demanded on tips. What assholes.

Yeah, all that would happen if the restaurant "fairly compensated" the staff is that the food prices would go up (since the restaurant still wants to keep its profits) You pay for it either way...when it's tipping at least it's not mandatory. Everyone who doesn't want to tip but instead wants the waiter/waitress to be "fairly compensated" by their employer is cheap...