levite

You have clearly never worked in food service.

Having, as I mentioned, worked in delivery and food service before, I can tell you that it's not a career. It's a job. And the only reason I chose it-- or, as far as I can tell, anyone I ever worked with chose it-- was because it was do that, or be homeless. Most of the people I worked with were college grads, who would have been happy to work at a better-paying job, were one readily available, or were trained artists, who were only trying to get by until they could make a living with the art they were trained in. Tipping was how we paid rent and bought groceries. And many nights, after getting stiffed by cheapskate customers, to say nothing of getting disdain and verbal abuse, let me tell you, it barely seemed worth it.

And if you don't think most restaurants either ignore minimum wage laws outright, or find clever loopholes to get around them with at least some of their staff, you're kidding yourself. If all restaurants paid a living wage, were 100% scrupulous about sanitary regulations, and only hired legal labor, the food service industry in the United States would collapse instantly.

Not tipping, except in cases of gross incompetence or staff rudeness, is the exact same thing as saying to your deliverer or waiter: "You're nothing but a slave, and you should be grateful for the mere opportunity to serve me."

In many other countries, gratuities are included, or living wages are paid. If you would like to see the end of tipping in America, you should press for all restaurants to include a standard gratuity, and pay their staff living wages. But until such a day comes...tip.

__________________
Dull sublunary lovers love,
Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
That thing which elemented it.

(From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)