Bartenders, and waiters heavily dependent on tips. As non American visiting it is always taxing for me to figure what to tip.

I am more accustomed to price including the waiters salary and rarely only tipping when service is truly exceptional.

This is also the reason I and many others prefer ride shares, price is transparent and upfront, in traditional taxies the negotiations depends on your local knowledge, knowledge of drivers' language etc and your people skills and it takes effort.

In regular taxis there is no negotiation. The meter says a number, you pay that number, and if the driver doesn't like it, that's their problem

You have only travelled in nice places then.

A standard practice in many many places to take the unfamiliar passenger for a ride, taking the longer route, or going in circles just to run up the meter.

While with gps and smartphones going in circles has come down, taking a different route, or other more subtle meter running happens still.

It can be a lot worse with straight up cheating too. I have seen souped up meters which are not directly connected to odometers etc.

I have also seen places where if you don't know the language and/or localite they will demand more than the meter and create a scene get nearby friends to support them.

When running late to airport or someplace urgent pretending no change to charge more .

The list of tricks go on, ridesharing did away with a lot of that.

P.S. it is not all taxi drivers are evil or something, plenty of them have been really helpful in tough spots even the ones who ripped me off have come back to return a valuable item I missed.

I should have mentioned that your city matters. Fresno and Modesto absolutely suck for drivers. Not sure why anyone drives there.