It's not quite the same thing, but retaliation against people who don't tip well is very much a thing. Since tipping is at the end of the interaction, it doesn't really come up except for repeat customers.. but not tipping when you're a regular is a good way to get your food spat in.

I'm American, I grudgingly accept that tipping is how things are done and not tipping would be unfair to wait staff, but even before COVID I was mostly choosing restaurants that don't have table service just to avoid the 20% tip tax.

Yes.

I am not sure why only car sales guys get bad rap when restaurants always looking to hide true cost to customers in advertisements.

I don't mind paying the tip, in fact I regularly over tip. I have never felt bad for tipping too much. What I don't like is having to spend any mental energy at all deciding how much to tip. With restaurants it's at least a known amount, with other professions who knows how much you're supposed to tip? I don't want to google how much to tip, just change me more, and pay them more.

In theory this is true. In practice... I don't know. Lots of countries have fairly decent service quality without a strong tipping culture.

Edit: OK, there is one big difference: tipping is encouraged by the employer while bribery is not.

yeah, I think there was a study a while back that said most people tip the same regardless of the quality of service. Which is why I said "How well this actually works is a different conversation"

Small sample, but my dining experience is typically equivalent between Europe and the US (when comparing like-to-like for restaurant quality). The biggest difference seems to be chain dining in the US, where you get the phony "how you doing?" every 5 minutes, which I find annoying. Maybe some people consider this good service? I'd prefer to be left alone until I'm obviously in need of something (glass almost empty, offer me a refill, no need to ask when the glass is 70% full, etc).

"How were those first few bites?"

From a marxist perspective tipping is a scam in order to get cheaper labor. The employer underpays the worker and imposes an extra tax on the customer to fill the gap. This way the employer offsets their risk onto the worker when business is low while still keeping high profits when business is good.

If tipping is a form of a corruption, it is the boss—which neither gives nor receives the tip—who is the corrupt one.