So every job where you deal with people should resort to this method of payment? Sure, that is a great idea. I look forward to tipping my supermarket clerk, the post office guy, the delivery guy, the bus driver.

Japan has the right idea.

We're going that direction, sadly. I'm now being hounded for tips at more fast food and convience stores.

Maria Shriver now has a compaign to guilt people into tipping hotel maids (more?).

IMHO, one of the employers responsibility is to pay their staff. I don't think that's really arbitrary, it's commonly accepted across the world.

If you're in the service industry, it's your job to be nice. That's what their employer (hopefully) pays them for.

If I have a good or bad experience, I exercise my discretion by choosing whether to go there again. If the employer notices a trend downwards in customers, it's their responsibility to assess what that is - hopefully their in touch enough with their business to identify if it's because of their employees service and 'apply pressure' if need be.

I guess ultimately it comes down to culture. I (and the large majority of the non-US world) isn't accustom to paying 10%+ extra for bad and rude service and it would be very hard for us to understand why that happens.

I prefer to leave managing, controling and rewarding employees up to the employer, and I'll take care of paying the price I see on the menu and making the decision on whether to come back or not.

Due to the completely ridiculous nature of downvoting on this site these days, I've deleted my posts.

I'm done commenting here as long as this site remains this unfriendly to differing opinions.

And that's after years of participation and over 15,000 karma points. Something has changed, and it's not at all for the better.