I am a good tipper. I know that people working for tips are paid less because the employer knows the customer will supplement their wages, thus saving the employer payroll dollars the can put elsewhere. Many wait staff in restaurants are paid LESS than minimum wage because they are tipped and the amount of tips are extrapolated from their wages. WHY NOT just pay the people what they are worth and raise the prices? The customer still pays either way. Well, except for the cheap ones. I would feel much better if I knew my tip was a bonus rather than required to make up what the employer did not pay. They usually those jobs have no benefits either, and like Paul Sax says, “Let ‘em buy their own health care insurance!” These people have already been ‘squeezed’ to the last drip. I pay for the employer’s greed.

A couple of Christmas' ago I went to a steakhouse on Christmas eve, I paid with AMEX and penciled in a tip 15% of a $75 meal, then handed the waitress $100 bill and said, "This is for waiting on me and missing your Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas."