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Tipping is charity. Nothing more and nothing less. Nobody should be in a position of demanding Charity as a right, and certainly not demanding a percentage of the bill, such as 15% or 20%, for doing nothing more than the job that they are already paid to do.

Nonsense. Tipping is an implied contract between customer and server. In this respect, the waiter is an independent contractor, like a hair-stylist.

That's as far from charity as you can get.

I think it's funny reading your thoughts on this, because the restaurant biz, in the US, is one of the few no-holds-barred bastions of true capitalism left.

There are few purer, untainted marketplace relationships than diner/waiter.

> Nonsense. Tipping is an implied contract between customer and server.

Nonsense yourself. If that were so, your waiter would have legal recourse against any customer who did not pay his/her tip. And you would have — spelled out — the terms by which tips were to be paid, and the rate that was to be applied.

Nothing like a contract, implied or otherwise.

> In this respect, the waiter is an independent contractor, like a hair-stylist.

Hardly. I cannot discipline a waiter who serves me poorly, except for docking his tip. I do not get to interview him to see if he is suitable for the job. And I don’t have exclusive claim on his services while he is serving me.

> That’s as far from charity as you can get.

It’s charity. It’s money for free for doing nothing more than what they are already paid to do. Do they get paid less than minimum wage? More the fool them: they need to take that up with their employers. It is not my responsibility to pay an establishment’s staff: that risk belongs to the establishment’s owners.

> I think it’s funny reading your thoughts on this, because the restaurant biz, in the US, is one of the few no-holds-barred bastions of true capitalism left.

In what way is Charity a form of Capitalism?

> There are few purer, untainted marketplace relationships than diner/waiter.

How so? It is an exploitative relationship between the restauranteur and the waiter, and it is a charitable relationship between the diner and the waiter: neither of those are “Capitalism”.

YOU ARE HYSTERICAL! I haven't had such a good laugh all day, thank you.

Implied contract?? What the heck is that? Which law school did you attend? There is no such thing as an implied contract. Waiters are independent contractors?? Waiters are hired flunkies doing low-end labor, nothing more.

Marketplace relationship? I enter a restaurant my relationship is with the owners. Their employees are of no concern to me.