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25 years experiance in food and beverage tells me thats hogwash. Items are sent back all the time for many reasons. This generaly upsets no one. However if you send it back 3 or 4 times....

It seems like a lifetime ago that I was in that line of work too.
I think what most people fail to realize is that in a lot of places, if you stiff your waiter/waitress, then they are actually having to pay to wait on you. I worked in a number of places where the amount that the wait staff had to "tip out" (i.e, share with busboy, cocktail waitress, bartender) was based on the sales rung up (bar or food). These places usually don't care how much you made. If you are supposed to tip out 2% of your food sales to the bus staff, and the server got stiffed on $100 tab, it just cost them $2 to wait on the table. This is why I NEVER totally stiff the server. I may not leave a lot, but I always leave something. Then I make a point of letting the manager know why I will not be returning to his establishment.
On the flip side, I also let the manager know when I have received excellent service.