Since this topic keeps coming up here, I thought I'd actually lay it out for all of you. This is also US specific so if you don't live in the US it doesn't apply to you.
So, many people have rightly pointed out here how horrible the tipping system is, the history of it, etc. However, the whole “have the boss pay you a living wage” shit just isn't gonna cut it. (Like, how's that going for literally every other industry). To the people pointing out the history of tipping: have you read about the history of wage labor as well? This being an anticapitalist sub, I thought we ultimately wanted to abolish wage labor too. And at this moment in history, between the two I'd take the tips. If we did end up with a “living wage” I'm guessing it would be around $20 an hour, which is hard to live on in many areas, and certainly not enough to support a family on. At the moment servers and bartender make something more like a unionized carpenter or plumber would make, and no one seems to be mad they make too much money. Also, the line I hear is “in other countries waiters get paid a decent wage” is also largely not true. Instead, those countries simply make it easier to make it with a low wage job in general.
Tipping creates two things:
1)Our pay is somewhat in proportion to profits
2)Our pay inherently keeps up with inflation
If that had been true for every industry over the last50 years everyone would be making good wages.
And just a last note, if you go out and tip below 15%, I'm not making any moral judgements I'll just say you're tipping below what almost anyone else taking up that table would.