Restaurant customer arrested for crime of undertipping

[Ernestine]

Because it is only customary in certain situations. Bank tellers, store clerks, and supermarket cashiers generally make more money on their salary so people don't feel that tipping is appropriate. A gift is a gift, and you're not entitled to it. It's not a matter of "aristocracy", it's a matter of courtesy. It's a matter of rewarding those who perform well and not rewarding those who don't. In this way they determine their own income. Nothing could be more fair.

I think it would be much better if waiters received a set salary that they could count on and not have to rely on voluntary gifts. It is not always fair because the customers don't always know the full circumstances. For example you have assumed that I earned more as a bank teller than as a waitress when, in fact, I was paid the same minimum wage for all the jobs I named. If it's merely a reward for good performance, why don't you reward the store clerk who performs well? If it's a courtesy, why don't you extend the same courtesy to the sales clerk?

I know waiters who are paid below minimum wage. Sounds sad, until you find out that they work in an upscale restaurant where they often come home with three hundred dollars in cash for one nights work.

I agree with you that tipping is largely a matter of custom, but I think that if the custom changed we would all be better off. Customers wouldn't have the awkward decisions of who and how much to tip and the worker would have a reliable, predictable income.