Please always tip at least 15%, regardless of the service.

[athena]

74. To err is human. To empathize is also human.

My point was that most servers don't make the regular minimum wage. This is a problem is with the law. The law really should mandate that everyone, including tipped staff, get a minimum wage, and that this minimum wage is a living wage. When you undertip a server because you're unhappy with the level of service you got, you are taking away what should rightfully be theirs, which is a proper wage.

If you lived in France rather than in the United States, what you wrote would be completely reasonable. In France, servers earn a proper wage, so that the tip is really a way of rewarding them for excellent service. In the United States, however, the tip is part of a server's basic salary.

Just because you did a great job as a server does not mean everyone else must do as great a job or should be punished. That is Republican-style thinking. According to liberal thought, the fact that you did a great job or worked hard while someone else made mistakes or didn't work as hard doesn't mean that person should starve or not get health care, etc. It is by pitting us against each other that the Republican Party wins. The server who didn't provide excellent service is not the enemy. It is the hedge-fund CEO who makes $400,000 an hour (yes, an hour), and those who want to reduce his taxes while underpaying servers, who are the enemy.