Good. I can take or leave the practice as a customer. I generally tip 20% unless the service is exceptionally good or bad, so it'd work out mostly the same for me if restaurants just raised their prices 20% and got rid of tipping.

But there are a couple of recent developments I absolutely loathe:

1. Mandatory service charges on top of the bill. No, sorry, that's bullshit. If you want to charge more, charge more. Yes, that will make your published price reflect the real cost. That's a feature, not a bug. When I find out I'm at such a place -- usually too late, after I've eaten -- I tip max(0, 20% - service fee). In other words, I apply the service fee toward what I would have tipped. If the servers aren't getting that fee and they quit because their tips suck, that's on the owners.

2. Asking for tips for everything. Earlier this week I went to a shop that sells cakes that're made off-site and shipped in. I asked a cashier for the cake I wanted, she turned around and picked it off a rack and handed it to me, and the checkout terminal asked for a tip. For what? Nothing against the cashier, but I'm offended at the shop for having the nerve to even ask.

I get why employers like tipped positions: they can get away with paying less, guilt tripping customers to make up for low wages with donations. Nah. I'll continue tipping people I would've tipped 5 years ago, like waitstaff, barbers, etc. I'm not going to start tipping every not-traditionally-tipped employee just to cover for their employers.