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Having lived in Japan for the past few years, I'm so over the tipping culture it's pretty hard to stomach when I go back to the States. Besides the issues it causes for employers that this article covers, I really dislike the power dynamics that it causes for the customers: but maybe not in the way you would think.

While the customer may be financially powerful in the relationship, I feel that tipping culture gives power to the server to withhold good service as a punishment or as an optimization strategy at their own discretion. It causes a server to judge you as soon as you walk through the door... will this person give a good tip? Should I ignore them and focus on this other table?

The worst part is that the tip happens at the end of the meal after all of the 'costs' of providing good service are already done. If the patron stiffs the server, then the effort was 'wasted.' It's far better to make an educated guess based on… what? the way they dress? their grammar? the car they pulled in with?

It's a terrible system.

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As an American living in Europe for the last year, I have drawn the exact opposite conclusion about tipping culture. Many of the restaurants I have been to (in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium) have, by American standards, horrible service. The waitstaff is inattentive or rude. You have to call waiters over constantly to give them your order, ask for another drink, or get the bill.

I think that part of this stems from different cultural opinions on service (i.e. it's rude to bring the check preemptively), but some of it is just lack of incentive, I think. What incentive does a waitress have to give you good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips? Especially if the waitress has increased job protection in certain countries (it's harder for an employer to fire people in France than in the US).

To be fair, you get terrible service in all aspects of French, Italian and Spanish society. I can't speak for the others though.

It's not terrible service, it's just a welcome hug to foreigners. If you like the place or the food, give a small tip, come back, and you will be befriended by a smile.

That's maybe a culture difference. Here in italy we prefer to not have the waiters constant near to you but to call them only when you need them. They are "allowed" to come near only when they see all the people in a table have finisched their dishs. Also, it's rude if the waiters give_you/ask_you_if_you_want the bill before you ask for that.

I'm quite certain this is a cultural difference. What you find to be rude or inattentive is considered polite in some European countries. For a waiter to be appearing at the table often, unsummoned, is rude in Germany, for example.

If you want the waiter, so etiquette says, you'll summon him/her.

Seconded. As a Brit living in the US I often find US waitstaff's behavior intrusive. In particular, the 'is everything OK?' asked five minutes after the main course is served always bemuses me, especially when it interrupts someone talking. It's cultural for sure.

The reason they come back right after delivering the food is so they can make sure your meal is as you ordered. Is something cold or taste especially bad? Was the wrong sauce or filling used by the cook?

Everyone understands that as the reason for it, but it doesn't make it less rude or overbearing.

If I have a problem with the food, I'll get a waiters attention - perhaps with a snap of my fingers - which is expected and not at all rude and let the waiter know.

Snapping my fingers at the waiter isn't something I'd ever do in the US though.

Finger snapping would be viewed as rude in Ireland & UK as well.

In other words, they trust neither their own ability to take the order correctly, nor the kitchen staff's ablility to fulfill.

More like they are accounting for any source of human error which is impossible to completely eliminate even with a top-quality staff.

Yes. And unit tests are only for programmers too sloppy to get everything right the very first time, all the time.

I expect code to be wrong.

I expect writing to have minor flaws.

I expect a sandwich to be a sandwich.

Mistakes that aren't noticed by the time all the food is handed out should be rare, and there's no problem in flagging someone down in that case.

I'm an aussie and I find it really annoying as well. Definitely cultural. Be polite & friendly at point of order, and then stay out of the way.

A reply below you says its to make sure you got what you ordered, etc. I could count on a few fingers the times ive ever got the wrong thing/meal, and then you just ask.

The primary reason they do this is less altruistic, though. Once you've agreed that the meal (as presented) is satisfactory, you're on the hook to pay the bill.

Bar/restaurant owner here, and I assure you, this is NEVER the reason we check on the table.

As an American living in the US, I also find the "is everything OK?" interruption to be especially annoying.

One thing I've noticed, though: this happens in chain restaurants regularly, but in smaller, independent restaurants only rarely.

It's not really cultural: I think it's a product of the disconnect that naturally occurs when people without any feet-on-ground presence are making policies to be followed by the staff, and the other end of the feedback loop isn't isn't in place.

How do you summon them? Just shout across the restaurant?

not sure if you are trying to be sarcastic or just lack experience. while you can always shout or call out politely, you can also waive at the passing server (it doesn't have to be the one that served you). and if you find shouting too crude you can just excuse yourself from the table and walk to the waiter. at most restaurants the servers are on standby if their guests need any attention, but that does not require them to show up at the table to check if you enjoying your meal.

I don't think it's a common experience in America.

I was eating at an Italian restaurant in Miami. Two beachgoers came in a bit after me, stared at the menu for 15 minutes, and left in a huff. Even if they had looked around the restaurant in a grumpy "where the fuck is our waiter" manner, he would've been at their table in 10 seconds.

The normal hover/frequent checkup behavior of American waiters and waitresses seems to be counter to this in almost all ways. It seems as though the rounds they make to check on everyone makes it much harder to get their attention when needed, in comparison to a waiter who stands back and watches.

In america, if a waiter doesn't come to your table within the first 15 min of you sitting down, then there is something wrong.

It shouldn't take more than a min or two for the waiter to come over, give you some water, and introduce themselves.

Introduce themselves? That's exactly the kind of cultural thing I think people are talking about.

I'm not here to be taken on a 'journey' by the server, I'm here to eat good food and enjoy the company that came with me.

A good server is one you barely notice.

It's normally something like "Hi, my name is Kybernetikos, I'll be your server today. If you have any questions just let me know. I'll bring out some water and take your drink order."

It's something you typically ignore until it's not there.

There's no journey, they give you their name and proceed to take your drink orders.

No need to be condescending here, he even prefixed it with "in America," and what he said is absolute fact. If you aren't waited on in the first 15 minutes, in America, you aren't in a good restaurant.

As a South Floridian, I'll point out that Miami is a culture unto itself, and what goes on there cannot be taken as an example of the typical way of doing things in America (or Florida, for that matter.)

In the UK, you just catch their eye. Good waiters will be scanning frequently for customers in need of service. You can also just make a subtle hand gesture like slightly raising the index finger with the palm of the hand facing down.

Same in Australia. This is actually where the US system backfires. Because the servers aren't actually "waiting" for these subtle ques from the customers I've at times had trouble getting their attention.

Shouting politely is always an option, but I feel restaurants should really adopt having a button at each table that customers can use if they have any requests to make to their waiter or waitress.

E la carte has you covered then: http://elacarte.com/

It's a Y-combinator funded company by the way. I really hope it catches on big really quickly, I think it's just wonderful.

Their favicon looks vaguely like a raised middle finger.

These are really common in Korea and totally awesome.

In Japan, some restaurants (not the fancy ones, but family-friendly places) have a button on the table just for that. Push it, and a few seconds later a waitress appears, just like in an airplane.

If you have younger kids, you have to be careful to sit them away from the button.

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01077.htm

Yeah sometimes the "overtly polite" and very smiley and friendly attitude I get from (the small amount of interaction) with American service staff just seems so fake and saccarine at times.

>As an American living in Europe for the last year, I have drawn the exact opposite conclusion about tipping culture.

As a Brit when in America I find it awful how the waitress will pretend to be friendly. If we're just a group of guys or whatever I don't want you to be pretended to be interested in who we are, what we do. Putting a hand on my back isn't going to make me prefer the food I'm here for. If I wanted someone to pretend to be my friend, I'd be in a titty bar.

I think there is a good middle ground, in the UK tips are expected to be about 12.5% max. All staff share them, and front of house aren't so transparent in trying to get a bigger tip from you. People appear to take pride in what they do, rather than just being mercenary.

Foreigners have the saying here in the Netherlands: "You can complain about the fake friendliness of waiters in the USA, but in the Netherlands you know they genuinely f*n hate you."

As an American working in the UK, I was surprised to discover how often Brits and other Europeans assumed that genuine friendliness was "fake friendliness". Their own attitudes toward others were assumed to be universal, so any sign of friendliness that they wouldn't have expected in their own society was assumed to be fake.

Yes, sometimes it is fake, but very often it's a case of being unable to imagine a culture where genuine friendliness toward strangers is a lot more common than what they themselves tend to feel toward strangers.

> Putting a hand on my back isn't going to make me prefer the food I'm here for.

Perhaps you're immune to the effect, since you know about it. But in aggregate, it can change the disposition of customers (measured using the metric of increased tips).

They wouldn't do it if it didn't work.

Is there a tipping culture in the UK? I always thought that the mandatory service charge in some restaurants (especially when one has a big party) made up for it. Now I feel slightly guilty.

10-12.5%, but not if there's a mandatory service charge. Restaurants, cab drivers, barbers etc, but not in pubs (if you're mates with the landlord, offer them a drink on you sometimes...)

What does landlord mean in the UK?

Owner of the establishment (though, often the patron, manager, or person who runs the place).

The owner of the pub/bar.

Yes, you should tip if you're at a restaurant or something. Not in a bar. You shouldn't tip if you're unhappy with the food/service.

> As a Brit when in America I find it awful how the waitress will pretend to be friendly

Depending on where you've visited, this may have little to do with the restaurant setting, and everything to do with the local culture. There are some regions in America in which engaging with others at that level of familiarity is expected in any context, and being impersonal and excessively "professional" is considered rude.

From my analysis of hundreds of hours of British comedies, it seems like Brits find it awful if anyone is friendly for any reason, in any context.

It's true! Why, you and I may not even be of the same social class! It would be quite impertinent of you to address me as an equal or presume an easy familiarity!

I say, the cheek of it...

Conversely I find staff in America over-attentive, prone to interrupting and getting in the way, dressed in plastic smiles and faking happiness just as hard as they can.

To me, tips encourage wait staff to get in the way and try to make themselves part of the evening, which is not something I want in a meal out with friends.

I was a waiter. Checking back every N minutes is not to get a bigger tip; it is almost always forced by management. Chili's, for example, requires that you check back within 3 minutes of serving the main course. Also, at my store, they required that you take the order down on one knee in order to seem more "casual". Bleh. I didn't do it.

Huh. Fair enough

I have noticed that this happens at Nandos over here in the UK too, it seems to be part of their formula. That is typically the last interaction you have with the staff though, as their model is that you pay when you order.

Yup, this. Macaroni Grill had 17 steps of service that HAD to be hit at every table including checking back within a certain time to make sure everyone's pasta bolognese was to their liking. It's a management step to legislate to the lowest common denominator, both in waitstaff (ensures no one is in the back smoking while a patron has a raw steak) and customer (as in software, the user rarely understands they need more butter until 2 minutes after the food is delivered).

Taking a knee is the opposite of casual.

Not in America. It's supposed to mitigate the natural inferiority imposed from looking up at someone.

IMHO, someone standing and addressing you while you sit comfortably is the opposite.

I'm an American. And usually if they're on their knees, they're looking up at you. At least when they were the ones looking down, they had the plausible excuse of having to move around all the time.

> Taking a knee is the opposite of casual.

Yes, but saying that the purpose is to be "casual" as an explanation sounds a lot better to the employees who are listening to it than saying that the purpose is to be "submissive", which is what kneeling before the person you are taking orders from really is.

I am spanish and when I go to a restaurant where the witer knees to tale the order, I find that it's coming too close, like when they seat. It's a cultural think for sure but I read it as an intrussion in my space.

Something I do not want is to be chatting with friends, and to have the wait staff plop down on a chair with us and try to chat me up. It's such an obvious ploy to get tips.

Here's an interesting experience from an american living in Croatia. A small excerpt:

> The waiters and waitresses in Croatia keep it real. And by keeping it real I mean they maintain authenticity, and by that I mean they do things like finish their cigarette or magazine article before taking your order, approach your table with almost total indifference and sometimes do everything in their power NOT TO NOTICE YOU! For my American readers it may sound strange, but I prefer this kind of “service” to what we have in the US. As it is with lots of things in Croatia, once you go through the looking glass, there’s no going back.

Croatian service: Keeping it real, really real http://zablogreb.likecroatia.hr/?p=10

> What incentive does a waitress have to give you good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips?

Does your boss pay you a few extra dollars if you were extra productive and cheerful today? No? Would that be kind of demeaning, actually? Do you do a good job because it it's what you want to do?

"Does your boss pay you a few extra dollars if you were extra productive and cheerful today? No? Would that be kind of demeaning, actually?"

It may be demeaning to you, as you probably make far more money than a waiter. But waiters in the US typically get paid an atrociously low salary, and make most of their income from tips.

"Do you do a good job because it it's what you want to do?"

Few people consider waiting tables their dream job. They usually do it because they consider it a temporary job, not a career. Some may take pride in doing an exceptional job, but they're probably the exception rather than the rule.

> It may be demeaning to you, as you probably make far more money than a waiter. But waiters in the US typically get paid an atrociously low salary, and make most of their income from tips.

Waiters get paid an atrociously low salary because it is anticipated that their real pay will come from tips. This is part of the "tipping culture", not an external factor which justifies tipping culture.

"Waiters get paid an atrociously low salary because it is anticipated that their real pay will come from tips."

I think it's rather that employers aren't willing to pay more, and waiters usually can't afford to turn down work that pays them these salaries, and there usually isn't another alternative that pays any better.

Regardless of the reasons for this state of affairs, the fact is that watiers in the US do get paid atrocious salaries and can't afford to look down their noses at "an extra few dollars" in tips.

I'm sure plenty of waiters would trade in the tip system for a guaranteed higher salary, but it's usually not up to them to decide.

> I think it's rather that employers aren't willing to pay more

I think its rather that employers are specifically legally permitted to pay less than the minimum they would have to pay others for the specific reason that waiters are expected to get a significant share of their income in tips.

While, obviously, restaurants may pay more than the minimum, the lower minimum for this particular class of employees depresses wages across the entire class.

So, yes, what employers are willing to pay is a factor, but what employers are willing to pay is driven by expectations that are set by, among other things, what employers are required to pay. And one of those other things, as well as the express reason for the lower amount employers are required to pay, is the presumption of tipping.

> Regardless of the reasons for this state of affairs, the fact is that watiers in the US do get paid atrocious salaries and can't afford to look down their noses at "an extra few dollars" in tips.

Well, yes, dependence on tips in certain jobs is a product of tipping culture. That's actually one of the arguments for tipping culture being a bad thing.

How you correct it given the way it is deeply ingrained in both the formal (e.g., law) and informal aspects of culture is, of course, another question.

> Does your boss pay you a few extra dollars if you were extra productive and cheerful today? No?

You're unfamiliar with the "bonus"?

> What incentive does a waitress have to give you good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips?

The same incentive every other worker that gets paid a hourly wage or monthly salary without tips has to do a their job properly.

So, in other words, little to no incentive? The prospect of a bigger tip is certainly an incentive. I speak from experience. It's also the reason that many waiters (myself included at one time) will prioritize, say, a group of four adults ordering drinks over a grumpy family with two kids ordering salads and water.

> So, in other words, little to no incentive?

The depends on how well the employer monitors performance and holds employees accountable.

Of course, employers who do bad at this in terms of customer service staff will find their business develops a reputation for poor customer service, and loses out to businesses that do a good job at this, all other things being equal.

Most people paid hourly wages or monthly salaries aren't doing jobs that are entirely composed of rendering direct personal service to a customer over an extended period of time.

Tipping is indeed customary in every service trade that I'm aware of, because it conforms to the reality that the waiter/deliveryman/taxi driver/etc. actually is working, at least in part, directly for the customer.

Haha, I kind agree, but I also lived in the US for a while. I talked to a coworker a while back though, and he came back from a conference in the US and was annoyed that waiters kept asking him if he wanted anything and when he said he didn't they brought him the bill right away. It's pretty common in Germany for example to just sit at the table and talk with your friends, but he felt like as soon as he stopped ordering anything they wanted him out.

This is just a cultural difference. You expect American style service from a different culture with different values and manners. What's "rude" to you is acceptable and even polite there. You will have to learn to deal with this as normal. When I was living in a European country I was told about this in advance from the locals who gave me an orientation. What bothered me most was some of the other Americans I was with complaining about how "rude" all the locals were. They were the ones being rude by expecting the entire world be have the same concept of manners as them.

What incentive does a cook have to give you a good meal if she's making a standard wage and no tips?

What incentive does a dishwasher have to do a proper job washing your dishes if she's making a standard wage and no tips?

What incentive does a fast food employee have to good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips?

What incentive does a barista have to good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips?

etc...

"What incentive does a cook have to give you a good meal if she's making a standard wage and no tips? What incentive does a dishwasher have to do a proper job washing your dishes if she's making a standard wage and no tips? What incentive does a fast food employee have to good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips? What incentive does a barista have to good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips?"

From what I've heard, in the US it's standard practice to split the tip among the staff in a restaurant. The cook, host/hostess, even the other waiters get their share of a single waiter's tip.

I'm not sure about the dishwasher. But it's pretty obvious what incentive the dishwasher has in keeping the dishes clean: if they're not, he/she will get fired.

The article addresses this (splitting). It still doesn't end up equitable, even assuming the server hands over all the cash (ha!).

I have a data point of 2. I knew two waitresses. They both took home their tips at the end of the night, without sharing with anyone. One of them was required to only report 15% of her sales to the IRS for taxing, but always took home way way more than that, so she made tons of tax free income. Also the United States is a large place, there is different customs different places.

It's pretty obvious what incentive the waitstaff has to provide good service, if they don't, they get fired. Tipping is arbitrary. I tip the person who pours my drink at the bar, but not the person who pour my drink at McDonald's.

Oh, by the way, when I was younger and in high school/college I worked three public facing customer service jobs where I didn't earn any tips. I worked my ass off at each job for standard wages. I always provided the best customer service I could. My incentive was I wanted to do my job effectively and not get fired or reprimanded. It is incredibly naive to think that if waitstaff earned a fair wage without tips they would all suddenly stop doing their job. Especially since they already know they are going to get a tip anyways, it is pretty much required to give a tip, no matter how bad the service was!

I will definitely take US service over European any day.

It is one area where I believe that the europeans have a lot to learn, perhaps with the exception of Italy and London which I find pretty effective.

>>> What incentive does a waitress have to give you good service if she's making a standard wage and no tips?

I'd think pride in her work? That's pretty shitty if they can treat customers like crap.

While I'm sure there are good waiters that do their best to treat all customers equally, I can confirm that their tends to be a snap judgement made about the tipping probability of a customer. In one place that I worked the waitstaff used the euphemism "Canadians" to refer to customers that weren't likely to tip (e.g. "I just got sat with a table of Canadians...").

That being said, I sympathize with waiters and tend to tip relatively well since I know firsthand the pressure of only making $2.15/hr + tips on an unpredictable schedule that ended anywhere from 11:30pm to 2:00am (depending on how long my last table stayed).

I'm sure that euphemism is based in experience, but as a Canadian, I've found that most of my compatriots (myself included) feel it's only polite to tip at least 20%, and we're VERY IN TO BEING POLITE. :)

I'm not sure where the term originated at that restaurant, but it probably had nothing to do with Canadians' behavior since it was in a small Texas town that only saw an actual Canadian every once in a blue moon. :)

It may not be meant to make any sense. I worked in retail (probably like most people, ever) and we seemed to have a variety of signal-type words that made no sense to customers...or management. Makes the job more fun.

Maybe they were from Canadian, TX.

I'm pretty sure the origin is in irony because if someone overheard you calling them "cheap" or a negative stereotype there would be a problem, but if you we overheard calling them "Canadian" it's a lot more benign. I've heard "Canadian" used when working in restaurants outside of Texas, so I think it's fairly common in the US.

I've met Canadians that described the income they used to earn from tips in a top Vancouver restaurant as being far more than they could hope to earn in a mid-level professional job.

Are you sure they didn't use "Canadians" to refer to black people?

Because from my understanding that's much more common.

I am only guessing, but Canadians (on average) tend to tip lower than Americans. I have always considered 10-15% standard. In the U.S., they tell me that it is 18-20%. I could never bring myself to tip that much when I lived there. There may be a core of truth to Canadians appearing cheap to American waiters which may be where the euphemism started.

It's a terrible system

I believe in pay for performance in all professions so I certainly would prefer such a system for a hospitality industry. The minimum I've ever given anyone for a tip is 15% and honestly the service has to be terrible for me to give that. If the service is good I give 20% and if the service is remarkable I'll give more.

The way I think of it is that the cost of the meal is at least 15% to 20% higher than what is on the menu. If I don't want to pay that, I eat at home.

I don't get wanting to pay 15% to 20% more on the menu and then having no ability to give an incentive for people to perform better.

I think the incentives for doing good work as a server should be the same as they are for every other job: keeping your job. I'd rather the restaurant tell me what I'm going to pay upfront, rather than look at the menu and think "The burger's $7.99, plus 9% for sales tax, plus 15% for tip. If the server is god awful and spits in my food, maybe only 10% for tip".

I don't think you're incentivizing what you think are. Why should a server work twice as hard for 33% more tip?

You can provide the incentive by frequenting the business. You can provide feedback on poor performance directly to the management. I'm salaried, and no end-user ever can ever give me direct feedback, but they can provide feedback buy buying (or not buying) my companies products. Management then interprets this signal (given many other variables) and takes such actions as makes sense, such as providing incentive rewards or retraining or firing. There's no reason why this model can't work in a restaurant.

Pay for performance is a fine goal to strive for. The problem with tipping is that, unless you return to the same place often, there's no disincentive for customers who defect and stiff the waiter. The waiter can't reclaim the service he's already provided. So actually providing pay for performance has to be done mostly out of altruism rather than as part of a fair exchange. The result is that some people do defect, and those who don't literally end up picking up the tab for them.

Pay for performance is a fine goal to strive for...The problem with tipping is that...there's no disincentive for customers who defect and stiff the waiter

So, it's a fine goal. Does that mean we scrap the goal because of one problem?

People cheat welfare, social security, medicare, take-a-penny/leave-a-penny bins, lost and found departments, disability insurance and every other part of life. Some people will cheat the tip system. Inevitable.

Unless you advocate getting rid of welfare, social security, medicare and - frankly - everything... Why are you holding tipping up to such scrutiny?

I agree with your first statement. Pay for performance is a fine goal to strive for and we shouldn't throw the baby away with the bathwater because of a minority of cheaters.

> Does that mean we scrap the goal because of one problem?

Of course not. But it doesn't mean being complacent and living with a bad solution. There are so many better ways to provide pay for performance. For example: one could change the protocol so that instead of a baseline of zero service charge, the baseline is, say, 15%. This is part of the bill. But then you are free to add more for exceptionally good service or subtract for exceptionally bad service. Fewer people will stiff waiters if they have to be proactive in order to do so.

BTW (and this is a rhetorical question): why should pay-for-performance be limited to waiters? Why not extend it to the cooks as well? Why not let people just pay what they thought the meal was worth? Why not extend it to other professions? Pay your doctor, your lawyer, any service provider, what you thought the service was worth after it has been provided?

I think the difference here is that the article didn't just say "I threw out x." It said "I replaced x with y and y has proven to be more effective in my context based on performance indicators that I care about."

> So, it's a fine goal. Does that mean we scrap the goal because of one problem?

No, but we could, instead of the tipping culture, just handle it like every other area of economic endeavor: customer willingness to pay the business is driven by the business's performance in meeting the customer's needs, and the business's willingness to pay the employee is driven by the employee's performance in meeting the customer's needs.

There's no need of a special case solution for restaurant waitstaff when there is already a general solution to acheiving the goal that does not have the problems at issue.

Interesting though that the author wrote that at his restaurant that took tips, the average was 22%, so even if some people stiff waiters, it is more than made up for.

I tip well too but the server doesnt know that. Maybe in non-competitive markets it works, but in a place like NYC where I lived before moving to Tokyo, a table/seat and the servers attention might be in high demand and servers would make judgement calls.

Even if you could declare your tip up front, you're not incentivizing them to perform better, you're competing with other patrons. You're paying them to neglect others.

It's not that I don't want the ability to incentivize… It's that I want only the owner/manager to have the ability to incentivize, not other patrons.

Perhaps you could choose to not attend a restaurant that provides poor waitservice? Or pay a premium for access to a limited resource?

How do you determine the waitservice quality upfront? You can't trust reviews, since the super positive ones might have all been written by people who 'looked like high-tippers' and got the special service, and likewise the 'apparently poor-tipping party' service reviews might make an otherwise good restaurant look bad.

So you're pretty much stuck with going repeatedly or relying on anecdotal suggestions by friends or locals. And maybe you still can't trust those, for the same reasons.

If your reasons for supporting tipping as a practice are "pay for performance", it doesn't make logical sense to give a 15% tip regardless of how bad the service was. I hear this argument a lot, and honestly in most cases the differential on performance comes out to a few dollars on a $15+ tip.

If you honestly tip to reward good performance, why are you rewarding horrible performance at nearly the rate that you reward excellent performance?

You're assuming everyone does. I "pay for performance" and my tips will generally bottom out at 10% (I feel a cad not tipping at all, though I shouldn't) and max out at 50% (very, very uncommon and usually requires my creating extra work for the server, such as breaking a glass/ spilling a drink on the floor).

But even then, you're clearly not 100% motivated to "pay for performance". To some degree you are, clearly - but a large part of why you tip is cultural expectations, or you wouldn't be tipping 10% for horrendous service.

Which is fine, I'd never not tip in Canada or the US either, but let's be honest with ourselves - everyone tips because you're culturally expected to tip.

There is also a problem with messaging even after the bill has been paid due to unclear standards of tipping.

I have a friend here in Seattle, who likes to consider himself a generous tipper. As such a 20% tip is for truly horrible service. 25-30 is standard and 50% is common enough for good service. I do think this good for the servers - but they have no clue that they sucked (I imagine) when they get a 20% tip. Unless I stiff them on my ½ of the bill :)

And while he may be extreme, diversity in the minimum/maximum range for tips means the messaging about performance is muddled.

Pay for performance is probably misguided in at least some professions (extrinsic reward can drive out more effective intrinsic reward), however even if you believe in pay for performance, the appropriate person to pay for better performance is the employer, not the customer.

Commonly based on race also.

or origins: I'm from Québec (where we usually tip). I am often confused for French (which are known bad tipper).

I always make sure to overtip!

Customer services comparisons to Japan always leave the US on the losing side. Attention to the customer is deeply ingrained in their culture.

it is far worse when restaurants force add it to the bill, let alone the scourge of everything, tip buckets at coffee shops and the like.

A few places pool tips so even bad servers can skate

For large parties it's only fair to add a gratuity. I was stiffed by so many large parties I just stopped taking them if I could. You have some T-ball team and every parent all paying separately, some % don't even pay their bill, the rest tip like crap, the kids make a huge mess, you spend almost your entire shift serving them, and walk with $6.

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