No tiping means meals get more expensive. Easy as that. It is a bit strange to me that people going out to eat and drink, stick it to us waiters and barkeepers and cooks.

I worked at many small places where the owners where struggling to keep everything afloat.

I do also wish there was no need for tips, but truth is that would scare many guests away and would take time to adapt. Time in wich id be broke af.

Something I don't get, why is it percentage based? I mean, I get it from the waiters perspective. But as a customer? Whether my one plate of food is 20$ or 200$, he did the same thing. Scaling with more items of time spent would seem more appropriate.

if your job does not pay a livable wage without begging then maybe get another job

Tipping service workers is one of the very few times in our life when we can say "The people directly serving me deserve to get paid more, and while I can't raise their wage, I can at least make sure they're getting paid well while they serve me" and the fact that people are upset about that and actively refuse to tip is just crazy to me.

Like, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but tipping generously is one of the times when we can come pretty close! Maybe instead of having a $70 meal on the brink of a recession, have a $50 meal and tip up to the $70 that's in your budget?

If you can't afford the bill then don't eat there. That sucks to hear I know. However the only way we're going to reign in costs is by sticking to what's affordable. If restaurants can't charge that price then food distributors have to lower prices too. We all benefit by sticking to affordability.

If you're worried about money you absolutely should open up the restaurant's menu on their website or before you order and figure out what you can afford with a 20% surcharge. That said tipping was created by the industry to externalize costs and it needs to go die in a fire.

When times are tough dont eat out if you cant tip (at least while your jurisdiction allows exploitation of tipped workers)