I waited tables for eight years, and virtually all of my pay came from my customers. I was paid $3.09 an hour, not even close to enough to live on by itself.

This is how it should be, it ensures that your table server is courteous and makes the attempt to be sure you're satisfied: there's much at stake for the servers if they're aiming for a tip.

It also allows a level of recognition and merit pay that doesn't exist in a lot of minimum-wage jobs, which can keep morale higher and lower turnover in good workers for the owner. Bad servicepeople don't make enough, and they move on. Good ones stay and make good money.

Speaking as a waitress, the incentive of the tip also gives the customer an advocate in the kitchen. I know if I bring a plate of food to you and it's cold or not properly prepared, my tip will suffer, so I'm going to lean on the cooks harder to do a good job.

As a bartender myself, and having had every form of income be from a restaurant service position I absolutely support tipping in America. I make $3.15 an hour as a bartender but have made as much as $700 on a a 13 hour shift. How much you make directly depends on how hard you work. What's wrong with that? Yeah, I've had great nights. I've also had horrible nights too. Try working in a bar in downtown Phoenix during the day when it's 115 degrees outside. You think anyone's around to tip you?

Let's also look at the failure rate of restaurants and bars. Nobody would even attempt to open a restaurant if you had to pay your staff even minimum wage. Two things are guaranteed to happen: price for your meal goes up to cover labor costs, or the failure rate goes up even higher further discouraging people to open restaurants.

One more thing, European servers and bartenders do receive a salary and depending on location, pretty good ones. The tip is then considered to be in the bill already, which doesn't mean that the servers get tipped at the end of the night by their employers. It just means they are in fact being paid. I worked in a restaurant and a night club in Switzerland. Yes you still would like to be tipped regardless, but 10% would have always sufficed.

In theory, you should get better service if you do. However, you'll notice that I singled out tipping bartenders per drink as a kind of crappy tip opportunity. I would much rather (and usually do) leave one tip at the end of the night. The "pay-per-performance" aspect makes more sense then.

As a tipped server, I'm probably biased as far as this goes. That said, I am still divided when it comes to tipping. When I go out, I tip out of respect for etiquette and the person helping me, but even at 20% I can't help feeling like I'm tossing scraps. On the other end of things, I appreciate receiving tips as it makes it much easier for me to support myself while going to school. I feel guilty, however, every time someone goes the extra mile to help me out at say, a bookstore and they're still getting paid minimum wage. Society tells me that bookstore employees are not generally people you should hand a couple dollars to for a good job.

I've often wondered how tipping has affected the dynamics of customer service over the centuries. It seems as though many people I come into contact with use a trip to a restaurant to experience what it would be like to have personal servants. Anyway, I agree with Loudacris about tipping based on performance. It's gratifying to have a job in which my competence pays off, unlike some places where the person working their ass off gets the same crappy wage as the one messing around on their cell phone all day.

I support customary tipping as a way to incentivize people to do a good job. At restaurants, I typically start at 20% as my customary tip, and then adjust upwards or downwards based on the service I receive. People who I think deserve tips the most:

- Waiters / Waitresses

- Furniture Movers

- Hotel Baggage Handlers

- Hotel Maids (especially if you leave a big mess)

One thing that does bother me about tipping is when going to another country the tipping custom is always a bit uncomfortable. For example, on a recent trip to Barbados they include a 10% service charge on everything before they bring it to you. Is that supposed to be the tip? Am I supposed to add extra? I usually just added 10% more but who knows if that was the right thing to do or not?

I absolutely support customary tipping. I strongly support pay-for-performance compensation and customary tipping is a fantastic way that many societies have incorporated this into everyday life. I'm not so fond of mandatory tipping, though.

Here is who I think its most important to tip:

- Hairdressers

- Servers

- Parking Attendants

- Airport Baggage Handlers (especially curbside check-in)

- Bartenders (once, at the end of the night)

Here is who I still tip, begrudgingly:

- Taxi Drivers

- Hotel Bellboys

- Bartenders (on a per drink basis)

- Curbside pick-up (at restaurants)