> And I resent still having to leave a tip for the person who gave me bad service...

That I don't do unless I'm in an unusually inhibited sort of mood. I don't have any problem keeping my money if the service is bad. I do, however, understand that there are social pressures to tip anyway. I don't let myself tip for bad service, but that doesn't mean I'm entirely comfortable about it. And THAT is indicative of a broken system, yes.

> And I don't think I should have to "encourage" good service by tipping. I think good service should be expected as part of the service provided by the restaurant.

Agreed here as well. I probably wasn't clear in my previous post (too lazy to check) because I'm not sure that this distinction only just occurred to me. Tipping *encourages* excellent service, and I like having control over the mechanism of that encouragement, but I agree that tipping shouldn't be necessary to do so. Anybody doing a job should do the best job possible without the encouragement of tips. But tips put sort of a check and balance in the system. If only they'd not be *expected* or *standard*, and employers would pay proper wages instead, then the system would be a lot better.

I like to tip restaurant servers because I *do* notice and appreciate really great service and like to show that. Leen likes to tip chambermaids well, because she was one once and knows what kind of incredibly vile things they have to do sometimes in the line of duty.

Pretty much any other profession can stick it with their tips as far as I'm concerned. No thank you, mister bellhop, I'll take my own bag up if you please.