HERE'S A TIP--DON'T EXPECT MONEY FROM STRANGERS

Then why aren't you angry at people who own real estate companies, car dealerships, stock brokerage companies, etc.

Their employees earn the bulk of their money through commissions. They may have a small draw, but that comes right out of their commissions, first thing.

In my first job out of college, I worked at a nursing agency, getting nurses and aides for private pay patients. Nowadays there's insurance, but back then rarer, so there was a lot of money to be made.

I had an ok salary, but made stellar money in commissions and bonuses. Everyone was happy. People were cared for, the nurses worked, I knew what everyones availability and skill sets were, it was fast paced and fun.

Then, after working there 5 years, some white guy in a tie from corportate, who knew or cared nothing about the day to day, showed up.

Unbelievably, shortly thereafter there was this really crappy cap put on the max paid out on commissions, which effectively cut my commission in half.
Now how long do you think I hung around that environment?

I wish the owners HAD gone back to thinking they were allowing me to work for them. It sure sucked when they got greedy, and expected me to work for what was in comparison nothing, telling me they were looking out for my salary security.

Why is ok for a stock broker, who may lose his clients retirement money, make a tip/commission for his lousy service, but not ok for a server who is face to face with you, and can tell if you are enjoying your meal and surroundings, and can make things better with a "your dinner came out late, here's a complimentary dessert"

I think that I think that much american restaurant behavior is sort of hysteric.
The only other places I've been have been Mexico and Guatamala, and I don't remember any grief about that, a long time ago.

I do remember Italy, something like three months over different times. There is different waiter culture there, it is sort of a profession. Some of it is funny - see the movie Bread and Chocolate.

They are polite to address you and take your order, and then step aside. They will not pester you on how you are doing, usually not even once, much less the four or more times I've experienced in California. They watch, and if you need more water or wine, they will approach and pour if you wish, or add more bread, etc. If it is about something else about the meal, raise your hand while looking at them.

There was, on my visits, a 15% add ons, italian word I forget. Some italians would leave a bit of a tip on top of that, and I mean little, I took it as sort of a token, a nod. I did, of course.

Well, they are not completely chill - I went into a restaurant in Rome once, the only customer in there, not quite mid afternoon. That's where I had the Carciofi alla guidia. I guess I was demonstrative, loving that, so good.

The waiter and I ended up talking at some length - his english was understandable and my italian was sufferable. We talked about California and film writing.

CNN tipping guide

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/tipping/

US NEWS tipping guide

http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/05/16/your-ultimate-tipping-guide

Maybe I should be, I never thought about that. Car salesmen are always trying to sell you something you don't want or need to drive up the sale price to drive up the commission. This isn't happening at the grocery store, nobody there pushing the organic kale.

Vendors pay for shelf space--that organic kale already costs more because the distributors have to pay to get their product into the store. So-called "organic" foods cost more to begin with just because they tack that essentially meaningless word on the front.

Well, i find people's comments interesting. If there were a switch in the U.S., one would not like to see the prices increase by more than 20%. It has to be on a state by state basis, unless one proposes to raise the Federal minimum wage for servers, which is currently $2.13/hour. However, i think it would just be prices going up across the board, without regard for equity. In Canada, servers get at least minimum wage, but you leave tips anyway. I can see this happening in the U.S.--prices go up, servers still get tipped.

Yeah, and the price is clearly marked, either I will buy it or I won't. (I won't). How they divide up the money afterwards is their business. No one trying to "upsell" or asking me to pay the vendor a little extra.