To Tip, or Not to Tip

So, lately, I've been looking at articles and blogs about restaurants, and there's one thing I've noticed REALLY tends to rile up everyone and their brother.  This topic literally hijacks entire comment sections in articles about totally different topics.*

Tipping.

Some people say it's voluntary, other's say it's not; some people say that 15% is an "average" tip, other's say 25% is "okay"; some people get all kerfuffled and refuse to tip, citing that federal law requires all employees to make up the difference between "restaurant wage" and legal "minimum wage" for their staff, and for every person like that is a server who has only worked at places where the management refuses to do such a thing, and fires anyone who asks.  Some people tip, but will not leave so much as a piece of pocket lint for what they feel constitutes bad service, and others vilify those people for not leaving "at least" a penny, if not 10%.

Another interesting thing someone brought up at one of my recent family gathering was shared checks, wherein one party pays, but the other has a differing opinion on the tip given.  Some people admitted to leaving a tip when the person who picked up the check didn't leave one.  Others admitted to taking a tip off of the table and either returning it or - in the case of one now-shamed family member - pocketing the cash.  Interestingly, in the case of a credit card, the pro-tippers still tended to leave cash on the table, while those who disagree generally cross out the tip line.

So all of this brings me to my question: What is proper tipping protocol?

Now, before anyone asks me exactly how I feel on tipping, let me just get it all out of the way: I tip.  I have walked out without tipping once before, when I felt that a server did not treat me with any form of common courtesy (not even a smile!); it is not a habit of mine.  I do have a "usual percentage" that I try to stay around, but I'd rather not say what that is.  I wouldn't mind paying higher prices to abolish tipping - it seems so hard, to not know exactly what you'll bring home any given hour - but until that happens, I won't go out to eat unless I can cover my meal and tip.

I understand how some people get frustrated when they go out to eat, see a $20 pricetag on their meal, and realize they'll have to add an extra $4 to their bill for because that's now what's expected. For them, it seems like false advertising ib the menu, and I sympathize.  In this day and age, and within this city, though, people need to eat, and in order to eat, they need to work.  It's hard to insist on proper wages when management knows that there will be someone else out there willing to work for less than $3 an hour, while just being thankful for a job.  Unfortunately, the system has been so warped that we, the consumer, now have to pay what should be an extra (for recognition of good service) to help people make ends meet, instead of their employers doing it.

Here comes question #2: Do you have a tipping procedure?

Want to answer me?  Feel free to Tweet me:

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(*For an example of this, I recommend:

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/08/08/8-restaurant-surcharges-that-dont-make-sense-and-8-that-do/)