[chanced]

I agree with you 100%. Tipping is by far my biggest pet peeve followed by hidden surcharges, specialty taxes, and regular sales taxes that are all added on after I've emotionally committed to the advertised price.

What's more is that now almost any place that prepares food has a tip line or a tip jar. Kid behind the counter just scooped some icecream on a cone? "Tip please." Hand me a cup of coffee? "Add whatever amount you want to the already hyper-inflated price of that joe you got there. I poured it, remember?"

The worst offender that I've run into is a sandwich shop called Jersey Mikes. I absolutely love their food but they recently rolled out a new system that has me so annoyed that I will never go back. As part of the payment process you are now required to either select from a predetermined set of tip percentages or explicitly opt-out.

The thing is, I actually feel for the guy preparing my sandwich or the girl that writes down my order and hands it off. I know that unless they are a waiter in a swanky, up-scale restaurant or a bartender pretty much anywhere then they are probably not making a ton of money.

Yet customers are made to feel as though they have some moral or social obligation to bring them up to a livable wage. In reality what is happening is the restaurants & bars are passing on their wages directly on to us. We are expected to pay a tax so that they don't have to pay them enough to survive on.