The tipping system in restaurants is flawed

I confirm that my opponent and I are arguing: Pro is arguing that the tipping system is flawed in comparison to a non-tipping system, while Con is arguing that the tipping system is not flawed in comparison to a non-tipping system. I will also narrow our discussion to restaurant wait-staff who receives tips, leaving out other occupations that receive tips. I think we can all agree that delivery drivers need an extra source of income to pay for their fuel expenditure, and other service based jobs will have similar job requirements as wait-staff. Wait-staff (waitresses and waiters) will be referred to as servers in order to decrease word size. Lastly, my position is not against the concept of tipping, someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty is certainly deserving of something extra, it is against the current tipping system found in American restaurants. TO BEGIN: I will address three points in this round (there will be more later) that form the foundation for my argument. Corporate Corruption: Simply put, the restaurant business is getting away with murder. They place the burden of pay upon the customer rather than taking it on themselves, resulting in cheap labor and lower food prices. While it seems like everyone wins, in reality, the customer pays more money than necessary, the restaurant doesn't have to pay their employees fairly, and servers are to EXPECT gratuity or tips. This is corruption and manipulation on a surprisingly large scale. This is why all arguments about how one should tip is flawed, because it is accepting the manipulation of both customers and servers into a ridiculous agreement. Restaurants see motivated servers earn extra money from the patrons, lower the wages of the servers, then claim the rest will (might) be earned through tips. This creates an unknown variable in the servers pay, as on one hand, the servers performance dictates whether or not they receive a tip, and on the other, the price of the food ordered dictates how much tip they should receive. These will be addressed later. Overall, the social stigma of not tipping and the reliance on tips to make a livable income essentially force restaurant patrons to tip and leave them with the choice of "How much to tip" rather than "Whether or not to tip". If this type of system were placed into other jobs, it would be more obvious. Imagine be forced to tip the car mechanic, the computer technician, the cashier, the janitor, or any of the thousands of service based jobs that don't have the same payment type. Nonessential Work: This section will be controversial, but is an often overlooked point. Serving in restaurants is nonessential to the restaurant scheme. That's not to say that the effort involved is easy or trivial, it is only to say that if one were to take out the position and replace it with an inanimate object, the effect would essentially be the same. This means the server is just there to give flavor to the restaurant, a frill, a set piece, a mood setter at best. When we look at the actual work they do, they're main job is to bring food you ordered to your table, something that is trivially easy. If we compare that to the difficulty and skill required in being a cook, we have another example of how nonessential the server's job really is. The American need to feel served and catered to keeps the server position existing. False Balance of Work: This will address two subsections about the tipping itself and the two most popular way to base tips on. Percentage: This is how the majority of people tip their servers, typically falling between 15-25% of their total food bill. This is, by far, the most ridiculous and arbitrary way of determining tip amount. If one HAS to tip, this type of basis will only make things worse overtime. Mostly importantly, the price of the food bill usually has nothing to do with the the amount of work the server actually did. An example: Say you go to Red Lobster (mostly for the biscuits), but you only want a steak as your main course. You take a look at the menu and you see: NY Strip and Rock Lobster Tail - $30.25 Blue Cheese Sirloin - $14.99 The Sirloin is half the price of the NY strip, yet the plates weigh almost the same, and is thus the same amount of food. Yet, because of the percentage based pay, one would have to tip: NY Strip: 15%: $4.54 20%: $6.05 25%: $7.56 Sirloin: 15%: $2.25 20%: $3.00 25%: $3.75 As we can see, getting the NY strip will result in spending more money for the same amount of food. It would be, assuming one likes both kinds of steak, pointless to get the NY strip as the Sirloin will provide the same for less. This disparity between the work involved and the price of the food is obvious and the fact that it is the common form of pay, has caused servers to DEMAND a MINIMUM of 15% tip, and THEN they expect extra based on good performance. That is simply an arrogant and faulty approach as it means the server can act as lazy and unappreciative as they want while still receiving a "mandatory" tip. Performance: The least common form of tipping. This type is entirely based on the performance of the server based on the opinion of the customer. This type is often a "Do tip, or not" rather than a "how much", but can still be a "how much". This is the original form of tipping and is the most socially stigmatized. There isn't too much to tell about this type of tipping because it's in tipping's true form, Gratuity, or being grateful for a servers hard work. Typically, performance based tippers see how well the server is doing their job and will decide at the end of the meal whether or not the server deserves extra money. I have no need to point out why this type of tipping is flawed because it is the real version of tipping, and is thus the representation of the concept of tips. I end this round by saying: Tipping is the same thing as charity and any forced charity isn't actually charity, it's a commission. Serving is not a commission based job, unless we make it a commission based job, which we should then stop calling it tipping and come up with a standardized way of pay.