Although most food servers would not behave so brazenly, this incident highlights the dependence of this country's servers on tips. For most servers, tips can more than double their minimum wage earnings, allowing them to actually pay rent. Waitering, therefore, is a very attractive job for many. At the same time, the U.S. tipping system has some very negative consequences.
Most servers are genuinely kind - they cry at sad movies and like to kiss babies.
But tipping encourages servers to act kind rather than actually be kind. Out of necessity, a successful American server embodies the service economy and its lavish attention to the desires of those with money to spend. The paste-on smile, hard to maintain, can often fade if the customer orders only inexpensive items, or lingers after dinner without ordering a chocolate mousse. Another negative effect of tipping is that it adds extra work to the job of waitering. Through tipping, servers are enlsted as footsoldiers in the battle for corporate profits.