If I remember right you're a bartender?

It's difficult to lump that in with waiting tables, because in my somewhat kneejerk opinion one is skilled labor and one isn't. Under a non-tipping system, I think most places would pay bartenders more than minimum wage. A good, fast, competent bartender keeps people coming back to the same bar or restaurant over a long period of time.

Add that to the fact that even if we somehow adopted a non-tipping culture overnight, there are some jobs that I bet would still get "tipped" a bit as a thank you/plea for preferential treatment. (Witness the fact that some people "tip" bartenders in advance at crowded high-end bars ... before they've received any service. To me that kinda undercuts the argument that tipping's vital function is to serve as a carrot on a stick.)

I've worked food service but not as a waiter. Seems like all my friends are waiters or bartenders or combination, though. They make good $/hr but don't like their jobs much and have to fight hard to keep their hrs/week at a fiscally stable level.

shrug