This one only feels unpopular because I'm around so many Europeans and Australians but I'm all for tipping culture. Party because I benefit from it but mostly because the whole system is fucked and it's one way for the little guy to get ahead without too much skill involved. It's also a decent security net/fallback plan to have.
In my country, tipping is limited to rounding up a few cents to the nearest 20 or 50 crowns. Servers make good salary, they make what they're worth without having to busk. The customer is not expected to directly pay their wages. Servers are good servers because that's their job and they're professionals, not because they're hoping to get extra reward for doing the job they're being paid well for already.
The problem is society as a whole seems more interested in changing tipping culture than things like high tuition. Granted I guess this is because they feel like they have more power to change the former as well as the whole "if I'm stuck in the shithole of minimum wage and debt so are you". Some people here are professional lifetime servers and you can tell. Some are paying off school debt and some are teacher supplementing their crap salary. Watch the news coverage of a teacher strike and tell me society as a whole is passionate about giving them better wages. They protested in Quebec about rising tuition costs and most people said screw you you already pay less than the rest of the country.
Nah, they should get a decent tip out that also takes into consideration the higher wage they get. Most good restaurants do that. Having said that cooks always tell me my job is easy and I can only think of maybe a handful that could actually handle it. The back of house people who can handle expo can serve, everybody else would be so lost. Most I know hate expo. Especially the ones with bad attitudes. They have no idea what it takes to smile and be cheerful towards the end of a 12 hour shift.
I've got a decent security net in Canada and ya you can make a lot of money working in a restaurant. Significantly more than you ever would with minimum wage.The plan is to be a fine dining server and that's honestly the only way I could see myself paying off school in a reasonable amount of time. Make tuition free and then we would be talking. Take away tipping culture without figuring out another way for people to get ahead and even more people are just screwed.