I dare you to read this and still feel good about tipping
Some of the points raised are good, but there are arguments to be made the other way as well.<p>For example, the article is very concerned that the current tipping system is unfair to the poor. But since tipping is optional, it lets people adjust it to their income. In other words, if tips are a fixed 18% mandatory thing - as the article suggests - then it prevents poor people from tipping less (and rich people from tipping more). In other words, it creates a new unavoidable cost for poor people.<p>And some of the arguments are not compelling. For example, it seems that mentioning slavery is used primarily to elicit an emotional response. While perhaps slavery factored into things in the past, tipping seems similar in other countries that do not have a history of slavery. Compare the US and the UK, for example.