I just wanted to say that your post challenged (and will likely change) an assumption I've always had about restaurant owners and tipping culture. I've always just assumed, without ever having been restaurateur, that both servers and owners loved/supported the tipping status quo. Of course servers love it. But why restaurant owners? "It lets those greedy restaurant owners pay their staff less!" as the trope goes. It never really occurred to me that it's kind of a pain for you, too, and that you'd also rather just ditch it.
The thing I don't understand though is: How is tipping sneaking in to other non-restaurant businesses, if it's not really supported by the business owners? After all, they're the ones deciding to offer the option to tip.
> After all, they're the ones deciding to offer the option to tip.
I don't have direct experiencing running a retail business outside of hospitality, but I would venture to guess it is the only way to retain staff. After all, if you are the worker, why would you work at the store that refuses to allow tips when you can just as easily go to the store next door that does?
Superficially, it is true that the business owner gets the final say, but they don't get to make the choice in a vacuum. You don't have a business without staff.
The thing I don't understand though is: How is tipping sneaking in to other non-restaurant businesses, if it's not really supported by the business owners? After all, they're the ones deciding to offer the option to tip.