I am, however, unsure if this is a desirable system or not. Transferring the economic risk (at least in part) to the employee is common practice and often takes the form of commissions or bonuses. In the case of the service sector, however, peoples lives become economically non-viable when tips dry up. Also, most Europeans will agree that the service in large US cities is worse than in most European capitals, with the exception perhaps of Paris. Is this despite or because of the tipping dependency in the US?

Dwight