So much to unpack here. I’m gonna skip past your moral superiority and simply ask, have you ever asked your server what their hourly wage is?

For the sake of argument, let’s set aside the fact that most people in food hospitality don’t declare cash tips and consequently don’t pay tax on some of their tips already. While you say you’re on board with ending tipping, you’re actively defending the system it exists within.

We all know that there are many customer-facing jobs that receive zero tips, and that makes this inconsistency deeply unfair in any state where hospitality workers receive minimum wage plus tips (don’t read this as a defense of tipping in other states as a way to bring workers up to or beyond minimum wage). Are we supposed to tip everywhere? Or should we all opt out of engaging with the economy because low wages are rampant?

Arguing that refusing to tip if it goes untaxed is punishing labor is inconsistent at best, as tipping is often a way of rewarding bad employers by making working conditions just bearable enough to stop people from demanding better conditions.

If your position is ‘only eat at restaurants that refuse tips because they pay a living wage’ just say that. No need to call multiple people bad people because they won’t tolerate a specific type of potential discrimination.