Oh, I play the game as well - I just think that it's ridiculous and downright wrong that the customer should have to pay for the employer's greed. Now, I'm not saying that greed is a bad thing - it's only a bad thing when it fucks the customers.
Think about it, especially when going to a nice restaurant where the bill may be close to $100 for only two people. The waitress will be getting close to $15, and for what? For bringing two drinks, two plates, and one dessert? It's not like she cooks the damn thing. She picks it up and brings it over.
Let's do a rough analysis of the difficulties of being a waitress.
Step 1) "Hi what would you like to drink?"
Duration: < 1 minute
Step 2) "Table X needs blah blah blah and blah"
Duration: < 1 minute
Step 3) Bring items requested
Duration: < 1 minute
Step 4) Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 for x such that x is an element of {"Food","Dessert","Bill"}
Duration: 3 x 3 = < 9 minutes
9 minutes + 3 minutes = 12 minutes.
Add 3 minutes for "is everything OK?" and we get 15 minutes.
So...
$15 in 15 minutes = $60 in 1 hour + $2-3 per hour normal salary = $62 per hour for performing services requiring nothing but basic writing, speech, and lifting skills.
And 10% of the bill is considered cheap?
5% should be the maximum.
-Warik