Ugh, tipping. Don't get me started. Nothing sucks more than busting your ass in a kitchen doing prepping/dish washing/cooking/whatever and listening to the female server(s) say "I made $300 in tips tonight during my 6 hour shift plus my regular wage! That works out to the equivalent of $35 an hour go me I'm such a hard worker! :)" and then having them tip-share $10 with the kitchen staff, who then have to split that $10 between all of them.

And yes, this happened, frequently, to me. There were 3 of us working the kitchen at said restaurant at any given shift, so that worked out to about $3.50 for each of us in tips. We were getting paid minimum wage ($10.25/hr) and the servers had a reduced wage set at $9.50 because they were expected to make the rest of it up in tips.

Just because you're in the front of house and are the person that actually collects the tip money does not mean you deserve to keep any larger of a portion than any other restaurant staff, and it certainly doesn't mean that you're a harder/more valuable/whatever employee. Even though all the waitresses I've worked with certainly seem to think that!

I ended up quitting my job over it and I'd never consider working in a restaurant again until that crap is sorted out in North America. I also refuse to tip any waitress on the grounds that I am morally opposed to doing so, which means I also can't go out and eat at restaurants, ever, because you know what happens when you don't tip these greedy assholes! Plus the people that you go with just take it as an indication that you're cheap, or an asshole, or whatever. So the restaurant industry has lost a valuable employee as well as a customer in me thanks to tipping. I wish more people would follow suit, but it doesn't seem likely.

Sorry for the rant, but tipping seriously grinds my gears in ways that almost any other issue just can't.