Good post. A nuance, however, to tipping, imo, could be analogous to the free market notion in US. Businesses are paying as per free market (adhering to minimum wage) and the tip allows/incentives better customer experience. You mention to no tip culture in India. How would you rate the customer experience/waiting experience? I like to think of tipping as bonuses for work well done and a positive reinforcing cycle. You deliver great customer service, get tipped well, you improve your well-being, customer is also more likely to return back. If you’re not working for a tip, you’re less likely to feel motivated to give it your best which is a lose-lose. Whether US businesses pay enough to employees is a separate topic which merits it’s own discussion. So, if you don’t like the wages waiting tables etc, work towards a higher paying job, and soon enough is more people move away from this job, the demand for waiters would increase raising the wages for them(free market economics at work). It’s more efficient in the long term. Do you want a society where 20% of the people work in low skilled jobs or 15%? While surely an average waiter in Paris is probably better off than in New York(no data to back this up), and average higher skilled worker is better of in US than in France, which I think is not exactly a bad thing.