Coming from a country where we at least give servers minimum wages* and then they can keep their tip tax-free** on top; this still doesn’t sound right.
I at least know that all** of my tips go to the server on top of what he would’ve get in the first place. Otherwise I’m essentially not gifting money for good service but paying part of the wage for normal service as well. And that’s something that should be priced into the products, not tips.
*unless they were unemployed for years, then minimum wages don’t apply for the first six months, and i guess there are some other loopholes; but in general minimum wage is the minimum
**unless its a “throw everything in a pot and then share it at the end of the month” arrangement; or if the tips is required; it must be a voluntary gift from the customer directly towards the server to not count as income