I usually tip at least 20%, many times more, but tipping has gone full retard in the U.S. A $12 tip at a breakfast place for refilling a cup of coffee? That's crazy and the problem is that it gradually becomes expected as more and more people try to be the big man thinking that cute waitress will actually give you the time of day. Now fast food places are expecting tips for handing you a bag with a burger and fries in it, many even have the tip on the screen if you pay by credit, all for a "server" that never took a step away from the cash register.
Dillonbuck is right, our country is one of the few places where you're expected to tip. I travel for work and in the far east you don't tip, in Japan it's considered an insult to offer a tip, you're basically telling them that they're beneath you. In Europe it's basically round up the change, you'll never see a european leaving a 20% tip in a restaurant, it'll be a couple of euros at most.
I tip more than most because I don't want to be "that guy", but the system is screwed up when we've allowed restaurant owners to shift the burden of paying their employees wages on to the customer instead of themselves. In the long run you're not helping the server so much as padding the restaurant's profit margin.
This and then some, I just hate eating out anymore period. Mb
