One of my friends used to be a server at Earl's when he was younger, and he told me that over there (and at most restaurants) servers have to tip 5% of their total billings to the kitchen staff no matter what. In other words, if a bill is $100, they must give $5 to the kitchen staff whether the customer tipped them $20, $10, or nothing, so if he got a 5% tip he would get nothing, and if he got a zero tip he would actually lose money.
He complained that the worst was large crowds, where the bill might be, say $400, and they tip $20 thinking "$20 is a decent tip" without realizing it's only 5%, and then he'd have to pay that 5% / $20 to the kitchen staff and in the end he spent a lot of time and effort serving a large table and got zero tips whereas he could have got much more if he spent that time serving several smaller tables.
...and he said backgrounds that have the worst rep for tipping are Asian...and East Indian second lol.
