I own a business. My employees provide a service. The service they provide happens to be IT support. What if I paid them $2.31 per hour and then expected each of my clients to add 20% to my invoice so that I could better compensate my employees? Would that be fair?

Some might say, “Well, it would cause the employees to be on their ‘A Game’ if they knew their livelihood depended upon their level of service.” After all, doesn’t TIPS stand for “To Insure Prompt Service”?

Unless you are a cold-hearted jerk, when was the last time that you didn’t tip at least 15% to your waiter? You know that your tip is how they are paid, since their employer pays them basically nothing. It all falls back on you, doesn’t it?

So, how do you reward good service? 25%? What if the meal was great, but you had to beg to get your iced tea refilled? How can you target the kitchen staff but short the waiter? None of this really makes sense to me.

Even more unfair is the waiters in the lower-end restaurants like the breakfast spots (Denny’s, IHOP, Bob Evans and your local diner.) The tab may come out to $20, so you give them a $4 tip and they kept your coffee warm, brought out more butter, more rolls and cleaned up that syrupy mess your kid made. But, if you go to the fancy restaurant where the final bill is $60 and the waitress was aloof, you will be scorned if you leave less than $12.

I say put the burden back on the employer. Restaurantuers have had it too easy for too many years. Make them price the meals so that they can pay a decent wage to their employees, from the kitchen staff, to the bar staff, to the greeters, waitresses and the busboys. Then, if I was really happy with my service, I can reward them and it will actually mean something.

Hey, McDonalds has been paying their employees this way for years and they are doing quite well, thank you.