At the macro level, I'm not advocating for tips at all. I think it's a bad system.
But the reality is a lot of people rely on those jobs and have very little bargaining power as individuals. Most don't have the luxury of refusing a job, unlike the highly in demand people here. I don't think it's my place to deny those people income they depend on out of a principal. It'll hurt the little guy and make very little if any difference to the big companies.
If you asked just about any waiter if they would forego the tip system + reduced minimum wage for straight minimum wage, they will tell you no, because they'd make less money.
If a waiter can only make minimum wage then perhaps their labor would be more productive elsewhere. I've never felt like the job of picking up a plate from the kitchen and putting it on a table was all that useful, but I also get that there's more going on in a restaurant; making proles perform for money obviously confers some status on the payer.
But the reality is a lot of people rely on those jobs and have very little bargaining power as individuals. Most don't have the luxury of refusing a job, unlike the highly in demand people here. I don't think it's my place to deny those people income they depend on out of a principal. It'll hurt the little guy and make very little if any difference to the big companies.