Perhaps in the future you should consider staying home so that you can squeeze your pennies in peace and not be taken advantage of by all those maids (who clean up after you), waiters (who serve you) and dive crews (who might save your life someday).
I assume then you also tip the cashier at the supermarket, the teller at the bank and the sales representative at the car rental company? I mean, surely you're not a grudging, stingy bargain-shopper?
But speaking of people that are pleasant to be around with, my experience to date has been that people who can engage in debating an issue on its merits are infinitely more pleasant to be around with than those who can only make their point by calling others names.
I can understand now why you don't engage in conversation on SB much, you obviously don't have what it takes.
A tip is just that its a tip. Not a requirement. If you want a divemaster to treat you well and work hard for you. Give him/her a good tip.
I agree with the first part, but not the second. Yes, a tip should be optional, not a requirement. No, I expect a DM, boat captain, supermarket cashier, bank teller, financial adviser, tax consultant, everybody, to treat their customers well and to work hard, whether or not they receive a tip. I'm a software engineer, we don't function on tips. My employer expects of me to work hard but also my personal sense of pride in what I do, not because I've received a tip, not in the hopes that I will receive a tip (I know I won't), but because I take pride in what I do.
My employer (like so many others) does have systems in place with which he assesses my work and if I don't do my job well it will impact on my end of year salary increase or bonus. I'm sure he would have preferred a business model where he could pass that burden to the customer but, like both you and I know, he knows that it's ridiculous. Seems though that the restaurant industry, the American diving industry and a few others have managed to sucker their employees and their customers into that business model though, very convenient for the employers.
Please don't get me wrong though (like Panchita has), I am all for incentives and reward for a job well done. What I have a problem with is a system where an employee can't get by on his wages/salary but has to rely on the goodwill of his customers. I honestly don't mind tipping someone (and not just boat crews or waiters) when I think to myself "jeez, that was nice, this guy really went the extra mile" but I hate tipping when I think to myself "shame, this poor soul won't survive if I don't tip him". That's just backwards. It turns the tip into a charitable donation.