the entire notion of Tipping just kills me. i still do and i tip quite well usually 20% but I base it on trips to table not so much the full bill. if theres 6 of us and she brings 3 jugs of beer and a bill i really dont think a server deserves a $10-20 tip for 3 trips to the table when the bar is 20' away. however if your drinking pints and server comes a dozen times then the tip is more deserved. however i still think its ******** someone brings me a beer from 15' away and "deserves" a tip yet I own a heating, gas, AC company and as a gas fitter and I don't expect to get tipped for not killing you or blowing you up because well frankly thats my job..........I get the occasional tip in cash but that doesn't change my service. however most "tips" for me are in the form of lunch or beer. the only thing i "expect" is your going to pay your bill. . .
As I see it (in the US), the employer values the server's services at some amount, which is reflected more or less in the hourly wage they pay the server. Servers are generally paid more per hour in a fancy restaurant than in a greasy spoon. The employer pays some portion of the value in the form of the server's hourly wage, and the customers are expected to pay another portion of the value in the form of tips. The fancy restaurant charges higher prices than the greasy spoon, so (under the US practice) it seems logical that the customer's tip will be larger in the fancy restaurant than the greasy spoon.
I wish it were otherwise, but as I see the system in the US, the tip we customers are expected to leave is only very loosely, if at all, related to how hard the server has to work. Outside the US, sure, I am likely to tie the tip to how hard the server worked.
The whole premise of the US system is that the employer and the server understand that the server's wages alone are not intended to fully compensate the server for their value. In contrast, I would expect a business owner such as yourself to make sure the bill reflects the full value of what your customer received.
Applying this to diving, I suppose (under the US system) I am expected to tip the crew on a fancy, expensive liveaboard more than the crew on a budget liveaboard who deliver nearly the exact same services. Sure, the cabin is nicer, and the food is nicer on the fancy liveaboard, but those amenities aren't that related to the crew's services. I suspect the crew works pretty much just as hard on both types of liveaboards. I haven't taken a liveaboard in the US yet. As I said, when abroad, I try to inject a little common sense into my tipping. Tipping 10% or more on a top-end Indonesian liveaboard (say USD 5000 for a week) seems ludicrous to me.
