I'm a simple emigrant and I have mixed feelings about tips

Today I'm again with an unpopular opinion. I don't understand why tipping culture is gaining momentum in Germany. More precisely, I understand it, but it saddens me more than anything. It seems to me that any gratitude should come from the heart. Including tips. It's understandable when you live in a country where labor isn't valued much in general, and for the work of waiters even less – then it is closer to solidarity. A noble cause. But when it comes to Germany, a country with a wage system and social guarantees, in my view it's completely inappropriate to demand that everyone leave tips. I basically don't like it when society tries to make someone feel guilty. For what service should I pay if I spent five minutes somewhere and drank coffee with a pastry? As if the client is covertly compensating for problems of the labor market. I consider tips as either an obligatory thing, or a sign of an unhealthy economic situation, or a scam, or market relations. But we live in a welfare state. Is it normal to take more than half of the income to maintain the social fabric of the country, and then also demand tips? Somehow it turns out that in this question we took all the worst from both socialism and capitalism. Not right. And it's not even about money, but about principle. Those who know me won't lie that I often treat people. And sometimes it happens like this: I sincerely cover the bill, but I still feel guilty, that you see I didn't tip enough. Here's how I see it: if a restaurant pays its employees less than the established minimum, there is a high risk that it operates in the gray zone. If a business even off the books can't pay a normal salary, then something is wrong with the establishment itself. If the problems are with the whole industry — that's a matter for the state. And it should be solved systemically, creating favorable conditions for business, rather than patching holes with patches from our coins, artificially prolonging the life of unsustainable projects. Let me repeat again that I don't like the coercion to pay tips; if you genuinely want to leave them from the heart – here I am with you and fully support you. And what do you think? Have you felt such pressure? #money #we_dont_like