I remember asking a restaurant owner about this in California, before the ways of the US of A were better known to me. Why should we tip so high and you pay so little in wages. His response was 'I pay...
It has. I don't know when percentage based tipping started here but when I was growing up you went and ate. If the service was good you tossed down 2-5 bucks and that was it. The tip wasn't expected to be based on your bill because paying someone more money to carry a plate with different food on it seemed insane