I think the better question is why isn’t the service staff being paid a livable wage so their ability to eat and pay their rent isnt dependent on people paying a voluntary and arbitrary amount that they can’t guarantee they’ll be receiving.

That remains the wrong question. The correct question is why are employers not paying a proper wage. Your argument starts in a way that makes me think that you have been indoctrinated by an argument that does not stack up. You should come to Europe where people are paid better for serving and tips aren't for service. They are for excellent service.

I do all that at my job and my companies customers don't have to subsidize my pay because my employer is already doing so Get a real job

So the bill is only for the food? Is it not also for the rent of the premises? Or for the purchase of kitchen and bar equipment, and tables and chairs? Cutlery, glasses, plates? Insurance? Cleaners? Maintenance costs? The rest? No. The cost of the meal includes ALL associated costs. The server is one of those associated costs. It’s not a case of “if you can’t afford to tip you can’t afford to go out”, it’s “if you can’t afford to pay your servers properly, you can’t afford a restaurant.”

Alot of people just don't know how much a tipped waitress/ waiter makes per hour without tips cause it's not always minimum wage, that's the problem. I think restaurants should put a sign up on how much their servers make an hour cause tipped waiters/ waitresses may only make $2.15 an hour or something like that but people don't know that.

What about places that are like McDonald’s but still have that tip line that we are guilted into?

As long as we get good service. I thought it was optional.

I've seen thousands of "tipping issues" threads. You know what I have never seen ? A server say he/she'd rather get a decent wage from their employer instead of relying on tips. Why ? Because for the most part it's unskilled labor and they'd be paid $15-$20/hour, tops. They make way more money guilt tripping customers.

I think the better question is why do servers take a job/stay at a job with abysmal wage? The people who accept these jobs are in it precisely because of the tips, not the wage, and are complicit in propagating a broken system. Because when presented with the idea of eliminating tips altogether, these are the same people who will say "prices of food will go up", "i dont want a flat wage", "my monthly earnings will go down if my wage is flat, "i will quit", "i will be taxed more", etc .

To be honest, the question should be "why the service is not included in the price of the food" since, as you correctly noted, if you don't want to pay for service you go to McDonald's.