Quote Originally Posted by complich8
it pisses me off when people I'm eating with overtip for blatantly terrible, slow service at a restaurant in non-busy hours, just because the waitress was female.

Seriously, 23% doesn't send the message "service was inexcusably bad" -- It sends the message "your moderate cuteness has completely made up for ... uhh ... what was it again? nevermind, you're cute, but I'm too nutless to actually say that to your face, so I'll just give you money and pretend like you showed up sometime within fifteen minutes of us sitting down".
I totally agree. Why the hell should I tip someone well, if at all, if they were terrible? A tip is supposed to be for a job well done, not for a job done. This reminds me of the diner scene in Reservoir Dogs:

Mr. Pink: Look, I ordered coffee. Now we've been here a long fucking time and she's only filled my cup three times. When I order coffee, I want it filled *six* times.
Mr. Blonde: Six times. Well, what if she's too fucking busy?
Mr. Pink: The words "too fucking busy" shouldn't be in a waitress's vocabulary.

Servers should never be "too fucking busy" enough to at least pass by your table and explain why your order is late. The biggest piss-off is when a group of people arrive 15 or 20 minutes after your group (both equally sized) and they get their orders first. So what? Your server is too busy for your table but not the other?

and

Nice Guy Eddie: C'mon, throw in a buck!
Mr. Pink: Uh-uh, I don't tip.
Nice Guy Eddie: You don't tip?
Mr. Pink: Nah, I don't believe in it.
Nice Guy Eddie: You don't believe in tipping?
Mr. Blue: You know what these chicks make? They make shit.
Mr. Pink: Don't give me that. She don't make enough money that she can quit.
Nice Guy Eddie: I don't even know a fucking Jew who'd have the balls to say that. Let me get this straight: you don't ever tip?
Mr. Pink: I don't tip because society says I have to. All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I'll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job.
Mr. Blue: Hey, our girl was nice.
Mr. Pink: She was okay. She wasn't anything special.
Mr. Blue: What's special? Take you in the back and suck your dick?
Nice Guy Eddie: I'd go over twelve percent for that.