It's worse than even that. It's people essentially groveling or even degrading themselves so that maybe you'll voluntarily choose to pay them, desperately clinging onto the hope that you're not one of the people who simply never tips or only tips a pittance.

It's one thing if someone's being friendly and entertaining because they're being paid a salary or ticket price to do so - like a magician or tour guide or something. That's still artificial and potentially forced and stilted, but at least it's a reasonable, tit-for-tat kind of artificiality. With tipping it feels not only artificial but patronizing, condescending, and servile. You're at the mercy of the capriciousness and cruelty of customers. Or, alternatively, in some cases inadvertently thrusting them into a position of guilt and obligation and pity.

It's not that bad since the employee probably knows what they were signing up for before taking the job, and some can make a lot of money from it, but, overall, the whole thing just feels... weird.