I find this to be a bit of a slippery slope argument (not to mention that I think tying panhandling to tipping to be a shaky comparison at best), but it is socially compelling, and is indeed an outcome that I do not want to come to pass, for many reasons. Thank you for providing something to help me understand the argument and concerns.

To "tip" my hand completely, I think my original comment was born out of a frustration that so many social problems will be complained about by a HN-type crowd as some vague social ill that cannot be solved by 'taking our (tipping) business elsewhere.' Sometimes it seems like these complaints only suggest that nothing can be done except 'make noise' about tipping or else it might become something our family members will do. As the author of the featured article points out, facing down the fact that many wait staff need tips to make a real living on top of minimum wage is definitely a big problem, but to me, it's a more concrete problem than 'I'm mad I have to tip because I bought chapstick.' There is a time and place for venting about the screwy society we live in but I hope we continue to talk about changing tipping culture and paying people properly.