This always seemed crazy to me. Basically the employer pays only a pittance and then stops paying until your tips exceed minimum wage. They're basically stealing the tips between $2.50 and whatever the minimum wage is in your area.
tipping encoded in to law in general seems crazy to me. many (most?) other countries don't have this ritual, and seem to do just fine. I've dined out in many other countries outside the US, and service is generally good regardless of whether tipping is involved/expected or not. And in the US, I don't feel my normal service is all that much better because someone is thinking I might tip an extra dollar or two on an $8 lunch.
I even feel it's the other way around, in other countries the tip is usually the change, like $8 meal, just leave a $10 bill and leave, staff is either happy or neutral, in the US if you don't leave enough you get nasty looks as you exit even if the service was unremarkable.
