Shortly after arrival, I was dining in a popular chain restaurant (not fast food). The bill had a "surcharge" listed, so I asked the waitress if that was the "tip". She shook her head and sadly explained that a lot of people thought that it was, so they left no tip. So, we tipped normally.

The surcharge seems to be the rip-off that takes tip money away from the workers and puts it in the owners coffers.

Isn't it ironic, that in a country that boasts of the "highest per-capita" income in the world, that the common worker is paid so little, and that the other foreign workers are the ones concerning and discussing how much to tip the poor souls.