Yeah, doing a bit of searching, I found that, "The 8% figure is simply a threshold below which many employers must allocate tips and report certain additional information to the IRS. The IRS can use this information to flag restaurants where employees may be underreporting tips." So I think a lot of restaurants report around 10% for you on cash tips, just to keep themselves out of trouble.
Taxes aside, the cultural norm is really the issue here. Seems that you disagree with the American norm, and that's fine -- you've thought it through more than the vast majority of people, I'd wager.
Is your main problem that tipping X% is expected, and you feel that the only thing that should be expected is that you pay the bill? I wonder if Germans have similar feelings paying sales tax in the U.S., since in Germany it's required by law that the tax be included in the displayed price. That's not a logical analogy, mind you, but an analogy of emotions.
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Taxes aside, the cultural norm is really the issue here. Seems that you disagree with the American norm, and that's fine -- you've thought it through more than the vast majority of people, I'd wager.
Is your main problem that tipping X% is expected, and you feel that the only thing that should be expected is that you pay the bill? I wonder if Germans have similar feelings paying sales tax in the U.S., since in Germany it's required by law that the tax be included in the displayed price. That's not a logical analogy, mind you, but an analogy of emotions.