Ultimately, we need to tip people in the short term to keep them afloat until we can work with them in the long term to get America to the standard that most of the rest of the world takes, where tipping is a special case scenario only for exceptionally good work, and never to be needed or expected.

But it doesn’t have to be if the employers pay how they should

It really doesn't have to be a "fact of life", and it isn't in many places, such as Australia and England -- nations with very similar degrees of economic prosperity, and very similar cultures, to the USA.

Or, employers could pay their workers better.

Novel thought, right?

I'm always torn on this. I want to tip to help someone earn a living, but if enough of us stopped tipping employees would leave unless they were paid more. It does feel like adding suffering to the wrong people, but if out created change it would be nice eventually