We talked about this on Slog recently, and now Pete Wells at the New York Times takes up the cause:

[Tipping] is irrational, outdated, ineffective, confusing, prone to abuse and sometimes discriminatory. The people who take care of us in restaurants deserve a better system, and so do we.

He also sees encouraging signs that the tipping times may be a-changin', and yay for that!

Oh, and look—here's more on tipping from the Wall Street Journal, about the automatic gratuity that some restaurants add to the bill for large parties:

Starting in January, the Internal Revenue Service will begin classifying those automatic gratuities as service charges—which it treats as regular wages, subject to payroll tax withholding—instead of tips, which restaurants leave up to the employees to report as income.

The change would mean more paperwork and added costs for the restaurants—and a potential financial hit for waiters and waitresses who live on their tips but don't always report them fully.

Thanks, Greg!