When dining out, are you frequently guilty of the "verbal tip"…meaning you received good service, were given everything you needed, told the server they gave you good service and thanked them, and still tipped ten percent?

If so, can you tell me the reason behind this? Servers are taught in training that if they give good service, they will receive the standard 18-20%, and if they give bad service they will receive 10% or less. So during the times in which the server did a good job, knows he/she did a good job, and the customer has nothing bad to say against the service, what is then the reason for the 10% or less?

Thanks for the help in advance
I think the problem is this statement: "Servers are taught in training that if they give good service, they will receive the standard 18-20%"

There is no law or anything else besides custom, to make people tip. Tipping is voluntary, nothing forces people to do it.

The economy is bad, so people may be tipping less because they have less money to spend. People from different areas of the country tip more or less, depending on what the custom is in their area. Tipping in the U.S. and Canada is not the norm in other countries - in some countries, 10% is considered a very good tip and in yet other areas - tipping is not expected or even looked down upon.

So to "teach" a server that they will get a certain percentage from every customer is just building false hopes.

However, in the long run (over all your customers) you will find that is what the average is going to end up being - 18% or so, depending on where you are at and what kind of service you give and what kind of place you work at.