Buswankeress, I'm actually conflicted myself... 
When I said 'what's it to do with you' I meant that even if somebody were to whip out a bunch of tenners for you, you'd not be able to magic up a table out of thin air (if you are waiting staff).
If you are the sort of waiting staff who would turf somebody out of a table for the promise of a bunch of tenners then truly, you (general) don't deserve them and you're in the wrong business.
I think we all know restaurants where the conditions are terrible and the staff are unhappy. There's an obvious correlation there. By the same token, staff who are happy are generally working in a place where the conditions are good and fair. No surprise there.
It is the dives where the conditions are terrible that the tips probably make the most difference. Unhappy staff however generally don't manage to hide their unwillingness to 'go the (limited) extra mile feeling unappreciated. What's the customer to do? Tip for that mediocre service? It's not what I want to do and if I did, it would be grudging.
Bad places don't often have staff that delight customers. I know that's a bit of a contentious statement but, when I worked in my last council, I was butting heads with councillors most of the time and eventually couldn't care less. I mean, you don't get tipped in the council anyway but nobody would tip if they did because I was doing my job 'by the book' to avoid a rumpus. What was the point doing more?
Now I have a job that I love and people keep asking me if there are any jobs going in my place. There aren't - nobody leaves because it's a great place to work and we're really appreciated when we do something extraordinary.
I rambled a bit there sorry, but I was just making the point that happy, glittering staff who love their jobs and do over and above are the ones that generally are deserving of extra gratitude from customers - but it's the poor drudges who need tips to get by - yet generally these aren't deserved for the reasons I've said.
The only way to make things right in the hospitality industry would be to force the proprietors of sub-standard premises to improve and take care of their staff properly - or close. But I think we'd see job-losses rather than investment in staff because some owners are in it for the quick buck and have no vocation for or interest in, hospitality.
It's been said that carers, nurses, retail staff are 'irrelevant' in this discussion but surely, people in those professions don't think they should be considered irrelevant and I certainly think carers and nurses are more deserving of 'tips' than anybody else. It's serving staff themselves that cling to the convention of tipping because it benefits them. Hardly altruistic!
I still think that tipping needs to disappear as a 'thing', it's very unfair now and many posters have said they're on NMW themselves. Why should they be expected to tip? Some of the nonsense on this thread has been purposely inflammatory against those NMW posters - and that was bang out of order.
I do tip. I tip extremely well - but I won't do it for somebody doing their job. Somebody who does their job gets respect, friendliness and politeness from a customer (me) who isn't demanding and doesn't make any sort of mess ever. Perhaps I should be tipped as a customer? 
Where you have hoards of messy, noisy, demanding people who come in in groups, commandeering large sections of the establishment, a service charge should be levied. Nothing wrong with that. Tipping isn't necessary still because the staff don't work harder - they're still on paid time, still have to clear tables, take and bring orders and arrange the bill. Whether it's 2 groups of 10, 10 groups of 2 or 20 singles - the number of covers is the same and staff are paid for their time not their tasks during that time, as far as I remember.
I don't ever want to be in the business of perfunctory tipping (which so many seem to laud as some kind of superior thing; it isn't). How does tipping for anything but excellence encourage that? I don't believe it does, it just fosters massive expectation on the part of waiting staff who deliver mediocre, adequate (or not) service. What's the incentive to ever achieve better?
Still, there are enough shrapnel-tippers to keep this nonsensical 'thing' trundling on for now and in the meantime, I'll carry on delighting brilliant waiting staff who really get the full force of my appreciation as I'll take the time to speak to their manager and/or write to head office - and conversely, I'll continue to be respectful, friendly and polite to the purveyors of mediocre service too.