Rump,
You are definitely NOT offending anyone by tipping.
To all,
The Service Charge is added by some businesses so that ALL THE HOURLY STAFF shares in the benefits when times get busy, such as now.
When you tip the "person who took care of you" at dinner, that tip you give to them does NOT take care of ALL the people who took care of you. What about the chef? What about the dishwasher? What about the groundskeeper? What about the prep staff? Your tip is not taking care of any of them although each and every one assisted in making you dinner a pleasant experience.
Any business person knows that wages must be set on the average revenue of the business, not on the exceptionally busy times. Even during busy times, how busy you are from day to day varies. If wages were set on the busy times, during the slow times the business would be forced to close. Business 101. And having a service charge or not having a service charge would not change the base wages as wages are not based on the service charge, but the job performed.
The optimum solution to even out the wages is to add a Service Charge. Right now, when restaurants are busy, those charging a service charge makes sure EVERY HOULY EMPLOYEE shares in that extra money being made, not just the waiter or waitress who generally gets the tip. Every hourly employee goes home on payday sharing in the increased profits of the business with a larger check.
By avoiding places with a service charge on purpose just means that all the staff that makes your visit a pleasant one are being cut out of those increased profits and you are making sure that one person ends up making a very disproportionate amount of money.
