In a daily bulletin from our hotel, this topic was given a small section. Basically, it said the 15% service charge that is added to a restaurant tab is to cover breakage (and something else I cannot remember), that it is distributed among the employees and when a customer feels the service is worthy, additional tipping should be considered.

If this is true, as a customer, I don't think I should be responsible for paying for the breakage of dishes/glasses in a restaurant. I have to believe that in most cases, those things are balanced in the prices of drinks and food in an establishment.

It has always bugged me that restaurants do not have to pay their employees a 'fair' wage - it's up to the customers to supply their income. Why is that? Other businesses have overhead too, and are responsible for paying the salaries of their employees.