Poor tipping practices across racial divide

You can't reward bad service. That's wrong.

But your average golf playing CEO makes how much an hour for essentially being a figurehead? $4,000 - 5,000?

Based on my experience, countries like Korea and Japan, with no tip culture whatsoever, has better service than the U.S. or Europe.

i really dont think tipping improves the service in restaurants, but service quality is more related with education/training and monitoring of employees.

Speaking of countries like Japan and Korea, I've heard over there (especially in Japan) that it's considered somewhat offensive to tip a waiter. As opposed to the US where not tipping is offensive, and Europe, where there is no real tipping culture, but a waiter will hardly be offended by getting a tip.

Anyone with some firsthand experience to confirm or deny this?

I have no idea why anyone would assume an appetizer to come with the main course.

a quick search brings up "Tipping is not the common custom in Japan and it is almost never done at casual restaurants, as it is considered rude, implying that servers must be paid extra to ensure they do their job"

I see that happen a lot at Thai restaurants in the Seattle area. Last week, at a Thai restaurant with my Mum, we ordered a chicken lettuce wrap appetizer, which was bigger than our meals, and came at the same time.

I believe that it's customary for the waiter to ask when to bring a soup or salad, but generally appetizers are brought before the meal.

In short, you're correct.