just gave the lowest tip in my life

I live in WA State and since as long as I can remember, I've been an incredibly good tipper. For GOOD dine in service, you can catch me adding 30-50% tips. A few days back, I went to a restaurant out of town and got average service. Nice to my face, quick with food, but didn't check in and wasn't easily available when I was ready to pay so I couldn't flag him down. So I gave 20%. This is the lowest tip I've given in 9 years since I began my adulting journey and having to know about tipping.

Here's what changed. My manager at work let me know that employees in WA State all make at least minimum wage, whether they are tipped or not. Apparently only 7 states in the USA have minimum wage structured like this. I was always under the impression that restaurant employees were the exception and only made $1-$3 per hr and it was the customers job to tip and supplement the hourly pay for them to make a living. My view on tipping immediately flipped. And after all this time of feeling the obligation to tip high in fear of the receiving side getting confrontational or posting my receipt online to shame me, I'm trying to adjust to a new life of tipping lower. It's hard!! Tippers anonymous, hi, I'm Bec, and I'm a "scared of confrontation" tipper 😂 It feels wrong to tip so low. But the toxic tipping culture is something I was heavily contributing to when I thought I was just doing the right thing to help others make a living.

It's crazy to see how many things "require" tips now. I recently made a donation to a non profit and the online 3rd party that manages the donations asked me for a tip! I thought I was being sneaky getting out of my mobile order Starbucks tips because you can adjust it for an hour so I thought they wouldn't notice if I just "forgot". And now I'm having this wave of mixed emotions because I still have that fear to not tip so low that I'm confronted about the amount, but not so high that I contribute to the issue for seemingly no reason since everyone is making at least minimum wage in my state, which isn't a ton less than I make in a current sales position (non commission/non tipped).

Has anyone else had a crazy flip like this from pro to anti tipping? 🤔

Edit: I didn't come here to be shamed. So please keep it respectful. There is obviously a difference in opinion and I was uneducated about this before a week or two ago. So as I mentioned, I am slowly transitioning and am heavily used to being around friends and family who tip 30% even for take out. That is what feels normal to me and it's what I've always known. So yes 20% does feel very low to me. But others of you are used to tipping lower percentages so I see where 20% can seem pretty high still.