In Florida, front of the house staff who worked under the "tipped employee" can be required to disperse some of their tips to other employees under the "tipped employee" classification. This normally includes bus boys/girls and hostesses. This doesn't include the cooks/line workers.
The bus people are involved in you experience, so the argument that only the server should receive the entire proceeds of your tip is a bit bogus.
In regards to using cash vs credit card. Back in the day there was an incentive for servers, etc to request cash tips for tax purposes. However, now with the newer standard deduction, their isn't really reason to ask for cash vs credit card, other than cheating out some of their support people.
Having said that. For restaurant meals and multiple drinks at a bar , I pay by credit card. For one drink at a bar while waiting for a table, I will use cash if I know the drink price