This is what makes me uncomfortable. It smacks of tossing a shiny coin to the beaming black boy.

The assumption that service users are wealthy, who won't miss small change; and the assumption that people who work in service jobs are going to be eternally grateful for your crumbs is so offensive.

Tipping has, for most people, moved on to becoming a hidden part of the assumed price of the service - hence discussions about appropriate levels for particular services (and the fact these discussions take place ahead of the transaction shows that tips are not a reward for a job well done, they are just part of the price).

But comments like 4444's are deeply anachronistic and deeply patronizing. The US moved on from that way of thinking many years ago.