So I have to wonder...

...where and when did tipping begin? Did it begin with restaurant waitstaff, bartenders, or elsewhere? Was there a transition period when it seemed like an unsavory bribe - something you weren't sure whether to offer or whether it would be accepted?

Did people originally do it in order to obtain better service? Did they do it because they felt that a labor market was being artificially manipulated by an external power? (e.g., Compassion for workers in some sort of indentured servitude or other forced labor relationship.) Some other reason?

And how does tipping make the leap into new professions? 15 years ago, the thought had never crossed my mind to tip a hotel housekeeper. In my time reading FT, I've now read about the concept but it seems like a minority actually do it. 50 years from now, will we all be tipping housekeepers as a cultural norm?

Understanding the answers to these questions might be important in some countries where tipping seems to be encroaching...