I haven't read every post in this thread, but one thing that actually bugs me today has to do with dipping for carry out at the grocery store. That is, when I was in high school and worked as a grocery bagger, I got tips. I was paid minimum wage, but earned tips on top of what they paid me, which would often end up at $10-$20 for a 5 hour shift. I think minimum wage at that time was $4.50, so that was a pretty nice boost (by comparison, the checkers got about .50 more than we did).

At some point after I left that job and went on to bigger and better things, grocery stores started mandating that customers should not tip for carrying out groceries. I remember feeling pretty embarrassed when I tried to tip one and he said he couldn't accept it. The result is that I NEVER allow them to take out my groceries because I feel bad not tipping them after how much I earned in tips doing the same service when I was younger.

So this is probably an example of an industry correcting itself (or I *think* it's industry wide- I haven't bothered even checking with our local grocery stores to see what their accepted practice is), and it probably just annoys be because of my past experience. I have to admit, being able to go after work to best buy and pick up a new CD after every shift just on my tips was probably a little bit much for the work I was actually doing.