I think tipping has gotten way out of control and has crossed the border into absurdity. If I am in a sit-down restaurant and someone actually serves me, then I tip (and tip well). I don't understand this whole "tip jar at Starbucks' mentality. Should I tip the butcher at the supermarket next for cutting the meat that I am about to buy? For take out, you are ordering food and paying for it - you do not have a choice. It has to be prepared. People should not expect to be tipped for simply ringing up a cash register or putting a cup under a spigot and filling it with coffee etc. Some might argue that the people in the back doing the cooking should be tipped because, after all, they are the ones doing all the work, right? But that is not how it works even in the most high end restaurant. It is the wait staff that get all the tips, not the people doing the actual cooking.
If you go to a place regularly and they throw in an extra roll or two, then I can understand tipping a couple of bucks, but otherwise I refuse to go along with this insanity. Everywhere you go now there are tip jobs silently guilting you into tipping for something that truly is not a tippable occupation. A cashier/counterperson might technically be in the service industry but they are not performing a service that warrants a tip. Enough with these out of control tip demands!!!