Well, I used to work at Starbucks (Charbucks is a good one) part time when I went to school. it was quite possibly the best job I’ve ever had. My shift was after the rush morning, so I had the noon and afternoon lazy crowds. before that I was a shy, timid and introverted person, after that job… I knew how to interact with other people (mostly).
That being said, I was really friendly to the people who ordered coffee (not fake friendly, real true good-spirited-ness), I remembered their names, drinks, conversations, followed up with their events, and I would even do jokes, songs, and flip the cups like Tom Crusie in Cocktail. people would tip me for all the above. I didn’t mind, I did it because it was fun. I would even create free wacky drink concoctions for my fav customers and if they liked it they tipped me.
So I would make people smile or laugh a bit and forget their work troubles for a few minutes (but not nearly as good a REAL bartender that serves alcohol, those guys/gals are a public necessity). man, I really liked that job a lot… it’s nothing like my current lifestyle supporting job.
but people tipped for various reasons. there were a few that came in and ordered the most ridiculously long custom list of coffee ever: Venti, quad shots, non-fat, xtra hot, 2 sugars, hazlenut, and some cinnamon on top. so they would tip us for doing it right and not botching up all the time (but I had my fair share of disasters). Some people tip because the baristas were attractive (I, on the other hand, was not). Some people tipped me when they found out I was going to college… “to help ease the financial burden,” or something like that. Some tipped because they didn’t like loose change in their pocket.
Tip what you want (or not to tip) for your own reasons. I made $6.25 /h and the min at the time was $5.50 /h (I think). I could’ve lived without the tips just fine, but I enjoyed going to the music store afterwards (at my two week payday, my tips were about $15-$25).