Is it about helping out workers any more? Or is about companies - often big, profitable companies - not paying their employees a livable wage and pressuring customers to come to the rescue? At the very least, the situation is so confusing now that it's impossible to tell whether a tip is a legitimate thing to do, or whether it's giving in to corporate greed and cynicism.

Just to clarify, I worked in food service as a tipped employee from age 15 into my late 20s. I totally get it, and I always tip waiters, taxi drivers, and other traditionally-tipped employees. But I don't know what to do when everybody expects a tip. And when corporate money-lords add their voices to pressure me, it just sounds too cynical.