I feel bad for all the people in this thread that apparently have never had a business do something nice for them for the sake of doing something nice.

I've had waiters throw in dessert because we had a good chat, store attendants give me free stuff because I mentioned a problem I had, even big chain employees will go above and beyond just because. All of this with no expectation of reciprocity. Really, I have concrete examples of all where the person helping had no reasonable expectation that I would come back.

If your whole life is purely transactional, and no one is giving you extra, it's time to look at how you move through the world. The problem might be you.

I have to wonder if there's something regional to this.

I used to live in a walkable neighborhood in a southern city, and I had several workers and owners at the businesses on my block who were chatty and we got along well. I tipped a dollar for my coffee every time at a local cafe, and the baristas would give me free coffees or ring up my coffee as a refill. The staff and several customers would often get into chats and I made a few friends just from going to that cafe in the afternoons a few weekdays a week.