Ultrasonic cutting board. "Are you tired of spending $1800 on a whole set of ultrasonic knives only to have them break every time your Brother in law throws them in a bowl of soapy water after a dinner party? Well know you don't have to. Image buying 6 cheap knives at a garage sale and turning them into chefs quality knives instantly, without even touching a sharpener!"

The real takeaway from your story is that it's easy to stay on task when you're interested in the task. Your coworker just didn't care about his work. But if his work was creating a productivity tool then he'd probably love his work and be productive.

Leap seconds are when it really gets fun.

I will never not be impressed with how well we are able to keep track of time in the world

There are plenty of non tipping ways to reward hard workers. Managers can track performance and reward it through bonuses and/or wage increases.

ive seen that work at smaller size companies (sub 2000 employees) but with a caveat - it causes some political stress for the recipient. jealous teammates are less likely to work with you after you get a bonus.

and FAANG size companies dont have random bonuses for frontlines; stack ranking is supposed to reward top performers, but when manager kpi's conflict with work that benefits the customer experience, managers will intentionally rank the best performers as average.