Yeah, just because there's a source it doesn't mean the source is credible.

That said, some people want to believe a story and don't care about it's accuracy

Also, there is this from his autobiography, 'My Life', published in 1930, that makes his feeling on tipping clear. It doesn't at all fit with the Bronx story.

www.marxists.org/archive/trot...

I doubt they would have been watching TV in the 1920s..! It's possible that somebody could have recognised him, but still, we're talking many years later and to accurately recall a person who at the time was just another guy is a bit far fetched.

The credibility of this story is extremely weak. The earliest mention of this 'incident' is from 1965, almost 50 years after the incident could have taken place. The chances of anybody remembering a minuscule event involving a then unknown Russian in the Bronx are virtually zero.