Audience Participation Weekend
I was at a poker game today and ordered a quesadilla and a can of Pepsi from a fast food joint a few blocks away. The bill was $5.25. I gave the delivery guy $6.00 and told him to keep the change. As I walked away, the delivery made some remark like “it was $5.25″ I turned back about to say something like “excuse me?” When the guy whose apartment it was said and I quote “Yeah, that’s too little, here you go and I apologize for my friend.” I walked away. Livid. However, as I am evidently a bitch who gets treated poorly because that is what I deserve, I open the situation up to the audience for comment. Was .75 too little a tip for the delivery of two pieces of flour, bits of chicken and an aluminum can filled with carbonated water? Was the apartment owner totally out of line to apologize for my giving him a fourteen point nine percent tip?
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:54 am
The apartment owner was completely out of line for making the comment. I think it’s too low of a tip though. I personally don’t think of tips in percentage terms. 14.3 % is a perfectly fine tip on a decent sized order, but $5.25 is a tiny amount of food for a guy to deliver.
-Just my .02 (which I would never tip)
P.S. I’m sure the apartment owner had the delivery guy spitting in his food in mind when he upped the tip.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 am
Here’s the problem with tipping on small amounts (this issue arises for me in taxi situations quite frequently). If you don’t have change or don’t want to ask the service provider to make change, the easiest thing to do is to round to the nearest full dollar increment that makes sense. Most taxi drivers and delivery people do not carry a huge amount of change.
So what would you do (assuming you don’t have any change)? Give the guy $7.00?
I think the apartment owner was out of line.
If you carried around some quarters though . . .
We saw some nice rattlesnake coin purses today.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:28 am
you tip based on distance, not food. If he came from across the street 75 cents is adequate. If the guy biked 12 blocks though, then yeah, you’re a cheap bitch.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 am
What Ari said. If it was a walkup, you’re going straight to hell. The delivery guy has no control over how much food you choose to order, and puts in essentially the same effort whether you spend $5 or $50 on food.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:05 am
Oh wow. This is so wrong in so many ways:
1) You live in NYC, not Europe where nobody tips, so you just expect everything to be more expensive - and tip big. If you don’t like it - move! And if you’re ever in Europe, tip too!
2) Rule of thumb - never tip less than a buck. Because where’s the cut-off? $5.30? $5.35? $5.40? $5.15? See what I mean? Here’s what you do - round up and add a buck no matter what - problem solved.
3) The situation or distance doesn’t matter. Would you tip more if it snowed? What if it was 105 degrees out? I tip fast food cashiers. I just hate change.
4) Same goes for cabs. You’re riding in the back of a cab with a pocket full of cash. The guy you’re tipping is ending a 12 hour shift of driving non-tipping European tourists to Times Square. Give him that extra buck!
5) If I was the host, not only would I apologize on your behalf, but I would call you out on it in front of everyone and make you feel bad.
6) Big tips = Good cardma. Especially when you play poker - tip big!
Here’s a general tipping rule, just so nobody’s brain explodes from figuring out how much 14.9% is to make sure they almost make it to that golden 15% mark. Like I said, if it’s under $10 you always, ALWAYS, round up and add a buck (I once had a bagel delivered to my apartment from across the street. It was $0.50. I gave the guy $2. Wow, did I just tip him 300% or did I give him an extra buck because I was too lazy to leave my playstation?).
If it’s over $10 this is what you do: Take the first number you see and just double it. So if the bill is $34.49, you give $6. If it’s $82.19 you give $16. So easy.
The only times I don’t tip is when service is included. I hate when they do that. Unless the services is truly outstanding and then I can’t help myself and add some more.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:07 am
I’m a round-up-and-add-a-dollar person myself for a small order.
The apartment owner was out of line (nobody should apologize for anybody), but the delivery person should have kept their yap shut in the first place.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
This post was worth reading not for your can of Pepsi but for Kajagugu’s tipping seminar/
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Shame on you, Dawn. SHAME! And shame on most of the commentors.
First off, your tip was TINY! I don’t care what the situation is. In NYC, if you get delivery, anything less than $2 is being cheap. It doesn’t matter the amount that you order (unless you order something extraordinarily heavy, in which case you should add more). You are tipping for convenience. Would you pay $2 to save yourself the long trip to the Chexican place? Yes, yes you would. So pay $2 to the Mestizo Indian who delivers your food, cheapskate.
Second, the host was correct in gving more money AND apologizing. It’s his address that Senor Delivery Guy is going to remember, and his future orders will suffer as a result of your cheapness.
For shame, Dawn. For shame!
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Ha! Women tip?
You’re cleared hot to stomp the shit out of anyone who EVER apologizes for you. I’ll bake a file in a cake, and ship it overnight.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:06 pm
First, I totally agree with Jake.
Second, I tried, but i don’t agree with Jordan. I tried = I was imagining if it was a group order and the apartment owner was part of it, would said owner have the right to step in? I still say no. You are the one shelling out the dough, and under the round-up-and-add-a-dollar rule that would have been $1.75 tip. Now, if the order was $5.50, I would have dug into the change purse and given the delivery person $7.50. Don’t ask about my reasoning here, it’s just what I would’ve done. *shrug*
Third, Casca, “women tip?” You suck. I spent most of my date years subtly making-up for the shitty tips my dates left.
Fourth, I totally agree with Casca. I’ll even bake the cake.
(Now the question is, if a person is numerating, can you have more than three, or are they just being tiresome?)
Finally, Casca, Taetopia is open for viewing. Prepared to be bored.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Now if you only put the Taetopia URL in the little website box, I could follow you over there and refute that sucking accusation. I’m a biter.
May 24th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I agree the tip was too small. Delivery guys should get at least a buck. Tough and dangerous job, and he has no control over how much food you order. Many restaurants (esp. in non-NYC parts of the world) have a dollar minimum on how much you have to order to get delivery. If you’re lucky enough not to have to order extra just to get the guy to bring it, you can throw some extra change his way. But the apartment owner was out of line for apologizing for you.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
taetopia.blogspot.com - sorry I thought my siggy was linked.