Furniture Delivery - Should I Tip? (Long)

[rowe]

We ordered a good amount of furniture from a local family owned store which offered free delivery in our area. It was supposed to be delivered Saturday, but they called Friday night and said they were bringing it over & would be there in 15 minutes. Surprise! This furniture was for our new apartment so we drove over and waited for them to show up. Another surprise - the owner's wife said that all of our furniture would be coming that night but when they arrived, they were missing the bed and dresser because it wouldn't fit on the truck. The company had hired what appeared to be a couple of day workers to haul the furniture up the stairs and set it up.

After everything was upstairs (2 flights) and they were getting ready to leave, the wife asked us if we had cash to tip the workers. No, we didn't have any cash on hand, mostly because they had given us 15 minutes warning and we weren't expecting a delivery that night anyways. This made for a very awkward five minutes while they finished picking their things up and left. I felt sort of guilty, but what could I do? Magically produce some money? I thought it was a bit bold of her to ask us directly if we were going to tip them to begin with, though maybe this was her way of telling it was expected. I have no idea.

So they let us know that they'd be bringing the bed and dresser last night after 6, and they'd also finish setting up the other furniture. Saturday, the owner let us know that they might not be able to make it Monday because of some furniture show but they would try. We didn't receive any calls at all about it yesterday, though we waited until after 7pm for the rest of the furniture. When we finally got a hold of the company, they said that they'd be bringing it tonight. It's just been a really annoying situation since I've had no bed to sleep in for a couple nights now, and I've got other things to worry about besides their crappy delivery service.

Should I be tipping the two guys who haul the bed/dresser up tonight? I honestly don't feel like it, just based on my annoyance with the company. Why should I be paying anything for free delivery that has been pretty shitty to begin with? But I'd also feel a bit guilty about not tipping because I'm usually a good tipper in daily life, and of course, these guys all know where we live.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

[JohnBckWLD]

My populist instincts say: Tip 'em. $20 each ain't gonna kill you and your beef is with the proprietor or dispatcher - not the 'day laborers'.

Anything can be rationalized, so I'll throw this out for consideration: Had you bought your furniture @ Ikea - You woulda spent hours assembling it yourself with those stupid-ass allen wrenches...So is throwing the working class stiffs $40 really gonna kill you?

Write the owner a letter with your complaints. If he's a good businessman, he'll not only apologize, he may even compensate you for your (minor) inconveniences.