I would be sorta freaked out if they did that… Although on the other hand I hate watching pizza delivery guys stand outside in the winter waiting for the customer… I would let them in. But where I live you have to know what you’re doing — the elevator and closest stairs need keys. But it’s just that I know someone online knows what University I go to, and can find out what Hall I live in, but I’m just praying he never finds my room number. But I would be corcerned for my safety if it was me. People -can- dress up as pizza delivery guys. :eek:
Ironically, the delivery people for the pizza franchise owned by the company which employs my daughter get paid a higher hourly rate than the in store staff.
I do understand the point the US people are making, though - you’re being taxed on the assumption that at least 15% of your overall income is coming from tips and your employer is basing your hourly rate on that same assumption, therefore you both want and need to receive that 15% as often as possible. No such assumption is made here and so tipping remains very much a token of gratitude and there is no convention about the appropriate amount to tip - most often it would be “keep the change” or rounding up to the nearest $5.
Then you are stupid, rude, cheap, and have no business dining out in polite society. That server is going to be taxed on that $100 bottle of wine and is going to be expected to tip out to the bartender on that $100 bottle of wine. Therefore, the server will lose money on you, despite the fact that he or she did their job. If you’re ordering a $100 bottle of wine, then the server no doubt went through the whole ritual of presenting the bottle, retriving the good crystal glasses, and kissing your no-good ass, therefore taking up time that he or she could have been using giving good service to tables that will tip properly.
I don’t like the tipping system either. I think servers should be paid a living wage. But that’s not how things are. They are paid $2.16 an hour with the expectation that you will tip them for the difference. It is a difficult and often humiliating job.
Do you begrudge the salesman his commission? Nobody ever bitches about that. The difference is that the average diner is expected to be sophisticated enough to pay the commission to the salesman directly. If you don’t like the system, go to McDonald’s where you will get the service you deserve.
If I understand smermy’s post above, the employer only has to pay the difference between tips and the minimum wage? That can’t possibly be right, can it - why wouldn’t the employee simply lie about how much they’ve received in tips? Or is the labor laws such that the employer pays the minimum wage LESS the 15% the employee is assumed to have earned from tips? Either way, it sucks BIGTIME, I’m just looking for clarification.
Lest us Aussies have given you the impression that our system is flawless, it isn’t. One of the big flaws in our system is that wages are based on age up until adulthood, thus my 16 year old daughter earns considerably less per hour than her 18 year old co-worker for doing exactly the same job. The fast food industry, in particular, exploits our award system to the hilt, allocating employees less hours per week as their pay rate increases and generally keeping their hours per week just under the level at which the company would be required to make a superannuation contribution on the employee’s behalf.
FTR, the reason why delivery people have a higher hourly rate of pay under the award than instore staff is because delivery people are required to provide and maintain their own comprehensively insured car - the higher hourly rate is intended to offset some of this cost.
vibrotronica, to clarify, I’ve never actually ordered a $100 bottle of wine before. The most expensive one I’ve ever ordered was for $30 and that was with a group of people where we all split the cost for dinner anyway.
But $30 or $100, they do EXACTLY the same amount of work. Please explain to me why they deserve $11 more in gratitude other than “because it’s custom.”
If your answer involves taxation of some kind, please note that I’ve worked in the service industry for 2 years and I’ve been taxed on hours worked, not on products sold.
My mother used to let me order the pizza, and she would just hand me whatever was in her wallet. I order pizza all the time and don’t remember how much they told me it would be, so when my husband goes to pay, I just hand him all of the money in my hand. You don’t know what the mom had going on when she handed her kid the money. You don’t know what she intended. And no decent person gets satisfaction out of tricking a little kid.
I’ve been a waitress, on and off, for a total of about 10 years. I started out at age 14 working at a small town diner, and have, over the years, worked at some very upscale places. Sometimes I was working just for pocket money, and sometimes it was my sole form of income.
I’m pretty damn appalled by the attitude shown by some of the people in this thread. I never based my service on the amount of money I thought I could get from people in the form of a tip. A tip is a form of appreciationp, for a job well done. The customer has no obligation whatsoever to tip. The contract if for a specific product at a stated price, and whatever the customer feels like adding on top of that on top of them. If someone takes a service job, they need to be prepared for the fact that some people, for whatever reason, won’t (and are not obligated to) tip. If they are going to get offended by that, they need to be in a different line of work.
Any service person who deliberately gives poor service because a person is labeled a bad tipper is unprofessional and doesn’t deserve a tip in the first place.
I’ve stiffed a pizza delivery guy (sort of): Price of the pie was a little under $14. As he arrives I realize all I have is a $20 bill. My hope is to get 6 $1 bills in change, keep 4 of them, leaving him with a tip of $2 plus a little bit. He gives me a 1 & a 5, … I ask for 1s instead but he says he doesn’t have them. So, I am left with the choice of tipping him $1+ or $5. 35% tip? I don’t think so. He takes the $1+ with a sarcastic “thanks a lot”.
I felt both sorry that he didn’t get a better tip, and also pissed off at his attitude. It’s both our fault, really - neither of us had small bills at the time. But it bothered me that he was irritated with a small tip when he didn’t carry appropriate change.
In general, tipping is awkward, mostly because the “rules” are vague, and the situations vary a lot. If the level of service is the same, why do we tip more if the food costs twice as much? Do we still tip 15% at a semi-cafeteria or buffet style restaurant, where you pretty much serve yourself? Do you give more than 20% if the waitress has really nice breasts?
As a customer, I don’t know what the tip arrangement is between the wait staff/delivery guy & employer, and really don’t wanna have to think about all that when figuring a tip (lessee, %15 tip, the kitchen gets %6, the busboy only makes 2.15/hr, the waiter pays tax on the bottle of wine, pizza guy gets 30 cents a mile, etc).
Agreed, but let’s not forget the deliberate insult version of a tip. It takes a lot for me to resort to that (I’ve only done it three or four times ever). but if I have an obnoxious, surly waiter/tress, or I (true story) get called a “crypto-fascist” for asking for a refill on my water, or the waiter/ress never comes back even once to refill water or even give me my check, though they’re on the floor, chatting with some friends, I’ll be damned if I tip 'em. That’s when you leave a single, bright shiny penny on the table to say “I know I should tip you. I choose not to do so.”
Like I said, I’ve only done it a few times as the server has to be horrible beyond belief (and slow service doesn’t count: that’s generally not the waiter/tress’s fault, but they can earn a big tip bonus by acknowleging/explaining the problem (“I’m sorry, Chef cut his thumb off and it landed in your chicken paprikash. As soon as the ambulence leaves, we’ll make you another batch at once”) or at least letting me know that they’re aware of the delay).
Where do they do that? My brother-in-law delivers pizza for Papa John’s, and he gets $5.65/hour, in addition to tips. Note that this is one of the poorest states in the country, and many menial jobs do pay only minimum wage without tips. I used to work as a dishwasher for $5.15/hour.
I also used to work as a cook at Pizza Hut. Our drivers earned the same amount I did, plus tips. They were not required to give the rest of us a portion of their tips. How is this fair?
I can understand tipping waitstaff making $2.60/hour. But why tip the delivery guy who’s already making as much as the other employees of his establishment?
(FWIW, I do tip pizza boys, usually $3-5 for my $10-15 order, but I’m not sure I agree with the practice.)
when one has received deplorable service from a server or bartender and feels no need or reason to tip-- should one leave no tip whatsoever, or should one leave a dime or a quarter so that the server KNOWS that you didn’t just forget?
At least in part because they are using their own personal vehicles to make those deliveries; when it costs someone money to provide you a service, it’s good to reimburse them. Plus, they are providing a service above and beyond making the food. They’re taking it directly to someone’s door. Your delivery person is a waiter/waitress on wheels.
Thank you Lucretia! I’ve also worked as a waitress, and as a short order cook. I can’t even begin to understand why people think that they deserve to be rewarded by every single customer just for doing their job. Yes, it’s hard work, and yes, it can be unrewarding at times, but you shouldn’t cater your level of service simply to try and wheedle a fat tip out of someone. I’ve had regulars who would never leave a tip, and I was always more than happy to serve them. I’ve also had some pretty rude customers leave great tips.
I think the main thing to realize about any service job, whether its waitressing, retail, or what-have-you, is that you will be rewarded if you know what you’re looking for – it’s just usually not in the form of money.
Well…you could easily spend $200 for dinner for two at a fancy restaurant in NYC. 20% would be …$40. So yes, a waiter can easily make $100 -200 on a good night at some of the fancier restaurants.
Nope. Brother-in-law also gets $0.75 for mileage/wear-and-tear/gasoline for every delivery he makes.
Maybe so, but why do we tip waitstaff? Because they make less than minimum wage. The delivery guy does not. Just because he’s a waiter-on-wheels doesn’t mean he makes $2.60/hour.
He says he does not get taxed on it. The only thing he gets taxed on is his hourly wage. Legally, he’s supposed to report tips, but the management at his business told him not to.
One time I gave him the money, and he gave me the change, so he had about a 5 cent tip I suppose. I felt absolutely horrible. I didn’t sleep until very late that night. I still feel bad.
