Tipping

The tips I receive while delivering pizza are pretty erratic. I will get stiffed on a couple orders and then maybe get $10 from some generous (or ignorant) soul. I have calculated my average several times and it always comes out to around $2-3 per delivery. I have tried to find a correlation between the demographics of the costumers and the amounts they tip. I have thought about everything from socio-economic bracket to age, ethnicity, number of pies ordered, and political leaning (usually signified by a bumper sticker on the customer's car) but have rarely seen any connection.

I wonder if it is purely coincidental though that when I deliver to a trailer I often get $5, and when I deliver to a multi-million dollar home (garage bigger than my whole house sort of thing) I might get handed a twenty dollar bill for a $19.73 total and told to “keep the change.” My favorite was a recent delivery where the total was $29.75. The woman wrote me a check for $29.50 and then handed me a quarter. Wow. I was so stunned I couldn't feel offended.

And the thing is, do I deserve a tip? I keep this job for the tips—all delivery guys do—but why is everything based on tipping? Tipping is not taught in school. Most of the time, unless I am in a restaurant or bar, I still don't know who or how much to tip. How much do you tip a bellhop, a cab driver, a valet, a hair stylist? As a result of working as a waiter, barista, and now delivery driver I am a much better tipper than I ever was. When I go out to eat I rarely think of leaving less than 20%. But why is such a significant amount of the cost hidden and/or at the discretion of the customer? This means the worker providing the service is at the mercy of the customer for a chunk of their income. I really don't think this makes the worker perform better though.

In England I noticed they don't have tipping – or at least that's what it seemed like; maybe just much lower tipping. From what I heard, the waiters and bar tenders were paid flat hourly rates, and when you bought food or a drink everything was included in the price. You could tip if you wanted, but it was not expected the way it is over here.

During many shifts, in order to keep a positive attitude, I continually remind myself that “it all averages out.” This is somehow supposed to ease my frustration after driving down a long bumpy gravel road at the edge of our delivery zone to bring some recluse in a log cabin 3 pizza pies, some bread sticks, a cinaswirl desert thing, and 2 beverages only to get molested by his wolf-like dog and receive no tip. I wonder if I wouldn't care as much if there were no tips and just a flat hourly wage. It would make the job less interesting; that's for sure.