Ok, I can’t take it anymore.

When you order food delivery to your home, it’s traditional to tip the driver. Now things that usually spawn a better tip are things like.. How friendly the person was, how quick the food got there, what mood your in, etc.

Tonight we ordered something in, and the young adult (kid) that showed up seemed nice. I was ready to sign the receipt (it was on credit card of course) and he goes “uhhh, do you have a pen?”.

Now, how am I suppose to tip in a situation like this? If you went into a restaurant, the waitress shows up to take the order, pulls out a pad of paper, and says “oh, does anyone have a pen?” — How would you tip in a case like that? Isn’t it the same basic thing here?

You’re delivering food, you know it’s paid by credit card, and you show up at the door asking if the customer has a pen.

So we dart around looking for one.. This isn’t the first time it has happened either, it’s like the 3rd time. Is this something that happens on a regular basis or what?

I’m not trying to sound critical here, I think I’m being quite reasonable.

So… he got a $2.90 tip (to round it to the nearest dollar) meanwhile I would have happily gave him $5 if he has his own pen.

——

Here’s another one for you. We use to have a pizza delivery driver that had his speakers just cranked everytime he delivered to our house. We would know when the food has arrived based on our front windows vibrating when car lights illuminated our front windows. We were in a mature neighborhood with a lot of seniors. I was instantly embarrassed everytime this guy showed up.

So I told him that the volume of his stereo directly influenced his tip. I said, today I’m tipping you a $1, but the next time you come, if your stereo is turned down before you pull up near the house, you’ll see that change. I went on to explain about the seniors in our area, and he kind of grinned and left.

Guess what? Every delivery after that, I was tipping him $5 or $10 depending on the order total, and I never heard his car speakers again. Talk about a way of voting with your dollars.

All in all, everyone won. I was no longer embarrassed to order delivery, he was happy because of the increased gratuity, and my neighbors were happy too..