(OT) Pizza delivery questions

[Lazybones]

We've never ordered a delivery pizza ever since they opened a "Papa Murphy's" pizza place near our house. They make the pizza and you take it home and pop it in your oven. Delicious and ALWAYS hot, and inexpensive to boot.

RE tipping (though it doesn't come into play in the above example): I used to think that tipping had gotten out of control (seems we were tipping everyone for a while: deliveryperson, waitress, stylist, taxi driver, maid, bellperson, skycap, jar at local starbucks, yadda yadda). Then I read Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenriech. She's a Ph.D. who for a book project spent a year as a minimum wage worker in a series of really low-end jobs (maid, Wal-Mart employee, diner waitress). It really shines some light into the lives that low-income workers in the U.S. experience, and how the "minimum wage" in the U.S. is no longer even close to being a "living wage."

When I was in the Deep South on a teaching job, I looked into part-time night jobs to supplement my income. They include tips in the minimum wage there, so waiters at chain restaurants were being offered wages of two dollars an hour plus tips.

Always tip your server. 20% is not unreasonable if the service was good and you can afford it.

 

[Numion]

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As for the person who said it's included in the price - the delivery fee is included in the price, sure. But you tip a waiter for carrying your food 50 feet from the kitchen to your table, and the pizza's going a heck of a lot farther than that.

J

As I said before, people don't tip here. It's pretty straightforward then. No speculating what's included in the price and whats not.

 

[Angelsboi]

My boyfriend uses his debit card and always tips. He used to work at TGI Fridays long ago and i work as a server. I know how it feels to get stiffed on a tip because some people seem to think that below minimum wage is ok to work for.

i had a player who came to visit me while i was at work. He paid and left with no tip. I told my boyfriend and at the game, it was brought up. he said he didnt tip becaus ei got a paycheck for doing my services. Let me tell you how the other players reamed his ass out.

Tipping is not a city in China

 

[machine]

Question No. 1: Does Dominoe's where you live accept checks to pay for deliveries?

Question No. 2: Do you tip the pizza delivery person?

1. Cash. Though, I have used checks before. BTW, I live in Warsaw, Indiana.

2. I almost always tip. It seems rude, to me, not to do so. I don't imagine being a delivery person is fun.

machine.

 

[Numion]

Okayyyy....

How much do these pizza delivery guys make anyway? If everyone here claims tipping let's see.. $3-4 per delivery, or $1 per pizza or 20% or something, that's going to make a nice hourly wage. So if they make 3-4 deliveries in an hour, it's going to be about $10+ in tips per hour.

 

[boxstop7]

1) The only checks I write are for rent and utilities. Seems plain silly to hand the pizza delivery person a check for an $8 pie. Though I would agree that check-writing is quite an epidemic here in the States...

2) I always tip, and well. I've been a bartender for several years now. I've seen the hell American patrons can put servers through, and I've had my share of rude or ignorant patrons as well (college kids, at least in State College, are by far the worst). I've been known to fork $12 for an $8 pie and leave 40-50% tips at a restaurant. Most people don't realize the s**t servers and delivery persons have to deal with.

post: I find it interesting that tipping isn't a big thing in the UK. I wonder, what do servers/waiters/waitresses get paid over there? Over here most servers in restaurants (excepting the "higher class" restaurants) make about half the required minimum wage b/c restaurant owners know they'll make up the rest in tips.

 

[Angelsboi]

yes in Georgia, minimum wage for waiters is 2.13 and hour. As a trainer i make 2.13 an hour and 3.13 when im training someone

 

[megamania]

I can't answer that. We play directly across the street from a pizza place

 

[Warrior Poet]

Cash or credit, and if credit, then I try to always have enough cash on hand for a decent tip.

Definitely tip the delivery drivers. The weather in Chicago is often ... temperamental ... and to get out in it and navigate the streets, the weather, and the other drivers is sometimes an Odyssean task. It's a hard wage to earn, so in this country, please tip.

I'm sorry to hear so many poor pizza stories. Come ... come to Chicago. Pizza is like a religion here. We have the finest pizza in the world. Giordano's, Gino's, Pat's, Baccino's ... magic. My best friend used to live here, but moved to Los Angeles a few years ago. One night he called and I was in the middle of dinner. He offered to call back.

"No, that's o.k., we can talk," I replied.

"What are you eating?" he asked.

"Giordano's," I replied.

"Oh, man. Can you just hold a slice up to the phone?"

It's true. And Pat's thin-crust is a particularly insidious in its lure: classic Chicago pizza cut -- round, sliced into squares -- and yet so thin it's deceptive. You just keep dropping little pizza squares into your mouth like popcorn, thinking, "Yeah, this is nice." Then you look down at the box and the pie is gone. All of it. A large.

Come to Chicago, and kneel before the pizza.

Warrior Poet

 

[DDK]

post: I find it interesting that tipping isn't a big thing in the UK. I wonder, what do servers/waiters/waitresses get paid over there?

I don't know about the UK however most Commonwealth countries seem to have fairly similar systems so I'll explain Australia's.

Essentially, we have very powerful unions. You mess with an employee and the legal repercussions can be quite severe (my mother has worked for the Arbitration Commission for almost fifteen years and is actively involved in unions... in fact, she was the union rep there, so I've heard a lot of stories). So most employers stick with the minimum wage and since the unions negotiate with governments and business for a workers wages and entitlements, they tend to be OK.

I haven't had a full-time job for quite a while now (long story) so I can't say what the minimum wage is, however last I remember, it was about $12 an hour, plus penalties, and that was in a crappy job.

There is also the fact of union strongarming. Never underestimate the willingness of a union official to go and tell your boss just what he'll do to him if he doesn't comply. I've seen union reps earbash state managers and the state manager smile and nod 'cause he knows he can't do a damn thing.

Once, a guy hired me in the building sector, which is known to have the toughest union. He wanted to screw me over in wages and tried to paint it as if he was doing me a favour. He told me to lie to the union reps which, if I got caught, could've meant imprisonment (trust me, you don't want to mess with unions here, as an employer OR employee). So I said I wouldn't say anything, but if asked, I'd tell the truth. He fired me then and there. After some negotiations with a neutral party, he rehired me since I threatened to go to the union (he was paying cash to avoid taxes, wasn't paying any penalties and the reason he wanted me to lie to the union was so that he didn't have to pay the union ticket fee). He then turned around and broke this agreement by not giving me any work (essentially he kept me as an employee but since he never put me on any jobs, I didn't get any pay, this was blatently intentional), so I went to the union.

The very next day his business was shut down. The next day he was summonsed to court. By the end of that week, he was charged with defrauding the tax office and operating without a union ticket on union sites.

So, the crux of the story is that our unions garuantee us a decent wage and decent conditions. Sometimes they go too far, like recently when the builder's union went on strike and within an hour the company caved to their demands, citing to the news that it was pointless fighting the unions since they'll just end up winning anyway and the company will end up losing more money through the time wasted and the hassle of negotiation.

But even that is better than $2 an hour and the reliance on the kindness of strangers.

Over here most servers in restaurants (excepting the "higher class" restaurants) make about half the required minimum wage b/c restaurant owners know they'll make up the rest in tips.

They'd be shut down the very same day here it was made known to the unions. Tips are a bonus. Minimum wage is a responsibility of an employer to pay an employee.