The delivery guy asked me for a tip yesterday. How would you have responded?

I ordered $7.40-worth of Chinese food yesterday, paid with a 20, and got $12 back in change. As I was putting $11 of the change in my pocket, intending to give the delivery guy the remaining $1, he gives me this expectant and somewhat confused look and says, "Tip?" That gave me pause, because it seemed really inappropriate, but I handed him the dollar anyway. He still stood looking at me expectantly, as though he didn't think that was enough, so I said, "A dollar and change is more than 20%, isn't it?" The guy curled his mouth at me and kind of shook his head (even though I'm certainly right), but he left.



Would you still have given a tip in this situation? Was what he did as inappropriate and rude as I thought it was? I was really put off by the way the guy treated me...The delivery guy asked me for a tip yesterday. How would you have responded?
Delivery people do not warrant a 20% gratuity, and no one should be visibly indicating they expect anything at all. The 20% is for in-house full service dining. Bringing food he did not prepare to your door and essentially just dropping it off warrants only what you are willing to give for the gas and wear and tear on his car. If I had intended to give him a dollar I would have handed him the dollar, said "thank you," and closed the door. If there is ever a delivery fee, I give nothing.
I would have said, "Thank you" and closed the door in his face. It was rude and inappropriate for him to ask for a tip. You are supposed to wait and see if the person is going to give you a tip, if they don't then they probably can't afford to tip at that time.The delivery guy asked me for a tip yesterday. How would you have responded?
LOL!



Ahhhh, he was really rude, and I think this behaviour must have worked for him in the past.



Yup, tip - sure: "always wear clean underwear. Thank you" shut door.



Warning - better not order from this place again if you do the above.
Yes I would have since I normally do anyway, even though he clearly has expectations that seem excessive. He's rude, but he's also a delivery guy, so he may not be up to date on common courtesy.The delivery guy asked me for a tip yesterday. How would you have responded?
My very frugal roomate once ordered food over the phone and the guy at the takeout place said, after she ordered, "Are you going to tip the driver?"
I would have taken the dollar back; that guy is obviously rude.
he was rude.

if i were you i would have taken that tip back.
I would have given him a tip alright....don't ask for tips j@cka5s
I deliver food on the weekends. knowing from experence anything under 2 dollars is bad. and 15% is good, but never under 2 dollars.

It is difficult with dilivery drivers because the work put in is never seen by the customer. deliver drivers have a lot of overhead starting with our cars, car insurence, gas, maintenance. and remember we are not compensated for any of this. constanly pulling in and out of peoples driveways really kills the front end of a car because of the bump at the end of the driveway. There is a lot more than you would think involved in delivering food.

there is a good webcite if you would like to visit it. http://tipthepizzaguy.com/
It is customary to tip a delivery guy... but it is also INCREDIBLY rude of him to ask!

Unlike a lot of professions, the majority of delivery guys do not live off their tips; they get paid quite well for making their runs.



I should ask however, how far away do you live from the place you ordered from? If it is a long way, maybe a couple of bucks wouldn't have been out of the question.



This being said though, good wage or living off tips, he should have been grateful to get anything.

If he wasn't happy with what you gave him, he should have thanked you politely and left graciously... but then cursed you fervently once he was out of earshot! :-D
Tips are completely voluntary. Asking for one is completely out of line, not to mention that it makes the business he works for look really, really bad.



My response would have something like "Here's a tip: Don't play in traffic." And then I would have called the manager of the restaurant to tell them how I would not only be never ordering there again, but I would be telling everyone I knew about this incident.



As an aside, I usually tip delivery people a bit more then 20%. For a $7.40 delivery, I probably would have given $3. Even if the amount is small, they still brought it all the way to my house. It's not the same as when you eat at a restaurant and strictly adhere to the 20% rule. Delivery people have to come all the way out to your house, no matter how far it is, unless its out of bounds, even if its raining, snowing, they can't find your house, whatever. The last thing they want to see is a lousy $1 tip. The job just really sucks.
I would have given him a $20, and asked for $10 back. You always tip over the going rate for deliveries. Especially if you ever expect to order from them again.



Doesn't matter who else ordered in that area. You don't really know if he came just for you, or three other people. You tip based on YOUR order and delivery - not what you think he may have already earned.



It also doesn't matter how far away the restaurant is - if you didn't want to tip properly, you could have gone to pick it up yourself.



That delivery fee was probably put in place because the delivery guys were getting crud for tips.



However, the delivery guy should have kept his yap shut, even though you gave him a so-so tip. You don't ask for a gratuity.



EXCEPTION: Hotel room service - they tag you with a $5 - $8 delivery fee for bringing the food upstairs. I will consider such a steep fee the tip and add nothing more.



EDIT: If you can find *anything* written in stone about tipping in the first place, let me know and I'll read it. Since there isn't, you're just getting a 'tude over the opinions you asked for. If you don't care that the people delivering your food have no incentive to return, why bother tip at all? It's not written anywhere. My suggestion is based on the concept that you might order from them again. The delivery guys jump to deliver my order fast, I get extra stuff, the order's always right and the food's always hot.



You're quibbling over a measley buck because it exceeded your percentages and the guy was rude. Cause and effect.
Yeah, I'd still have tipped. That's the way I am. But, like you, I'd be put off, too.



Maybe the guy was on his first day on the job. Hasn't learned how to handle tips yet.



Too bad there's not more training on most jobs on how to behave.

One of the jobs I had, I didn't know that the company sent staff from their other property in another city. They'd come thru and get you to wait on them. Rate you on friendliness and customer service. I didn't know that till the quarterly reports came out and I was told I'd received a very good rating.