TXTNLY

So… this weekend I did the usual and put off going to the grocery store as much as possible. That comprised of some delivery, some carryout, and a little bit of a la carte from the counter. The problem is… I’m losing track of how much you’re supposed to tip for each service.

Like most of you, I used to work in food service and I understand how valuable tips are. By that rule, I think I tend to err on the heavy tipping side. While dining in a restaurant, I believe that 20% is the absolute minimum… unless the server did something to dictate otherwise. I realize that food taking a long time to come from the kitchen is typically a kitchen or expo issue, and not the fault of your server. Mis-timed food (some hot, some cold) can be the fault of the server, but can equally fall to the back of the house. Things like terrible drink service, repeatedly forgetting to bring requested items, or likewise tends to fall directly on the server. There are extenuating circumstances such as that person being brand new to the job, but they tend to be easy to spot and I’m pretty lenient on those folks. Honestly, even for a bad server it would be extraordinarily rare for them to see less than 15% from me.

But… that’s not really the issue. Sit-down dining is easy to tip out.

I want to know how you guys handle the rest of food service. How do you tip on delivery? How about carryout/curbside pick-up? And what about just ordering from the counter (a la Michoacana or Durty Nelly’s)?

For delivery… I may be behind the times… but I dunno. For instance.. this weekend.. I ordered $40 worth of chinese food from Asian Express. That place is less than one mile from my house, and I know it to be fact that they take multiple orders out for each run. That being said.. I usually just tip the guy $4, as I’ve been scaling my delivery tips up since the old days when $2 was cool (what… 10 years ago?). I bumped it up to $5, but still I don’t know where that stands. Should I be tipping a percentage on delivery? Why? The guy just drove a Honda .7 miles from the resto (or his previous drop). I don’t suspect that he did any of the food prep, so I’m not sure why a percentage would be appropriate?

And what about curb-side pickup? To me, this just seems like a glorified expo. I’ve been told that the person assigned to curb-side pickup for the night gets paid a different wage (not exactly back of the house, but not exactly front of the house). So… I feel obliged to tip them something for carrying my bag of food out the door and to my car (where I’ve been waiting for 10 minutes). I know that they are supposedly the ones that are packing the food into a bag, and making sure you get that sweet plasticware…. but does that deserve the same level of gratuity that a server bringing you drinks and being attentive deserves? How would you guys tip out a $40 order of curb-side pickup from Outback?

And from the counter a la carte… this one is particularly tricky.. and I feel like I’m in the minority here, for sure. I tend to tip for over the counter orders. This is likely because I frequent local restaurants that I’d like to see succeed. I’ll personally finance La Michoacana if I have to, just to keep them in business. So, for instance at Durty Nelly’s…. I order a $7 sandwich, and I tend to drop a couple bucks in the tip jar. You wouldn’t tip extra at McDonald’s or Wendy’s, so why do so at a deli? I do so for the reason mentioned above… but I’m not sure that the majority works that way.

I’ll be honest that I think I know what got me started tipping on a la carte orders. I pay for EVERYTHING on my credit/debit card. By that rule, I see a lot of blanks where you are supposed to write in a tip. Leaving a tip blank empty just feels like bad karma for me. I ordered breakfast from Italian Villa this weekend, and it was just $16. By the time I got there to pick it up, the place was such a zoo that I felt bad for the girl at the register. After she cleared the six tickets in front of me out of the register, I decided to tip a few dollars just because she was working so hard. After leaving, I realized that I had tipped over 20% on a take-out order… and that seemed great for the karma… but perhaps a bit much?

How do you guys handle tipping around town? Feel free to add advice on tipping for drinks as well. I definitely overtip at the bar, because I have a sick infatuation with bartenders. However, that one tends to work to the favor of all parties in the end.