Tipping and gratuity. This is a world of grey area. I wish to include pizza delivery people as part of this discussion. I have been a resturant server and a delivery person in the past. I know that $5.00 tip along with a few others can add up to a paid bill for the month.

Anyways, my theory on tipping is at least tip a dollar. There is nothing more frustrating that getting "stiffed." Especially, if you are a regular for that business. The servers/delivery people do remember who the stiffers are and pay them less attention than customers who do at least minimally tip. Not tipping can in cases provoke bad service. When I delivered pizza, there was an address that never tipped. The people would order every week and no matter what driver or how much they would never tip. The driver who took the pizza was always frustrated and usually it was the last pizza out of the 3 to 4 pizza run to get delivered. So, this provoke the drivers to deliver the pizza without urgency becuase they knew they weren't getting a tip.

On the flip-side. Back to my pizza slinging days. There was a customer that consistantly tipped $5.00. Once word got around the address was a good tipper, drivers would go out of their way to make sure that pizza was there as quick and hot as possible. The customer always commented on how quick the pizza got there. After running into her at a local store, she asked me why her pizza was always there about 15 minutes after she ordered. I said it was because we all know she is a good tipper. She gave me a nod and said that she would keep up the good tipping.

Now, of course, there is different circumstances for tipping. The server, you actually interact with, the pizza delivery man you see for a total of about a minute. The server's tip is usually more critical of his/her performace. The pizza guy's tip is usually pre-decided and included in the check. I didn't say it was fair, I didn't make this up.

All and all, I feel that the general public should recognize that the servers - delivery people barely make more than $3.00 an hour. The tips are a large percent of their income, these tips are often shared with busboys, cooks, and others. So the actual take home is less.

I encourage tipping, and I tip generously when I go out. I reward good service and if I recieve bad service I never stiff, the least I will leave is a dollar. Through my experince I believe this is a good approach.

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