Gothamist: A Docket Full of Bad Pizza

realist

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 20:06:34 -0500

Drunk@nyu: maybe in Kansas, but delivery guys here probably couldn't remember where they went 2 minutes ago. Ok, maybe a bad tipper they remember a week.

DrunkAtNYU

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 18:55:00 -0500

for a while i was a manager at a pizza place and the delivery guys always knew who the bad customers/tippers were, best advice is to not mess with people who handle your food if you want it anytime soon.

Joe Apology

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 17:45:25 -0500

De Livery, That's actually a good question. I'm always wondering how much to tip my delivery guys. Sometimes I'll give a really good tip, and the reaction is as if I told the guy to beat it sans tip. Delivery guys are also sometimes very difficult to read. I just wanna keep them happy (as I would with a waiter) since they handle my food. I always envision that delivery guys have this list of deadbeat, poor-tipping customers that they keep in the kitchen somewhere. Then, when that customer orders again, it's open season on the order!

De Livery

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 16:38:14 -0500

Not sure about delivery guys, but i know for sure that waiters get below minimum wage because tips are included in the package. If you suck as a waiter or a delievery guy you're not getting tipped well, thus taking home less. Here's my question at the risk of sounding racist, hate crime-like, and just plain ignorant, but fuck it, i'll ask anyway. What's the deal with Chinese food delivery guys and tips. Do numbers not translate universally the same? Is the United States #2 different than the Chinese #2? My question is, why do Chinese delivery men insist on playing dumb when it comes to making easy change. For example: I order the Shrimp Lo Mien and Won-ton soup... which on average comes to $8. I give the guy a $20 and he starts walking away like he's gonna get a $12 tip. He plays dumb like I was born yesterday, or the unlikely chance that I'm stupid with no sense of monetary value. So, when I ask for my change (with a decent tip of $2) of $10... he gets attitude as if 25% is not good enough... At this point I lose my ability to be nice and ask for $11, just to be a dick... and let him leave with a $1 tip, still a sizeable amount for an $8 food order and an elevator, not a walk-up building... he's also averaging $8-12 an hour, if he's not then I can assure you he's got another job.

Cheech

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:59:13 -0500

I'm definitely a fan of the Weed Lover's Pizza.

chris

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:41:00 -0500

I used to delivery pizzas as well. They place had it set up so each of the delivery guys was a sub-contractor and we'd each get paid $30 in cash at the start of each 10 hour shift. $3/hour sounds bad - but it worked out... Essentially, we would use the $30 to buy the pizza from the place at 10% off, sell it to the guy who orded the pie at full price, plus whatever tip. 2-3 runs an hour... It usually worked out to about $10-12 an hour. Of course, the pizza place closed down eventually because 3 of the delivery guys and the head pizza maker were selling weed with the pie. Ahhh, those were the days!

realist

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:32:06 -0500

No wonder the Lombardi's delivery guy gave me such an attitude when I gave him a $2 tip on a $18 pizza. I used to deliver pizzas myself and they always payed minimum wage. Just shows the arrogance of some employers - especially one like Lombardis that makes cash hand-over-fist.

tien

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:19:16 -0500

i thought that when food service people make money off tips, they employer can pay less than minimum wage.

Jen

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:17:31 -0500

While I knew that deliverymen don't get paid that much, I didn't realize it was so little! They probably get to keep their tips, but still, I don't know if tips would make up for being this much under minimum wage.