20%

Someone who is in the pizza delivery business posted the other day that, with all the pandemic worries, people are eating a lot of pizza, and they want it delivered, and they do not wish to have human-to-human contact with the person who delivers it.

The problem is, that's when they would normally hand over a tip.  But it seems that a lot of people are paying with credit cards online or on the phone, or with any of the 27 electronic means of paying for stuff, and they aren't adding a tip.

And that person who is out there driving your 16" double pepperoni is doing so, not for his or her health as some seem to think, but for below minimum wage.  He or she depends on decent tipping to get by, but they are taking it in the shorts nowadays.

And this leads me to one of the Two Great Truths I have discovered in my lifetime: Most people will look for any reason - any! - to get out of paying a decent tip to service personnel.  Hotel maids, restaurant servers, food delivery people, movers and furniture deliverers, taxi and Uber drivers...all of them have a tip coming (unless they are really really awful.  And please don't stint on a server's tip because the chef put capers in your mostaccioli. That's not their fault, for the love of Pete.)

As everyone who knows me knows, we love to eat at Friendly Farm, where the meals are served family style. This means that the server brings you drinks, appetizers and steaming bowls of veggies - corn, string beans, fries, beets. Those get passed around the table and everyone gets their own entree, which is usually enough for two anyway.  And then, after bringing you drink fillers and extra napkins and hot sauce and I don't know what-all else, the server will bring you a nice bowl of ice cream, and coffee.  This is a lot of work, but my parents knew a guy who ate there all the time but did not tip because "they don't take your order, so they're not like real servers in a restaurant."

This cheap chiseler owned his own business and lived well, but didn't part with a few dollars, on the grounds that he gave his entree order when he walked in and paid.

By the way, that business he owned employed hard working people who were happy to accept tips.

Every now and again, the objection is raised that the restaurants and other businesses should "pay a living wage" to their employees. Trust me, you'd be paying a whole lot more for your Moo Goo Gai Pan if the restaurants eliminated tips.  Plus, a hard-working server or maid or driver or whatever deserves more than the schlub who does a 1/2 fast job.

So, we agree, right? Pay the tip, enjoy your pizza, wear your mask, thank you.