feel like I'm encounterimg tip requests with increasing frequency, but not jazzed about the prospect of adding a 20% charge at every point of sale.

  • sloth [none/use name]
    ·
    2 months ago

    why do you tip the same 20% for someone carrying a tray of food 50 feet as someone who gets into a vehicle they own and maintain and drives 100s of feet while risking their life and spending their own money on fuel and repair?

    • ChestRockwell [comrade/them, any]
      ·
      2 months ago

      The waiter is doing emotional labor/care work in addition to the transport of food. It's a different kind of work but still work graeber

      We should value both. Indeed, that's why there's always. 3 dollar minimum, even if I'm only getting ten bucks delivered - to recognize the gas, etc used.

      Also, remember, in some states those waiters/waitresses make submininun wage and thus need the tip to make up the difference and pay their rent.

      Basically, I value both the care and emotional work of the waiter/waitress and the car costs of the driver. As we should as marxists.

      • sloth [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        I don't disagree, I must have missed the $3 floor. I guess I never factored in the cost of therapy or fancy clothes and only considered how expensive it is to keep a vehicle in working order. What grinds my gears is the people who would casually hand a delivery driver a $5 bill for a large order of pizzas are the same people who painstaking calculate the exact percentage to tip for a large family dinner at a mediocre restaurant. Don't ask me how I know or why I care so much.

        • ChestRockwell [comrade/them, any]
          ·
          2 months ago

          No, totally valid. I used to drive pizzas, so I always make sure to at least fork out $3 because of gas, etc. The nice thing about the job was it was very minimal on the kind of "playing nice" shit - I'd show up, give the person the pizza, get the money. Once I started working as a driver, I realized how much goes into the other tipping professions that I wasn't responsible for (i.e. small talk), so I made sure to take care of them as well. Even though pulling a beer off the draft isn't nearly as difficult as driving to someone's house, the bartender also has to keep an eye on me, make sure to offer a new draft, etc. I think that graeber at the end of Bullshit Jobs really hits things home with the emotional labor/care work stuff. That's the real value of the waiter - a robot could easily move food 50 feet, but it couldn't tell the customer what's good or not, etc.

          • sloth [none/use name]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            Sure. Emotional labor also includes hoping your car makes it up that hill in a blizzard (praying like a bastard), and then making it back down again without banging against a curb, at best. All the while knowing before you left on that run the most you can make is $2.