3738: Tippin’ Ain’t Easy w/ Katharine Heller

[Keith]

Katharine Heller returns to tackle the big issues. From knee cysts and Long COVID to tipping etiquette and piss milkshakes, the trio covers it all.

Guest:
Katharine Heller



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[Hera Again]

Could Kathy cook dinner for herself if she doesn't want to spend on takeout?

[Keith]

RIGHT?!

[theycallmepyro]

I usually tip after service in the UK because it's a nice thing to do. I'm not tipping up front.

10% if I come here often and/or this was just standard service.
15% if I was particularly happy with the experience.
20%+ if I'm coming back again soon and asking for you by name.

Some places in the UK won't accept tips (mostly because they get a reasonably good 'living' wage here), whereas some places add it automatically to your bill, so you have to check it before you know whether to leave cash on the table.

It gets weird when one person tips and another person doesn't, because often they'll say "oh I'll pay what's left of the bill", essentially eating the tip. It's why I usually pay first and hand my tip over when everyone else has finished paying.

[thirteen]

I order out 1/3 of the week and cook my own food for the rest.

Chemda is right, the takeout fees and tips and everything are, at minimum, $10 more than what you'd get if you actually went to the place and got the food yourself. A lot of people get the food delivered, and that's definitely more expensive than going out and getting the takeout yourself or cooking.

Also, a lot of people have self-control issues when the "unhealthy" option is presented to them all the time, in their home.

I like Keith's idea of compromising and also taking her out.

[starscream]

Not exclusively, but I've been doing DoorDash for about 5 years.

It doesn't matter how much your total is. We won't know what that is that until we pick up the order. So percentage really shouldn't matter. We can tell when there's no tip at all because there are certain low totals (depending (slightly) on miles traveled) that you get to know doing it enough and since less than 10% of people ever tip in cash, you have to assume you won't be getting anything so unless it's a very short distance and from a store you know will be fast, no one is going accept that order. If it was enough money to accept the delivery, it shouldn't really matter how much food there is. A sushi place might cost a lot but still just be in one bag. What's the difference delivering that vs one bag from Chik-Fil-A? I'm sure there are plenty of people who will be annoyed if they deliver $100 worth of food and only get $5, but by then its delivered. A much smaller percentage of those people are the ones you see going viral for confronting the customer over not tipping, which we know is their own fault for accepting the order in the first place.

Mostly, if you have tipped what you think ought to be enough and no one wants to accept it still, you didn't notice that the place you ordered from is kind of (or very) far away and DoorDash will never make up the difference, so now it's telling me drive 12 miles and get $9. I'm not going to do that, but the person still tipped at least 5 of those dollars and its none of their concern that it's going to take me 3 of those miles to get to the store. Then it a nebulous area where it's kind of DoorDash's fault for not paying us enough, but that's not going to change.

I live in a densely populated area, but people still order from the woods and don't understand that yes, I have to bring you the food but then I have to drive all the way back because there's nowhere near your house I can pick up from to deliver somewhere else. So yes, you do need to look at a map. Have some idea what you're asking someone to do for you! Why is that crazy?

Of course, being in New York City makes all of this totally different. You really need two people to do DoorDash in the city, certainly in Manhattan, because you can't park anywhere so you're always just leaving your car somewhere it shouldn't be and one ticket for that cancels out everything you did that day, at least.

I think this new DoorDash announcement though, is more a warning so that they can cut down on complaints and, more importantly, refunding people and sometimes the restaurant, when their food sits at the restaurant all night.

All of that, and still no concrete answer for Keith. Because there isn't one and tipping is dumb. But at least with DoorDash and the like, if you don't do it, there could be actual consequences.

[punk'n]

Last night I went to a local theater (the one you guys played when you were here on tour) to see Matteo Lane and Sydney Washington. I bought two drinks at the theater's bar and the tip screen thing started at 22% and went to 30%. I didn't want to tip the least so I picked 24% and paid $46 for two drinks. It's outta control. Show was great tho!

[shoebootie]

When I am in the office, it is a delight to order lunch. I do not work in the office 5 days a week, so it is a treat. If I were in-office 5 days a week, I would not be ordering lunch every day, then going home and ordering MORE food. It's off balance to me.

There are times where because of life getting busy and having a lot to do, I might find myself in a loop of ordering more or getting fast food while out running errands, and it stops feeling like a treat. I don't get how this man Jerry isn't tired of takeout. When I'm burnt out on takeout, and I'm asked "what do you wanna do for dinner" by my husband, implying "what should we order" it's like UGH I AM SO SICK OF EVERYTHING, THIS DOESN'T FEEL GOOD OR FUN!

Funny coincidence that I listened to this en route to the office today, thinking of what rare treat I might get myself today, hehe. Feeling like ordering falafel tbh with some ETHNICALLY AMBIGUOUS POLITICAL STRIFE SALAD.