Note I did not buy any food for myself.
To head off questions:
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No, I couldn’t cook for her. I’m suffering from a long-term illness where I can’t eat solid foods and am extremely smell sensitive. My wife is at a funeral, so I had to order food.
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She’s extremely picky and refused to let me order anything but pizza.
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We live outside of town, in a not very big town, with very few pizza delivery options, and they’re all at least this expensive.
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No, I didn’t also have to buy her the cheesy bread or the second topping or the sauces, but it’s nice to get my daughter a treat and that is no excuse for the order being that expensive.
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We’re in Indiana, so this should be ludicrous in terms of pricing. This used to be the pricing I would expect when we lived in L.A. and ordered from a good local place rather than a chain.
I’m not so sure we should lump in the pizza driver with all the other delivery drivers. Generally being a pizza delivery person is a decent first job and they usually work in the store too, and receive an hourly wage.
Not to say you shouldnt tip them, just not out of guilt.
It’s not guilt, it’s pity. It’s a shitty job and they don’t get paid well enough, so giving them a $5 tip helps them out.
And in a depressed economy like this town’s, it may very well not be a first job. It may be someone who lost their decent factory job.
Its just awfully hard to make assumptions either way, I think is where I’m getting hung up. I could even see some people being upset that you pity them without actual reason to.
I’m not sure if its better to assume nothing or to pick a path really though.
Considering the website asks you if you want to tip them and gives you suggested percentages, I don’t think anyone would feel that I was patronizing them by doing so. And honestly, if you get upset that someone is giving you money, you have a lot more wealth than any delivery driver I’ve ever heard of.
Its not the tip they wouldn’t like, its the pity. You don’t need to pity random strangers, you have no idea how their life is going.
I pity them because I pity anyone who is being paid shit wages. I don’t know what Domino’s pays but I know it isn’t enough because big food chains do not pay good wages. It has nothing to do with their circumstances and everything to do with the company they work for not giving them what they deserve.
Also, they don’t know that I pity them, so I’m not sure why it matters.