Burrito cart tipping dilemma

SomethingClever · #1 11-15-2005, 05:48 PM

There's a delicious burrito cart near my office that I hit up frequently for lunch.

Most items cost $4. They have a tip jar sitting out, and I frequently see people buying $4 items with a $5 dollar bill, then tipping the $1.

I have a couple problems with this.

1) Since this is a burrito cart, the people you're tipping are the owners. So what's the point? I'd happily pay $5 for a burrito if they decided to charge that much. All the money is going to the same people anyway, so what does tipping accomplish?

2) Since all their items cost a round dollar amount, one would have to usually tip a full dollar unless one carried change on his person. I do not make a practice of this. $1 tip on a $4 item seems excessive.

3) It's a freaking burrito cart! It's not like I can sit in some nice atmosphere while they prepare my food. I have to stand outside and wait.

4) The service is very very very slow. Friendly, but slow.

Am I wrong to not tip $1 on my $4 burritos? Their food is great; I guess I see it as lame that they have this tip jar out rather than just charging what they want to get for their burritos.

samjjones · #2 11-15-2005, 05:50 PM

Tipping over a burrito cart is almost never a bad idea. Just make sure you can outrun the owner.

pokerdirty · #3 11-15-2005, 05:51 PM

why would you tip the cart guy? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

i'm assuming the jar is just to make an extra buck.

moondogg · #4 11-15-2005, 05:53 PM

Why are you tipping them in the first place?

#5 11-15-2005, 05:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Tipping over a burrito cart is almost never a bad idea. Just make sure you can outrun the owner.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol. This is exactly what I thought he was talking about when I read the title.

#6 11-15-2005, 05:59 PM

I would only tip about 1 out of every 3 or 4 times just so the didn't spit in my burrito while making it. But make sure they actually see you putting the money in.

[img]http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=seinfeld+george/v=2/SID=e/TID=I999_73/l=IVS/SIG=12m2r3vsu/EXP=1132178332/*-http%3A//www.seinfeld-fan.net/pictures/george/george_costanza011.jpg[/img]

miajag81 · #7 11-15-2005, 06:05 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Tipping over a burrito cart is almost never a bad idea. Just make sure you can outrun the owner.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol. This is exactly what I thought he was talking about when I read the title.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha. Me too - I was about to ask him if he'd ever seen Sleepers.

SomethingClever · #8 11-15-2005, 06:12 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Why are you tipping them in the first place?

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, that's exactly what I was thinking.

I've seen people tip $1 or $2 there and I'm just like whaaaaaaaaaat?

PoBoy321 · #9 11-15-2005, 06:18 PM

I don't get why every time a tipping thread comes up, people are so dead set against throwing a buck or two to a guy who does you a service.

You don't have to tip him 20% every time you go, I'll admit that that seems more than neessary, but if you go there a lot and the burritos are decent, throw the guy and extra buck every now and then.

SomethingClever · #10 11-15-2005, 06:22 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I don't get why every time a tipping thread comes up, people are so dead set against throwing a buck or two to a guy who does you a service.

You don't have to tip him 20% every time you go, I'll admit that that seems more than neessary, but if you go there a lot and the burritos are decent, throw the guy and extra buck every now and then.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I like my tipping to be consistent. It's always or never for me.

At my favorite pizza place, I always tip $1. But the order is more expensive than $4, it's a cool place to hang out and wait, I'm actually tipping the employees rather than the owners, etc...

With the cart, it's like, if they want more money for their stuff, they should just charge more. The tip jar seems like a scam since the money's all going to the same place.

And there's no way to tip less than 20% unless I carry change around, which I never do.