tipping question? (New York, York: house, live, delivery)

[amyla]

I hired an electrician (company owner) to come and do about 6 hours worth of work. The owner didn't come but sent 2 electricians to do the work. Do I tip them? I was going to order them a pizza for lunch

[North Beach Person]

Pizza would be a nice gesture but I've never heard of tipping repairmen in your situation. You're paying what, $150 or $200 an hour for the work plus supplies?

And even the pizza might be overkill, they likely have their own lunch boxes.

[Dregg]

I'll usually call out to the guys and ask them if they want lunch. Most times they decline but I always give them cold water bottles.

[ovi8]

drinks are fine

[amyla]

Paying $1400 for the work-so no addtitional tip needed?

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by amyla

Paying $1400 for the work-so no addtitional tip needed?

I would say-No. I just had the same amount of work done on my older truck (well, $1700) and I didn't tip the guy who fixed it. He made money on the part (that's right, part) and the 4 hours or so it took to install it.

If you want to offer them coffee or Pepsis or something, even pizza, ok. But a monetary tip? Nope.

[NYC2RDU]

I don't tip for skilled services (e.g. electrical, plumbing, etc.) but I always tip for true manual labor (e.g. furniture/appliance delivery, food delivery, etc.). I do however always offer refreshments and, if applicable, food.

When we moved to North Carolina and would tip people coming to the house it wasn't unusual for them to comment that you could tell the New Yorkers from the locals because tipping was not the norm.

[amyla]

thanks everyone-and they said no thanks to the pizza

[gentlearts]

Do not even think of such a thing. Are you nuts? They are very highly paid to do a job, and they can afford their own lunch too.

[30to66at55]

Exactly....no free lunch on the job.