D's Pizza Delivery

Parents, teach your children about tipping especially if you intend to leave them home with your money. I believe children don't tip for two reasons:

The fix to this is simple. If you are planning on going out for the evening and leaving money with little Johnny or little Jane, knowing they'll be ordering food for delivery, simply tell them to take the total of the order and add two or three dollars for a tip (very generous parents will tell them to add four or five, depending on the size of the order). That way they'll know either A) that they're allowed to spend an extra couple dollars of your money or B) what tipping is. Of course, it may also be a good idea to order for your children. If they know what they want before you go out, this is easy. All you have to do is call the store for them and, if they don't want the delivery right away, tell your order taker what time to deliver the meal. Then you can simply write out the check or give them the cash for the order (include special instructions if leaving cash: "Get X much change back," or "tell him to keep the change"). If, however, they don't know what they want right away, it will take a little more planning ahead. Tell your son or daughter before you leave to call you when they're ready to order. Then call the store for them. When you're done, call the children back and tell them the price for the order (with the tip included in the price). And that's it!

This thread applies to parents who leave babysitters with money or a blank check as well.