More and more rich assholes

Another data point suggesting that antisocial behavior is increasing:

It was a chilly Saturday evening, and Mr. Bush, a delivery driver for Uber Eats, was waiting in an alley next to a dumpster in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood — a decidedly unpretentious spot in the middle of a wealthy enclave near Santa Monica, Calif.

He had just snagged an order from a nearby high-end sushi restaurant, for three separate deliveries, giving him a chance for a hefty tip.

The first delivery was to a two-story house with a manicured lawn and a large magnolia tree. The second was handed to a teacher at a late-night music class in an office complex.

The third was the big item, the reason Mr. Bush had accepted this delivery: a bulging paper bag filled with $388 of sushi and miso soup. If he was lucky — and if the customer was generous — Mr. Bush could hope for a $50 or $70 tip, which would make his night worthwhile.

He drove his 2000 Subaru toward Brentwood, past multimillion-dollar homes decorated with fountains and neatly trimmed bonsais. A man emerged from a house and exchanged a few pleasantries with Mr. Bush before accepting the order over a picket fence.

Then he had to wait. An hour later, the tip would appear, and the man’s generosity would determine whether Mr. Bush’s night was a success.

[…]

When customers place an order through DoorDash or Uber Eats, they pay through the app and decide in advance of the delivery how much to tip. Drivers often cannot see the full tip until after they have dropped off the food, so they must cross their fingers and hope for at least a 10 percent tip. (Uber and DoorDash themselves pay drivers only a few dollars per trip, so most workers’ income comes from tips.)

You can probably see where this is headed:

The tips flashed across his screen.

The first house had tipped $10.

The music teacher left him nothing.

And the Brentwood homeowner, with that $388 order, gave just $20 — about 5 percent.

In addition to people being selfish pricks, there’s a structural problem here local regulators need to address to prevent free riding. As long as these companies are making drivers rely on tips for most of their income, tips should be made known to drivers at the time of the order and not be adjustable downward if orders are delivered within the promised time range. Cheapskates should be forced to find out how many people are willing to bring them food for a minuscule flat fee. In the meantime, tip your goddamned driver at least 20% if you use these services.