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Web site exposes bad tippers in Brooklyn

He's tipped off -- and wants everyone to know.

Brooklyn food deliveryman Larry Fox, 20, received a $3 gratuity last month after delivering an $89 lunch order to the wardrobe department of the CBS show "The Good Wife." It was the tip that broke the cyclist's back.

The grub-runner, who has worked for Mexican restaurants and upscale delis in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, launched a Web site called "15 Percent" (15percent.tumblr.com), where he posted receipts, names and addresses in an attempt to "out" the neighborhood's worst tippers.

"It started as a public shaming, to call people out who were bad tippers," said Fox, who is paid $50 for an eight-hour shift, and relies on tips to pay his rent. "It's extremely insulting to get handed one dollar on a $50 order you're delivering. People in new condo buildings tip the worst."

BUCK UP: Larry Fox is doing something about the city's cheapskates.
J.C. Rice
BUCK UP: Larry Fox is doing something about the city's cheapskates.

The host site, Tumblr, forced Fox to remove customers' personal information from the site, he said, but Fox said he still posts enough information so bad tippers know they've been exposed.

Eric, of Olive Street in Williamsburg, for example, tipped $1.55 on a $19.43 delivery of Mexican food on April 10. "That's less than 10 percent," Fox pointed out on the site, where he posted the receipt.

"This just says, 'Keep my laundry change,' " Fox wrote last month on a receipt he posted for a $25.37 delivery, for which he received $1.50 gratuity.

Fox, a soft-spoken Colorado transplant who plans to enroll at the School of Visual Arts this fall, has become a working-class hero overnight. The site is for "all the people who have been handed $80 on a $78 order and told to 'keep the change.' Thanks a-hole," he wrote.

"People are writing in, saying, wow, I've been waiting 15 years to shame this person -- here's the name and address."

A fellow delivery man griped, "Lo rimer St. tipped me one dollar to bring him a sandwich during a hail/rain/ thunder storm. I hate you."

Airing grievances on the Internet might be the mod ern way to get re venge, but repeat customers who consistently short change delivery men can also ex pect bad service.

"I don't spit in their food, but I take forever to deliver it," Fox said.

But Fox won't have to worry about bad tips anymore -- now he gets no tips.

On Tuesday he was fired after the Web site Delivery.com -- a site through which customers place orders -- threatened his employer with a lawsuit if Fox continued posting on 15 Percent.

He chose blogging over employment.

"I get about 100 submissions a day," he said. "I don't have time to go through all of them. I'm thinking about hiring an intern."

The best way to stay off Fox's radar? "Leave at least $5 for a delivery, or at least a 15 percent tip, whichever is higher," he said.

"A lot of people blame it on the economy for leaving a bad tip," he said. "That's a crappy excuse. If the economy is really hurting you, you should probably just eat in."

akarni@nypost.com

Views: 14

Tags: fox, larry, nypost

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Comment by Anselm on May 9, 2011 at 4:40am
I heard tipping is a big part of many american worker's salery, so I understand the anger about bad tippers. But to me as a German I sound MUCH more inhumane to get 50$ base salery for 8 hours of work! The employer just hands his rsponsibility to pay his workers properly through to the customer, and the employer depends on the customer's good will...

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