Homeowner Etiquette question: How much do you "tip" the cable guy..

[Madd Hatter]

You guys know what I'm talking about. It wasn't my idea, he wired me up with HBO, Showtime, Skinemax. I can't believe they haven't gotten a way to tell when you have those and bill you for it yet. So I knew a tip was in order. I only had cash on me. I thought the total was $13 (special promotion, I was told it'd be $14), so I gave him a $20 and he said something about writing a check for the balance on the bill. I was like, geez man, but ok, let me get more cash, I don't have any valid checks. Turns out the total was $34.13, I can't figure out if that was because of all the extra shit they had to do at my house or if they didn't get my promotional price in there. So I gave him $45 total. I thought that would be a decent tip, but I'm not sure if he was happy. They had to run new wire to the house because what I had blew. Of course, they also drilled new holes right in the middle of the back wall on my house! And they were here pretty long time, if I had a life, I woulda been inconvenienced. He also had 2 other people with him, should I have tipped bigger for all of them?!

I thought about calling and seeing if I could get my bill reduced, but it would sound a little too suspicious if I asked for the leftover money to go to the installer for tip huh? Did I rip this guy off and he's gonna key my car or yank my cable or am I ok? Help me here, I kinda feel bad, he was a nice guy.

 

[Code]

People who "lay cable" for a living might like having the favor returned, if you know what I mean.

 

[dballer]

nothing... they get paid by the company... are you not paying enough to have the cable installed???

 

[Madd Hatter]

Uhm, the point here is I'm getting premium channels for free....

Now, according to "The Cable Guy" 5 bucks woulda done it. But I've ran into bad luck in the past modeling my actions on the work of Jim Carrey.

 

[Rockafella Skank]

A nice 12-pack of sump'n cold and gold works, too.