How much is 'a drink' in payment terms for a tradesman?

[cockapup]

My elderly parents contacted a tradesman on a local FB group as needed an outside light replacing. The tradesman said he'd pop round after finishing another local job to assess. As it turned out it was a bulb needing replacing so took him less than 10 mins. He kindly said no charge but just give me a 'drink'.

How much would you give? Just wondering if what my parents gave was excessive- I'll reveal amount later.

£20.

Fine for them to offer 60, totally & completely unacceptable for him to have accepted it. Total dick move.

Am I the only one thinking that even 20 quid is excessive for a 10 minute change of bulb that the homeowner already had, never mind the 60 that OP's parents gave him? He was only calling round on his way home "to assess". Presumably if it would have been something more complicated he would have come out on another day to fix it and charge an appropriate amount. I mean he's clearly honest, as he could have pretended that it was something much more complicated, come round another day, faffed around, turned the electricity off for 10 mins, got his pliers out and charged them £100, but are we really expected to pay tradesmen £20 for 10 mins of what was essentially just honesty?

It's different if it was out his way so cost him more in time and petrol than if he'd gone straight home. Or if they really had no-one else eg neighbour, relative or friend that could have gone up a ladder and changed the bulb. But if not, 20 quid for 10 mins is £120 an hour for labour. Is that what electricians are paid now?

I'd be pretty upset about this if it were my parents, he has taken advantage and I'd be telling him so.

If he had quoted £60 before he came, fair enough, but he said no charge and then took their shopping money.

In an example of cultural differences, I would literally have handed him a drink 😂

I agree @CurlyhairedAssassin , that’s why I said in these circumstances I’d pay £10 if I supplied the bulb.

If a drink means money then how can he say no charge just give me a drink (money), £10 or £20 is still charging so why not just say call its a £10 or £20.

That's bloody shocking, for 10 mins. Absolutely not trustworthy.

So the tradesman gets to feel all good about himself with his generous handwaving about "no charge"... but in fact walks off with the cash for an elderly couple's food shop.

What a prince amongst men.

For those saying so, where is it £20 a drink in a normal pub? Its not even that in London venues.

Oh, just seen that that was their shopping money. And that there were clearly demoninations of notes, so he didn't need to take it all. Not a nice person, he shouldn't have taken it. Poor parents.

£20 for his time would have been generous. From elderly people, on his way home from work? A tenner would have been acceptable.

Sorry to hear this.

I hope his conscience gets to him.

They need to be reminded about conmen,scary, but true the lengths some will go to once they've found vulnerable people.

Where? Cider is £4.80 around here, I don't buy beer but it's usually slightly less. I'd say a fiver is a drink.

Also, how many other people is he just "fitting in on his way home from work"? Another couple of jobs like that, with people proffering anything more than 20 quid for a 10 min easy job, and "fitting stuff in on his way home" becomes quite lucrative on top of a full day at work. Not such a saint really.

And the fact that OP's parents have done that, and not asked for some of it back when he took it all, means that they're now marked out as people who he can "get away with things with."

£60 is what it costs for a yearly gas check, that requires qualifications and equipment and takes longer than changing a bulb!

A ‘drink’ is typically £20.

He is horrible. That is outrageous. Can you back some money for them from him?

A tenner or twenty quid.

It's difficult to say if the bloke was unfair or not without knowing the exact interraction. Did he literally snatch it up as soon as shown? Did he hesitate but your mum was pushing the notes towards him in a confident/determined manner? Impossible to day really.

It's easy to say he shouldn't have accepted it but some people over-pay or give very generous tips to SE people and become quite upset if it's refused.

Dh is a cab driver and this happens at least once every couple of weeks to him - a journey of £6.50 and someone gives 30 quid for instance. In the early days of driving he'd try to decline when this happened and the responses he got were very often NOT good. Everything from high indignation and anger to tears from one woman who was very upset at him trying to 'control' what she was willing to pay.

Absolutely!

OP should definitely talk to her DM about that. She is an elderly woman, which (unfortunately) means that some people will consider her an easy target and try to take advantage.
showing people a “wad of cash” therefore really isn’t a good idea.

£60 is ridiculous. What a nasty man.

For changing a lightbulb I’d give £10. Something a bit bigger I’d give £20.

For example, my regular boiler man came round to check my boiler last week as it was making a funny noise. He listened to it for about 15 minutes, had a think, decided what was causing it, explained it wouldn’t do any damage and could be fixed, but would be unnecessary and expensive. I gave him £20 for his time and expert opinion.

I thought he meant an actual drink like a can of coke or something 😂. Why would he say no charge? It there anyway you could post a negative online review?

There was a pub in Dublin in the newspaper as the first place to charge ten euro for a pint. Can’t believe there’s so many places more expensive!