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.

i’d make a complaint direct to him, that’s taking the Mick. Although I could imagine your parents would say no, no leave it

well that was my first thought, nice cup of tea?

£20 is pretty normal.

Did your parents try to change the bulb or as you or someone else to change it before they called someone out?

The man might have been thinking they were loaded and were happy to pay him generously for coming out. Especially as it was just a bulb they could have done themselves or got a friend to fix.

Depending on the money new money can be really bad for sticking together. He may not have realised it was £60.

surely he would have realised at some point, it obviously wasnt E20

£60! I think your DM was a bit generous.

It literally means to buy him a drink next time you see him in the pub. How is this confusing?

It really doesn’t!

She gave him £60 and he accepted it? That was a bit mean of him.

I would say it's a euphemism that's generally £20 cash these days...

I wouldn't think this, but I'd think it meant the price of a pint, so £5.

£10

DP did a call-out for an elderly woman-the job took less than 30 mins including travel. He waived the fee, but she insisted on giving him a £10.
His normal fee is £120 hr plus VAT.
I think this chap was a tad unkind and ruthless.

£20, any less and they won't help again.

Where on earth are people drinking where they charge £15 for a glass of wine - and more than a tenner for a pint of beer? My DD's 2 friends live in London (one the Brixton area, one near Oxford Circus,) and the MOST they pay is around £7 for a pint of beer, and £8-9 for a glass of wine.

That's really shit of him to have taken the £60 imo. Way too much: he was there, they had the bulbs, easy peasy for him. Tenner at most. I would definitely be telling anyone and everyone not to use him for jobs for that and explaining why. Rip off merchant.

When we took our car in to be serviced a few years back, an elderly couple drove in and asked if someone could help them with changing their headlight bulb which had gone out. Garage guy immediately did it and refused payment.

I'd want to give £10 in this scenario, but would probably give £20 to be over generous as £10 feels a bit stingy, even though it would be fair!

I love how naive people are. He says no charge so that he doesn’t pay any tax on it. No invoice, no receipt, nothing for HMRC.

Twenty quid would be generous, ten would be fine. Even if your mum appeared to be offering sixty, he shouldn’t have taken all that.

After hearing this, he sounds like he saw pensioners and £££ at the same time. There's no way he should have taken £60 for changing a bulb, he should have been embarrassed to.

I wouldn't use him again, and try and find someone else to help your parents next time.

£20

She wasn't sure what 'a drink" meant so showed him the notes she had in her purse. 2x £20 and 2x £10 for him to select the right amount and he took it all. She didn't comment as assumed that's how much a drink was.
Mum is 87 and dad 89 so no way would either be able to climb a ladder to reach outdoor light to fix themselves although my dad now says he'd give it go for £60!

A case of beer or £20

Oh god that’s awful.

I would have said a 4-6pk of beer… £6-10 max.

Tbh a call out fee is anything between 50-80 where we live. It got done quickly and saved them worrying is how I would accept it

He actually picked the notes out of your mum's purse?
I'd call him up and complain.