Patch #166 - Should You Always Tip A Busker?

You find a phone on the footpath. You're fairly sure you know whose it is, you're fairly sure they're already long gone, and you've got a sandwich that isn't getting any fresher. How much of your Sunday afternoon do you owe a stranger? Josh has a story, a timeline, and a defence he's prepared to mount. Then: a man playing guitar in a gravel car park to an audience of about four, giving it absolutely everything. Christian was there. Christian was also, apparently, the only one clapping. Is silence after a song worse than not tipping at all? Does a performer booked by a market become somebody else's financial responsibility? And if you've stood still for five minutes and enjoyed it, have you entered into a contract? Josh operates under a private rule about not engaging with street performers at all, which raises the question of what kind of street you actually want to walk down at night. Dion wants enforcement. The group workshops shame, eye contact, and whether a friend should be dispatched into the crowd with a tile and a dollar preloaded. Also: is a jar a real tipping vessel, or has that never once happened? Plus: tipping for effort rather than quality, the water-quality objection to windscreen washers at the lights, and Dion's first ever attempt at beatboxing, which was requested and should not have been. Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook to see clips from the show: linktr.ee/welcometopatchwork For a couple of dollars a month you can sign up to our Patreon page and get a bonus Patch every off week! Check out: www.patreon.com/welcometopatchwork 0:00 Introduction 0:48 The lime bike and the dropped phone 3:19 What should Josh have done? 7:07 Leaving it against the parking meter 12:35 The Bandura Community Market busker 14:34 Do you tip him? 17:57 Paying the busker, and the video 20:11 Josh's rule: don't engage 22:02 Enforcing tips and the jar argument 25:59 Dion's beatboxing and bad buskers 28:33 Windscreen washers and the bonus patch tease 29:58 Patreon, YouTube and the patches Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/welcometopatchwork