I’m a tipper! There’s just no doubt about it. I start everyone out at 20%, and you really have to mess up for me to drop it from there. And even then, I still wonder if you’ve just had a bad day.
Why am I like that? Simple – I’ve served people. In many capacities. But the most eye-opening was when I waited tables to help out a friend. I quickly realized what servers go through and how they are treated. That changed the way I looked at tipping forever.
Why do I bring this up? Well, we stopped off at Jimmy John’s on the way to visit at the hospital last night. As I was in there, I heard one of the delivery kids talking about one of the guys he delivers to often. (Side note: If you’ve read my blog much, you know I don’t think you should discuss negative stuff in front of customers. But he did, and it was funny, so I’m sharing. :-))
He mentioned how the guy never tips. In fact, last night when this customer came to the door, he asked the driver if he had a quarter. When the driver said no, the guy went back inside for what seemed like five minutes. When he returned, he had exact change for the delivery. Not even willing to leave the guy a quarter tip!
The poor delivery guy was just down. Not because he didn’t get a quarter, but because he couldn’t understand what was wrong with that guy. I had grabbed my stuff and was headed out the door at the time. I stopped and said, “People who don’t tip have never served people before.” The four guys in the shop all stopped and looked at me as if I had given them the code to all of life’s secrets.
It’s the truth, though. If you can’t give a delivery driver a quarter, you have no clue what it means to be a delivery driver. Now, are there times when you have such a cruddy server that they don’t deserve a tip? Yes. But that must be the exception. And again, even then it could be that they have had cruddy customers all day until you.
What’s the difference between being a delivery driver and an administrative assistant? Well, one serves people, and the other – ohhhhhh. Yes, you are paying them a salary, so why would you ever tip them? Well, did you ever work in that capacity? If not, try it once and you’ll understand. Now, what am I really saying? I’m saying that every now and then, you should give a $50 handshake. When someone has done a fantastic job, show them.
You would be amazed at how they will respond. There’s something great about someone patting you on the back and telling you that you did a great job. There’s something amazing when they give you money, which to so many is a scorecard, and tell you to go have fun. It changes a person’s motivation. Both the one receiving – and the one giving!
Good post Chris… I’m delivering pizzas a few nights a week and I’m still amazed at how some people just don’t tip at all. We’re trained to round the total “down” to the nearest dollar as to not mess with coins in our pocket and give the customer back more then they are actually due and still in these times people will just say “thanks” and close the door. So in some situations not only will I not recieve a tip but it actually cost me money to deliver to them as I still owe my company the entire amount… People who have never worked in these type of jobs just don’t understand.
I got food poisoning from one of Erin’s $50 handshakes. Every time I hear that phrase, I smile.. and remember..