Delivery story 387 Sydbarrett74 writes: Since being laid off from an IT job, I've been delivering part-time for a small Italian restaurant in Richmond, VA. I'm submitting two stories that illustrate both ends of the spectrum in terms of customer quality. First the bad story. We have a long-time customer who is fat, bitter, and alcoholic. She has given grief to every single driver employed by the restaurant, but the owner continues to accept her business. Every time we deliver to her, she writes a cheque for the exact amount and then drops two quarters into your hand and says, "A little something special for you!" That fifty-cent tip equates to roughly 3.1% (She almost always orders the same thing, so the percentage doesn't vary much.) In other words, a total insult. To add further injury, she constantly and loudly complains about the prices and the taste of the food. My most recent incident involves waiting ten minutes for her to answer the door. I know I rang the bell loud enough, because her dogs barked. After five minutes, I called her landline and announced that I had been waiting that long for her to answer the door. She yelled that I should've rung the bell louder and then made me wait an additional five minutes to get to the door. Upon opening the door, she screamed that I should've parked in her driveway because the extra three seconds to walk from the street meant her food was that much colder. I took her money and noticed the lack of the change tip. I guess I didn't deserve her "generous" fifty-cent tip this time. The second story is much happier, and restores my faith in humanity. We have a very polite and cool customer who always tips generously and even invites drivers over for a beer after their shift is over. He's just a plain nice guy. One day I dropped some food off and he asked if I wanted to make a little extra cash. (This on top of an already generous tip.) I laughed, "Sure, as long it's legal!" "I've got my kid this evening so I can't run out right now, but could you run down the street and buy me a pack of smokes? Here's a $100 bill and I'll give you $50 when you come back." "Are you sure?" "Positive." I dutifully bought the cigarettes and change and took them back. True to his word, he peeled off two twenties and a ten and handed them to me. "Man, this is too much. I mean all I did was run down the block and buy some smokes." "Hey, I know you're a bit down on your luck right now being employed only part-time and I didn't want to insult you with a hand-out, so I thought I'd make you feel like you earned it." Again, super guy, and he makes up for all the mean-spirited customers. I was on Cloud 9 for the rest of the night. return to top