Delivery story 427 Pizza Paws writes: I deliver for a franchise in Minnesota whose delivery area contains a very wealthy neighborhood. The residents frequently order from us, and are very generous, almost without exception ($7-15 tips on $40ish orders.) On rare occasions (a couple of times a year) a driver will be handed a $100 and told to keep the change. So... "Sam," one of the other drivers, lucks out and gets a delivery there, for a $39.35 order. The door is answered by a kid, maybe 11 or 12, holding a $100 bill. Unfortunately, Sam couldn't break a $100 (as we're supposed to carry only $20, unless we have specific notice to break a larger bill.) The nearest gas station was literally four miles away, and this was the middle of dinner rush. So Sam asked if anything smaller was available. The kid called for his mom multiple times, to no response -- so Sam said he'd just go to the gas station to break the bill. At this point, the kid says, "Nah, you just keep the rest as a tip." Sam asked him -- twice -- "Are you absolutely sure?" and the kid said yes both times. (According to Sam, this whole exchange took at least five minutes with no sign of Mom the entire time.) Almost three hours later, I field a call from the mother, who states that the driver took a $100 bill on her $39.35 order and didn't provide change. She sounded pretty courteous and reasonable at first, if slightly flustered and tripping over her words a bit (which didn't seem all that strange, given the circumstances.) "Of course I planned to tip him," she stated, "But, I mean, that's WAY too much." I told her I completely understood, and that I'd speak with the store owner (who was managing that evening) since he had the authority to sort this all out. Suddenly her tone changed. "AUTHORITY?!" she shouted, "This seems totally straightforward to me!!" Given the factual background, I knew all along that the woman was truthful, and I completely sided with her. By "authority" I meant only that the owner should be informed of the events so that he could determine whether we had enough unassigned drivers to send someone immediately vs. whether we were busy and the money would go with an impending delivery in that direction (10-minute wait vs. 25.) I explained my meaning, and she calmed down immediately -- but perhaps it should have been my first sign that something was amiss. Now unfortunately, our owner has this weird, non-angry, but still over-critical approach to every single complaint that comes in -- assuming the worst and making employees feel as if we'd been absolute villains when we'd really only made a simple mistake (or none at all.) So Sam's already a bit flustered when he goes out with the change -- AND they sent him with all $100 broken from the $100 bill in his driver box (rather than just the straight $60.) Sam gets to the door and, given the weird situation and mood, gets the $40 order mixed up with the $60 change. (Bear in mind, $60 orders are not unusual in this neighborhood.) He hands her $40, she hands him $5 back, and everyone thinks the transaction is over. But as Sam is walking away, the woman comes running down the driveway and literally GRABS Sam from behind, insisting that he was trying to take advantage of her. Sam realizes he's mixed up his math, explains his mistake, and tells her he'll be getting an additional $20 from the console of his car. He turns around and hands her the money, and just as he sees that she's glassy-eyed and unsteady on her feet, she starts jabbing him in the chest with her finger and lecturing him -- in rapid, slurred jabbering. It's wrong to take advantage of people, she should call the cops, etc, and -- almost verbatim -- "I have money, so I can pull strings in this town and get you fired just on my say-so! Oh, and I'll take that $5 back, too!" So... it suddenly all made sense. Kid couldn't find mom, mom trips all over herself on the phone, mom is glassy-eyed and angry and has no problem committing assault (or at the very least battery.) Mr. Mackey was right: "Drugs are bad, mmm'kay?" I do think Sam should have gone to the gas station in the first place, and I could even understand if the woman had been *briefly* angry after getting $40 instead of $60 (as in, "Hey, aren't I supposed to get more than this?!?")... but she should have calmed down once Sam recognized his math mistake. The extended tirade, and turning it physical, really make this woman the Customer from Hell. return to top