Step Away From the Tip Jar

[Misty]

Just when you think customers couldn't get any worse, someone comes along and raises the bar. Last night a grouchy old fart did just that. His total came to 11.51. He pulled out a ten and a one, and then a handful of nickels and dimes, but no pennies. He counted out fifty cents, and then reached into the tip jar for a penny I was so stunned at the man's brazenness that I just stood there while he handed me the exact change and walked off.

Later I told my coworker about it, and she said a similar thing had happened to her. A customer paid for his yogurt and then went to get his change from the tip jar! Luckily, she spoke up.

Coworker: Excuse me, that's our tip jar!
SC: Why can't I just get [my change] from here?
Coworker: Because it's out tip jar!

Seriously, where do people get the nerve? If a customer ever pulls something like that again, I don't care if it is just a penny, I an calling them out

[XCashier]

Sadly, this is not the first story I've heard about sucktomers stealing from the tip jar. Yes, it is stealing, it's no different than pulling money out of the employee's pocket to pay for stuff.

If possible, you might want to put a lid on the jar with a slot for putting coins and folded bills through. Even a small barrier like a lid should kibosh all but the most utterly brazen SCs.

[It's me]

Need to bolt the jar to the counter and install a whole-hand version of the Chinese finger trap!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_finger_trap

[Juggler]

What you need is something like those cartoon animal traps, the ones with two jaws that close around the animals leg, to put over the top of the dip jar. Maybe you could add a light up sign that says "tip thief" with an arrow pointing towards the person that lights up when the trap is tripped.

[bhskittykatt]

I've seen tip jars that sort of had a trap thing going on. They had little plastic pieces that folded inward. If someone were to reach in and try to pull their hand out, the plastic pieces (which were pointed) would dig into their hands. It looked quite painful. I would put the cash in, and then use a pen to stuff it down because I didn't want my hand anywhere near that lid!

[tropicsgoddess]

The lid with the slit is a good idea...even better with the Chinese finger trap. I can't believe how low people would go in stealing from the tip jar!

[DeltaSierra]

Idjits.

I admit - I've taken money from a tip jar to get change - but in return I LEFT more than I took - in my case I needed 2 cents - I took 2 pennies, and left a twoonie

[Pixilated]

I've seen small shallow dishes that read "Give a penny, take a penny" for exactly that purpose -- and you have the occasional nickel and dime in there too -- so I could understand it being a legitimate error ... IF the guy hadn't gotten so snotty when you explained what it really was!

[CoffeeMonkey]

Yeah, and then they try to claim that they THOUGHT it was a give a penny take a penny bowl...even though it's full of quarters and dollar bills.

[Jester]

Quite often, when I've seen tip jars out where customers could reach them, they are the kind of jars that come with lids, and the lids have had small rectangles cut into them. Bigger than a slit, big enough to stick money in, but to small even for a child's hand to get in to actually try anything like this.

And while it is not practical in all circumstances, this kind of idiocy is why you bartenders' tip jars are always BEHIND the bar, where only the bartender can access them. That being said, were someone to try something like this with MY tip jar, it would be the last time they would ever try anything like that, after the verbal excoriating I would unleash upon them. ("And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to steal from and defile my tip jar. And you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.")

Hell, someone even steps BEHIND the bar we tend to give them what for. For those who don't know, basic bar etiquette is that you NEVER step behind the bar unless (A) you work there, (B) you own the place, or (C) the bartender has invited you back there for some purpose, such as a photo op.

With that said, I HAVE seen bartenders (not me, nor anyone at my bar) actually yell at the bar's owner, aka their bosses, when the owner would dare set foot behind the bar, as that was The Bartender's Domain. And as often as not, the owner would jump back out from behind the bar rather than risk the bartender's wrath.

[MadMike]

While this isn't quite the same thing, I had one customer come up a nickel short, and except me to pay the difference out of my own pocket. I may have been young and naive at the time, but there was no way in hell that was going to happen.

I called the manager, who spotted her the 5 cents on his own. Whatever, that's his decision. But the customer seemed all offended that I wasn't going to help pay for her groceries.

[Jester]

I have, on various occasions, come up a few cents short here or there at various places. Usually it's because, for whatever reason, I didn't transfer my jingle change from one set of shorts to the next. In any case, I NEVER expect the cashier* to make up the difference, as I will just break out another dollar, and deal with the 96 or so cents. And if they do throw in the extra few cents, I am grateful, because I know they don't have to do that.

*I say cashier and not server here, because with servers I am pretty much always tipping them, and if the bill is, say, $35.03 and I throw down $45, I am not going to worry too much about the missing three cents, and unless they are idiots that don't want a $10 tip, neither are they.

[Dark Psion]

Hell, someone even steps BEHIND the bar we tend to give them what for. For those who don't know, basic bar etiquette is that you NEVER step behind the bar unless (A) you work there, (B) you own the place, or (C) the bartender has invited you back there for some purpose, such as a photo op.

D The bartender has suffered a severe electrical shock and you need to get your refill yourself.

Yeah, happened to a friend of mine. She said her underwire bra saved her life because it burned out like a fuse.

[downforit2008]

Taking money from the tip jar can be counted as stealing. If you make customers see it that way, perhaps it'll stop---Oh, wait! I'm sorry. I was going through another fantasy again.

[dalesys]

... ("And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to steal from and defile my tip jar. And you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.") ...

That explains the bug-eyed guy with his head in a glass gallon jar...


Can we get a tracheotomy stat, so idjit can breathe? (he doesn't need to talk, for sure!)