This really burns me up

[Racket_Man]

a nice short one.

Got dispatched to a new customer with a CC as payment. I arrive 15 minutes before the delivery ETA. The guy is surprised at the fast service. I repeat the order and hand him the CC slip to sign. He hands it back to me. I notice that he has NOT filled either the tip or total line. I had the slip back to him and ask him to fill out all of the lines (blah blan for your own protection yada yada).

As he is handing me back the slip, he makes a bit of an offhanded comment: "Yeah I should have remembered that since I was delivery driver in <town about an hour south of my town>". And I hand him his order.

I should have seen this coming ------ STRAIGHT STIFF

Yeah former delivery driver my ass.

and Yeah this is NOT the first time this has happened to me/my fellow drivers. We had a former driver from OUR own store do this a couple of times after she quit.

[sms001]

and Yeah this is NOT the first time this has happened to me/my fellow drivers. We had a former driver from OUR own store do this a couple of times after she quit.

Which is why I always scoff when people say "Everyone should work (delivery/retail/food service/etc.) for a month." Jerks are jerks. If they could learn empathy, they would have.

[KhirasHY]

Which is why I always scoff when people say "Everyone should work (delivery/retail/food service/etc.) for a month." Jerks are jerks. If they could learn empathy, they would have.

Just a month? I generally say 2 years minimum. Really give time for the bitterness to hit, ya know?

[BowserKoopa1]

I should have seen this coming ------ STRAIGHT STIFF

Yeah former delivery driver my ass.

As a delivery driver I feel your pain (and yes I really am one) I figured out a little trick that works most of the time. If the customer pays with a card and leaves the tip and total section blank, I politely hand it back to them and tell them that we need the total to be put down in the total section. Then I nicely point to the tip section and tell them that they can leave a tip in this section if they want to. Its failed to work only once so far, knock on wood
As for that bullshit about working as a delivery driver, um no, I am sorry lady, but there's no way in hell you were a delivery driver working for tips. Because if you did, you would know what we have to go through. People who stiff just don't seem to understand that we have to use our own vehicles and pay for our own gas, not to mention the wear and tear on the car, just so you can sit on your fat lazy ass and have us deliver your food to you. Yes tipping is optional, but its still not right, and I don't care how many people tell me I'm wrong. I just don't see why managers don't blacklist these people, its not fair to any driver. Might seem wrong to do that, but its just as wrong to stiff for no reason. You feel like being cheap and don't wanna tip, that's alright with me. But please go pick up your own food.
SIGH Now you got me and that's because I feel so strongly about this. That and I used to deliver back from 2006 to 2007 for almost 2 years.

[dalesys]

Sadly, I can easily see former (and current!) delivery and retail workers stiffing the tip.

In their narcissistic world, "THEY" always stiff ME, so I'm going to stiff them.

Or scream at, or smear crap all over, or...

[ReadyToRetire]

but its still not right, and I don't care how many people tell me I'm wrong. I just don't see why managers don't blacklist these people, its not fair to any driver. Might seem wrong to do that, but its just as wrong to stiff for no reason. You feel like being cheap and don't wanna tip, that's alright with me. But please go pick up your own food.
SIGH Now you got me and that's because I feel so strongly about this. That and I used to deliver back from 2006 to 2007 for almost 2 years.

It's because that a non-tipping customer doesn't make them a bad customer and if they banned everyone who didn't tip, it would probably be a 25-50% dropoff in sales. If a business adopted that policy, they wouldn't be in business for long.

As an aside, I have my own "can't believe they didn't tip" story.

I worked for a food place that wasn't pizza and had delivered to some big business that ordered a decent sized order. They paid by credit card. The woman put a 0 in the tip line and signed it. No biggie, I thought, it happens. But as she picked up all the various items and did a balancing act to carry them, she said "Looks like all those years of waitressing came in handy". I really felt like saying something to her, but bit my tongue and left.

[Hyndis]

I feel bad. One time I stiffed a person, but not out of malice. I simply was distracted and forgot. Was paying the main bill by card, and was intending to pay the tip via cash. During the exchange I became distracted and forgot to bring out the cash tip. I didn't realize it until the next day. I can be somewhat derpy at times.

It still haunts me to this day.

[PepperElf]

Just a month? I generally say 2 years minimum. Really give time for the bitterness to hit, ya know?

ya cos if you only work a month then you get the yahoos who only had a *little* experience, likely never even a true BAD experience with an SC, but ... end up thinking they know EVERYTHING about service and feel fully qualified in ripping people apart just to sooth their butthurt egos if they get even slightly disappointed.

[Racket_Man]

As a delivery driver I feel your pain (and yes I really am one) I figured out a little trick that works most of the time. If the customer pays with a card and leaves the tip and total section blank, I politely hand it back to them and tell them that we need the total to be put down in the total section. Then I nicely point to the tip section and tell them that they can leave a tip in this section if they want to. Its failed to work only once so far, knock on wood

.

The problem that I have with even pointing out the tip line is I can get written up or fired for doing so. I work for a LARGE red roofed pizza company. IF I even mention the word TIP or imply ever so gently about tipping WITHOUT the cusotmer breaching the subject first it could be bad for me if the customer calls the store and complains.

Sometimes it is easier to pull their teeth out than to get them to fill out even the total line even AFTER going through the blah blah protection yadda yadda speech.

Our corporate masters are VERFY sesative about this for some reason even though they are loath to even compensate us properly for the abuse of our vehicles.

[EricKei]

The problem that I have with even pointing out the tip line is I can get written up or fired for doing so. I work for a LARGE red roofed pizza company.

I can certainly understand a policy like that being in place for something like a grocery store, where tipping is no longer de rigeur (sp?) -- I once shopped at a grocery that implemented such a policy BECAUSE baggers were pestering custys for tips so much that they could no longer ignore all of the complaints, so they could not even accept tips if they were offered....But at a pizza place, where tips are expected? That's absurd.

[Cat Herder]

I feel bad. One time I stiffed a person, but not out of malice. I simply was distracted and forgot. Was paying the main bill by card, and was intending to pay the tip via cash. During the exchange I became distracted and forgot to bring out the cash tip. I didn't realize it until the next day. I can be somewhat derpy at times.

It still haunts me to this day.

I have a similar story.

When the delivery guy knocked on my door, I got my money out of my wallet and discovered that I had significantly less than I thought I did (and at the time, I didn't have a credit card). In fact, it turned out that the total amount of money I had was exactly one penny over the pre-tip total

Well, I didn't know what else I could do, so I just handed the money over, took the food, and proceeded to close the door as quickly as I could in order to minimize my embarassment . As I was closing the door, however, the delivery guy said, "Just a minute, Sir!" He then pulled out a penny, handed it to me with a flourish, and very emphatically said, "Your change!"

Hyndis, I totally understand about your experience haunting you to this day.

[sms001]

But at a pizza place, where tips are expected? That's absurd.

Sadly, not absurd, just corporate "ethics." They'd rather every driver get stiffed every time than "offend" one customer. As ReadyToRetire said, not tipping doesn't make them a bad customer. (Just a%$hats.)

so I just handed the money over, took the food, and proceeded to close the door as quickly as I could in order to minimize my embarassment

I assume you are older and wiser now, and know to be up front with the deliverer? Something along the line of "I know you hear this all the time, but I didn't check my cash before I called. I can't tip you this go-round, but I'll make it up next time." Sincere honesty keeps people off "The List."

[Jay 2K Winger]

Sadly, I can easily see former (and current!) delivery and retail workers stiffing the tip.

In their narcissistic world, "THEY" always stiff ME, so I'm going to stiff them.

Or scream at, or smear crap all over, or...

I hate that mindset of the former wage slave. "I got a ton of crap from customers when I worked in <retail/food service/delivery/etc.>, now it's my turn to give them crap!"

Never mind it just perpetuates the cycle.

[wolfie]

The problem that I have with even pointing out the tip line is I can get written up or fired for doing so. I work for a LARGE red roofed pizza company.

Am I correct in assuming that you mean "Jabba's Pizza"? For non-geeks, Jabba was a sluglike creature in the Star Wars series - usually referred to as "Jabba the (key word here)".

[XCashier]

Sadly, I can easily see former (and current!) delivery and retail workers stiffing the tip.

In their narcissistic world, "THEY" always stiff ME, so I'm going to stiff them.

Yep. Others are mean to me, so I'll be mean to others. Turn it into a big, nasty game of "pass it on". No wonder there's so much misery in the world today.