I deliver food to this gentleman once or twice a week at his corporate job and he has always been great with the tip. Today, he handed me $40 on top of his usual 25% tip. I broke down crying.

His generosity made it so that I can afford the gas to go see my family for Christmas. I texted him after the fact — something I usually never do — and he was so nice.

Gentleman: “Thank you for keeping me fed in 2020, and I’ll see you in 2021!”

Just keeping that positive attitude has made my entire month. I will finally get to see my family after one year and get a little gift for my love of ten years. This will not be forgotten! Thank you, corporate dude!

This story is part of our Feel Good roundup for March 2021!

Read the next Feel Good roundup for March 2021 story!

Read the Feel Good roundup for March 2021!

I am a thirty-four-year-old woman and I live in a ground floor flat. Due to the current health crisis and my job as a support worker, I have been ordering my weekly shopping for delivery. Around 3:00 pm on Saturday afternoon, my delivery arrives, and I’m stood at my front door waiting for the driver to drop off my delivery. He stops and looks at me.

Me: “Good afternoon, sir.”

Driver: “Hello, I have your order here, but I need to see some ID.”

I think this is odd but don’t have a problem with it. I reach back to my coat that has my purse with my ID.

Me: “May I ask why?”

Driver: “It’s because you have ordered age-restricted items and I can’t tell if you’re over twenty-five.”

I tried to scan my memory to see if I could pinpoint the items I’d ordered differently this week but came up with nothing. I showed him my card and he accepted it. He then put down my shopping and left. As I put my things away, the only thing I could find that was age-restricted was the painkiller that I have ordered every single time. I think I’ll take that as I compliment that he thought I was too young to be ordering painkillers.

I work for a ride-share and food-delivery app and you soon learn the best hot-spots for driving around to get plenty of deliveries. Since these orders have gotten more popular the food places at these hot-spots have a shelf inside where you can just go in, take the order that’s yours, and leave. It really helps to expedite the process of your deliveries so you can make more money.

I’ve come to know a few of the employees at this one place, and I also eat there before going home. At this time there are a lot of orders on the shelf so I’m scanning them to find the name and number that matches my order. I come across it and as I’m grabbing the bag a loud woman’s voice stops me momentarily.

Customer: “What do you think you are doing!? I’ve seen you once already! Are you stealing more food!”

Me: “Um, I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m not stealing food. I work for [Delivery App] and I’m delivering these food orders.”

I motion to my shirt that has the company logo on it. I bought it to look more professional.

Customer: *Screeching.* “You’re nothing but I liar and a thief! And I know one when I see one!”

She is actually blocking my path.

Me: “Listen Lady If I was actually stealing food from this place do you honestly think I would come back not ten minutes later to steal more? I’m just doing my job, honest.”

Customer: “Don’t sass me, young lady! And if you got away with it once already of course you would just do it again, and it’s about time somebody stopped you!”

She says this, putting her hands on her hips all puffing up and high and mighty.

Customer: “You need to learn your lesson so I’m calling the cops!”

She declares this while pulling out her phone. I just roll my eyes at her.

Me: “I don’t have time for this.”

I have clients waiting for their food. She tries to block me again but I just bypass her entirely as she isn’t able to cover all the exit doors. This crazy woman actually follows me into the parking lot and screaming.

Customer: “I’m going to call [Delivery App] and get you fired! I’m reporting your license plate to the cops! You’ll be arrested before the day is through!”

I just smile at her.

Me: “F*** off lady. Call [Delivery App] all you want and call the cops too, but since you have no proof the cops can’t do anything and you are not my client either so [Delivery App] can’t do anything either and won’t.”

Customer: Yelling. “You can’t speak to me like that!”

Me: “Yes I can. As far as we are concerned I’m just another person, I don’t work for this restaurant, and I certainly don’t work for you, so I can speak to you any d*** way I well please, that’s the beauty of being self-employed. So I’ll say it again just for fun… F*** OFF!”

I get into my car and make sure to lock the doors. This insane woman actually stands behind my car, which prevents me from pulling out. She is on her phone and I assume she is calling the cops. I just blare the horn on my car, which looks like it scares the h** out of her and she finally moves. I pull out and make my delivery just fine.

I am home around Christmas, feeling a little sick, when I get a knock at my door. I open it to see a delivery driver there with some food.

Driver: “I have a gift delivery for [My Name].”

Me: “Yes, that’s me. Who is it from?”

Driver: “I don’t know, I just deliver the food!”

He hands it over to me, and I see a note from a friend who wishes me a merry Christmas and to get well soon. I go ‘aww’, say thanks to the driver, and go to close the door.

Driver: “Ahem, ma’am.”

Me: “Yes?”

Driver: “My tip?”

Me: “Oh… I… it’s a gift.”

Driver: “And I delivered it.”

I am a little flummoxed by this. While I usually agree with tipping drivers, this was an unexpected gift, and I would have assumed the tip was covered by my very generous friend. I manage to find three dollar bills in my wallet and hand them to him.

Driver: “Ugh…”

He tuts and storms off. I shout out Merry Christmas but he ignores me.

 I still don’t know what the proper etiquette was for that situation but I am pretty sure he didn’t meet his end either!

Since getting hit by health crisis layoffs while my wife was on leave caring for our newborn, takeout and delivery food are luxuries we use sparingly. We still live in a complex with a fairly affluent population because our landlord prefers we stay and pay some rent rather than the expensive reletting process.

We order delivery on [Popular Platform] and the order total is above $50; the order proceeds as normal until the items are picked up. Then, the tracking seems to look like the driver is weaving all across the opposite end of town. That’s no big deal as it usually means they have other orders to deliver. However, after waiting half an hour beyond the expected arrival, I have a chat with customer service.

Me: “This is regarding [Order Number].”

Customer Service: “One moment, please.”

They do an ID verification.

Customer Service: “It looks like the item has been delivered.”

Me: “Delivered? To whom? Nobody has been to our door and no food has been left at the gate.”

Customer Service: “The driver has marked the food delivered, so it has been. Your card will be charged. I will not be doing any refunds at the moment for you.”

Me: “If you can tell me when the person came to our door, I can check to see if someone stole the food off our steps as we have cameras.”

Customer Service: “Well, they were at [Suburb twenty minutes away] where they picked up the parcel, and then they drove to [Suburb even further away] where they marked the item—”

Me: “Please check my verified address against the suburb the item was last seen in and check how far apart they are.”

Customer Service: “Erm, it looks like the driver has been stationary for a while. Let me call them.”

When they return:

Customer Service: “I don’t know how to say this… It looks like the driver marked your item delivered, started their break, and they were in the process of eating your food when they decided they needed a beer to go along with it and just drove home. How about I ask the restaurant to remake the dish? They will deliver it as soon as they finish eating.”

Me: “So, your solution is for someone who admits to being drunk on the clock to drive across town to pick up the food and drive to my home. I’ll be reporting you for your tone earlier accusing me of just making up a complaint, and now for covering for a drunk driver.”