The Most Undeserved Tip

I work for a pizza place. I’m a driver mostly, and I’m also a shift leader when needed. I’ve been doing this for seven years.

This morning, I have a customer call in a plan-ahead order a couple of hours in advance for a party at a local park. No problem; the order is only five pizzas, and it is close by.

My driver takes the order, and I get a phone call from the customer. I look up at our tracking screen and see that the driver just left the park. I’m expecting a complaint.

Customer: “I feel bad because your driver never gave us a receipt; she just dropped the pizzas on a table and left without saying more than ‘hello’. I tried waving her down, but she didn’t notice. I wanted to leave a tip!”

Me: “You can still tell me what you’d like to add, and I can have it adjusted.”

She is so nice and sweet and feels so bad.

Customer: “Please add $16.”

Fast forward to my driver returning. The front door opens, and the first thing I hear is my driver yelling and complaining.

Driver: “I got stiffed on that order!”

This driver has been a huge pain for the last few weeks, and she’s already on my last nerve.

Me: “Shut up.”

I point to the adjustment for the tip.

Me: “Why didn’t you give the customer their receipt? It’s no wonder you didn’t get a tip there.”

Driver: “There’s [health crisis], so there’s no point.”

Me: “The order wasn’t even ‘no contact’.” Even then, you still have to give the customer their copy of the receipt.”

My driver gave horrible service to someone who was the nicest person I’ve had as a customer in a long time. That was the most undeserved tip I’ve ever seen. I honestly debated removing the tip, but there was a risk of the customer seeing it, so I left it.