Saturday, February 25, 2012

Here's Your Penny Back

My shift started out good tonight.  Had a couple runs out to Trussville and Moody and after an hour I was half way to what I made in tips Friday night.  All $5 and $6 tips the first half of my shift. 

I had two runs out to Leeds.  The first one had an order totaling $25.33.  When I got to the door, I realized I'd left their 2 liter Pepsi in the car.  I gave the guy the food and waited for him to write his check.  Then I told him I'd be right back with the drink.  On the way to the car, I looked at the check and it was made out for $25.33.  No tip.  Great.  I went back to the door with the drink and the guy asked if I'd hand him back the check real quick.  He went back inside and wrote out another check for $30.33.  Glad I decided not to shake up his Pepsi on the way back from the car.

My second run to Leeds was a stiff, but at least I was able to have a little vindication.  It was to the America's Best Hotel near the Bass Pro Shop.  I go to the door and hand the guy the pizza and wings.  His total is $25.34 and he hands me a $20, a $5, a quarter and a dime.  Just before he heads back in, I ask him to hold up a second as I pull a hand full of change out of my back pocket.  I pull a penny out and toss it up on his box and tell him, "There's your penny back".   Felt good.

About thirty minutes before my shift ended, we had a delivery ticket for Odenville.  If you're familiar with Moody Parkway, our delivery area ends at Bethel Baptist Church, so we don't see a lot of Odenville addresses.  But I figured it would be a quick one to take before I left.  Not quite.  It ended up actually being in Margaret, and actually closer to Argo than Odenville.  When the lady came to the door, she said asked if we were delivering to that area now.  I told her I didn't think so, but maybe.  She said she knew it was a long way from the store, but she only tipped me $2 for my trouble.  We won't be delivering there anymore, because I went back to the store and had it marked "Out of Delivery Area" in the computer. 

Worked 3.5 hours, had 9 deliveries, and made $40 in tips.

Where Are You?

My worst delivery of the night was a customer I never even saw.  It was to a neighborhood in Moody that's usually pretty good with tips.  Not this house though.  They pulled the "Send the kids to the door so we don't have to tip" trick.  Not tipping is one thing, but at least don't tip me yourself without sending your kids to do it for you.  That's okay, because next time you order I'll pull the "You get your order last" trick.

Best customer of the night was to a house in a fairly bad part of Leeds.  The total for the order was $13.35.  When I got there the customer asked if I could make change for a $20 bill.  I told him that I couldn't because it was early in my shift and I didn't have change yet.  He told me to hold and went back in the house.  After a few minutes he came back and said he didn't have anything smaller so for me to just keep the change.  I offered to take his $20 to a store and get some change and he said don't worry about it.  Those are the customers that get the best service next time.

My last delivery of the night was a quick run up the street that turned into an almost hour and a half kick in the pants.  It was to Lynn Circle in Moody, but when I got there the address numbering was completely different from what I had on the ticket.  I called the customer and she said, "Oh no, are you all the way in Moody?"  I said, "Oh no, where are you?"  Turns out the call center got the wrong Lynn Circle because she was in Leeds.  I called the call center on my way to the correct address and got the order half price for her.  I finally got there and she gave me $5 and asked my name so she could call the store and tell them how helpful I was.  I'll be a manager in no time, I'm sure.

Worked 3.5 hours, had 5 deliveries, and made $28 in tips.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Pretty Decent For A Slow Night

My first delivery of the night was to a customer I'd had before.  Last time the guy tipped me $3, so it seemed like a good way to start the night.  Only this time his wife came to the door, and math apparently isn't her thing.  Her total was $15.29 and she paid with a credit card.  I handed her the slip and she started doing the "math talk" to herself.  "Let's see, if I add that as the tip then the total will be" as she's adding the tip and total.  She hands it back to me and she totaled it out at $16.29.  That 15 plus 1 math really had her for a minute.

Another customer came to the door with a $100 bill to pay for a $24.25 order.  I told him I couldn't make change for $100, so he had his daughter pay for it.  She gave me $25 and told me to keep the change.  Wow, a whole 75 cents all to myself?  But when I got to the car, she came running out and handed me $2 and apologized for not tipping me the first time.

Last delivery was the best one.  It was to a hotel right near the store.  The order total was $28.  He handed me a wad of bills and said, "There's $30 for the pizza and the rest just keep".  Nice $12 tip to finish the night.

So the night ended up being pretty good on a slow night.  No stiffs to complain about is always a good thing.

Worked 3.5 hours, had 6 deliveries, and made $30 in tips.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Thanks For The Quarters, Kid

I was a little wary of how my Friday night was going to go after my first delivery.  It was an order for wings and a 2 liter drink.  The customer then called back and placed a second order for more wings.  When I got there, it was two kids about 11 years-old.  Nobody will ever mistake preteen kids as the world's best tippers.  One kid asked what the total was for both orders and I told him $21.90.  He then produced an unbelievable stack of quarters.  I've found that when people pay for their orders in cash and use change for any part of it - much less all of it - they're not going to make your night tip-wise.  I had him give them to me $1 at a time so we could keep track of how much he'd given me.  About 10 minutes later, I'm headed back to my car with $23 worth of quarters in my back pocket.  $1.10 is a pretty crappy tip on a nearly $22 order, but it was better than I thought I'd get.

Luckily, the rest of my deliveries were all $3 and $4 tips for the most part.

Worked 3 hours, had 7 deliveries, and made $22 in tips.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Still Haven't Watched the Video

Yesterday I was supposed to go in at 5:30, but I got a call the other day from the manager saying there was one more training video I had to watch, so I needed to come in early.  Yay.  She wanted me to come in at 3:00, but working night shift, I usually sleep until around then.  So, I get up at 2:30, have coffee and get ready.  I get there at 3:30 and guess what?  She's not there.  Can't watch the video so I'm just working 2 extra hours.

Oh well, it'll give me two extra hours of tips, right?  Not so much.  I made four deliveries between 3:30 and 5:30 and made a whopping $5.  FIVE DOLLARS!!!  Turns out, a lot of people that order in the middle of the afternoon are lousy tippers.  Well, not lousy tippers, they just don't tip.  At all.

Then 5:30 came around and things got better.  Got some good five and six dollar tippers and didn't have a single non-tipper from then on.

My last delivery of the night was a good tip, but a bad experience.  When I pull up, there's a huge dog in the driveway that walks up and waits for me to get out.  It follows me to the door and stands with me while I wait.  Customer opens the door and tells me to come inside.  I go in and the dog follows me.  Once inside, the other dog is joined by a huge pit bull.  I guess you can't judge an entire species on what you hear in the news, but as far as I'm concerned, pit bulls are killers and I'd rather not have one staring me down while you get your pizza money together.  The other dog is jumping all over me while I wait.  When I get back to the car, it's quickly apparent that I've stepped in dog poo.  I pull out of the driveway and down the road and get out to scrap my shoes.  Only it's not on my shoes, it's all over my pants from when I was getting jumped by the dog.  Great.  But, the guy tipped me $5.85 and the pants will wash, so not too bad.

Longer night because of the video thing so I worked longer than usual.  Worked.  5.5 hours, had 13 deliveries and made $50 in tips.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

You Already Paid Me

Last night the non-tippers decided to do something else for dinner.  Good thing too, because we had too many drivers in the store so each run was important.  All my runs were pretty much the $3 and $4 kind which is about average.

My favorite delivery of the night was to an apartment in Moody.  When I got to the door, the TV was so loud I at first thought that Janet Hall and Scott Richards were actually inside talking.  The customer was an older guy who said he had just moved in.  His total was $13.35 and he had paid with a credit card.  I gave him the slip and asked him for tip, total and signature.  He handed it back to me along with $13 in cash and said he needed to find the 35 cents.  I looked at the credit slip and he had totaled and signed it for $15.35 to include a $2 tip.  I told him not to worry about finding the change and went to hand him back his cash.  "You already paid me," I said, holding up the credit slip.  He laughed and said he forgot he paid with his credit card and thought the slip was just confiming how much he was going to give me.  He asked if I'd get the $2 tip he put on his credit card and I told him yes.  He handed me $2 more in cash and thanked me for being honest about his mistake and not just taking his money.  No problem.  I thanked him for the $4 tip and wished him a great weekend.  Heading back to the car, I wished that every customer was as nice as that old man.

Worked 3.5 hours, had 6 deliveries, and made $25 in tips.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Good Night

I knew last night was going to be good as early as my first delivery.  It was to an apartment in Moody I never knew was there.  The order was for a couple pizzas and a ton of wings.  The total was $54.77.  Guy hands me a $100 bill.  Of course I have no change, so I have to go to Chevron to break it.  He tipped me $10 for my trouble.

My other delivery on the way back to the store tips me $5, so I've been working all of 20 minutes and already made $15.  Not bad.

The night pretty much stayed that way all night with my lowest tip being $3 until I ran into my worst customer of the night.  An order of pizza and wings for a total of $14.25.  He hands me $15.  I told him I don't carry coin change so I can't change that for him.  He acted all offended and said the 75 cents was my tip.  So I acted all offended and told him, "Thanks, now I'll have some coin change if I need it".  Luckily, I only had the one customer that couldn't afford to call for delivery.

Besides Mr. Moneybags and his 75 cents, it was a great night.  Worked 3.5 hours, had 7 deliveries, and made $40 in tips.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Extra Long NIght

This week I got moved back to the overnight shift at my regular job "temporarily" for about 8 months.  So last night was my first night of delivering then turning around and going to work all night.  Considering I'd been up since 7 a.m. already, it made for a pretty long night.

Though the rain did seem to help tips last night though.  I didn't really have any bad customers to speak of, but my last delivery of the night was sort of interesting.  It was way out in the middle of nowhere Moody via Acmar Road.  I'm driving down a road in the middle of the woods when my GPS announces that I've arrived at my location.  If you've ever seen the movie Wrong Turn, you can picture the type of road I'm on.  I get out and notice the mailbox to my right and head that way.  The "driveway" is one of those old dirt roads that's basically two ruts leading into the woods.  I can see the house about a quarter mile away.  I consider going back and driving to the house, but decide it's better on foot...easier to get away into the woods should the need arise.  When I finally get there, I realize that I've left their 2 liter drink in the car so I get to make the hike twice.

Other than that, it was a pretty regular night.  Worked 3.5 hours, took 6 deliveries, and made $31 in tips.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Tale of Two Houses

Best and worst customers of the night last night came from the same neighborhood.  First I had a delivery to a customer that told me she and her husband had just moved into their house in Moody yesterday after their home in Clay was destroyed in last week's tornadoes.  Her total was $22.07 and she tipped me $8.

When I got back to the store, I had another delivery to that same neighborhood.  I got there and waited nearly 5 minutes for the lady to even come to the door.  I was just about to try and call when she opened the door.  She tells me to hold on and goes back inside the house for another few minutes.  She comes back with a check and I had to ask her to put her driver's license and phone numbers on it.  Another few minutes wait.  Finally she gives me the check.  Her total was $16.61 and she made her check out for $17.  Wow, a whole 39 cents and about 10 minutes wasted at your door.  Opie Taylor would have loved that tip, but unfortunately, it's 2012.

My night was pretty good overall, but after the 39 cent big spender, it kind of fell apart.  I only had three more deliveries and made $5 between them.

Worked 4 hours, had 8 deliveries, and made $34 in tips.