Tips anyone?

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

today i learned something.

most of the time customer’s give me money and i don’t count it sometimes . If its a $20 bill i know how much i get. Some customers give me money thats all crumbled up and not together.

That’s what happened to me today.
so i went to a delivery at night. At 9.00 P.M.
The customer’s total was $14.06. The money was crumbled and i did not know how much it was. So i counted it, it was actually twenty four dollars.
i gave him ten dollars back.

he said “is your pizza pretty good” and i replied “it’s the best” and said a bit about our coupon’s.

I felt good by doing the right thing.
he actually said “let me see what i can do for you, hold on don’t leave” he went inside and came back to gave me a $2 tip. I felt better by earning the tip in the right way. In a way i lost 8 dollars.

i felt so much better and in a way i hope he felt better knowing he has 8 dollars more now. I know i sometimes don’t look in to my wallet and give someone a 5 instead of a 1. We all makes mistakes. I learned to make sure i count and get the cash for the total of the delivery order at least.

when i left and i told my family.
my dad said “i would of took the money”, my brother said “you did the right thing”

I got such a big rush i of Joy.

2

I personally would fire someone that I found intentionally taking money that was given in a situation you describe. Theft is what I would call any action wherein you knowingly take money you believe was given in error. My staff knows it and we all agree that we will build a business based on integrity and character. Anything else will crumble when the going gets really hard.

Besides, that one moment of honesty will solidify the relationship with that customer for years to come. Loyalty like that cannot be bought in stores.

3

Honesty is the best policy.

You will get that back 10fold.

I actually had a customer call me back and tell me the driver gave an extra $20 bill as change.

4

Take the money and run!!!

I have been in the restaurant business going on 28 years now, and I have learned never to count the money, I just make sure there is enough to cover the check, and I don’t worry about whether they tipped me enough.

I treat all my customers the same whether they “no tip” or whether they give me a 100% tip. I have also learned, not to question a persons gratuity, it sometimes leads to the embarrassment of your customer, as some customers follow a tipping pattern that might be different that their friends or their date. The embarrassment you cause your customer could be enough to kill your business relationship with that customer.
For instance the bill is $90. he/she leaves a $100 bill if you take the $10. buck back to him and say “did you mean to leave me a $10 tip” you might embarrass him/her, as this is rather a paltry tip at 11%.

I personally tip about 25% all the time, if the server did an exceptional job I will tip upwards of 50%, and if I feel I have been given service “over the top” so goes my tip. I understand working for the tips, and I like to reward the server in kind.

I have had $10. tips on $10 pizza, and I have had $80. tips on $20. pizzas, and I have had No tips on $2000 orders. It all averages out!

Now if the customer calls me aside, or calls me back an hour later and say “hey I think I may have slipped and extra $20 into your pocket on accident!” I will return the money.

But I NEVER question a person gratuity.

I would also be careful, jumping to conclusion in your assumptions that your employee has committed a THEFT, if I were your employees and you fired me for accepting to large of a tip, and you claimed I was fired “due to theft.” I would get the most expensive lawyer in town, and come after you for wrongful termination, and slander.

Definition of theft: Theft (also known as stealing) is, in general, the wrongful taking of someone else’s property without that person’s willful consent. If the person hand your employee the money, and says “Thank You!” or “Have a good night!” I dare say it will be rather impossible for a court of law to suggest that the payment was anything other than willful consent.

Take the money and run!!!

5

I did a delivery once to two ladies who recently bought a house in our area.

The second delivery we did to them I did and one of them counted out the money to me. She made a mess of it because she was a bit tipsy from some of our great Western Australian wines (got to get a plug in there).

When I got back to the shop I found that there were two $10 notes stuck together meaning she paid $10 too much.

I phoned her back and told her and she replied " I didn’t know that. Thanks, but you keep it" (remember she was very under the weather by now).

Next order we charged her $10 less and told her why. When the driver delivered he got a nice tip and they all do from that day on.

These two ladies (same gender married) are now great customers and ambassadors for our business. The new business they sent our way from this very small gesture would have cost me $00’s in advertising.

I felt it was the right thing to do and instill this in all of my staff.

We still have $24.60 sitting under our till base for a customer who forgot to pick up their change about 2 months ago. ( He must have been really under the weather to forget that amount :lol: )

Each to their own but as Rob T said you will get it back ten fold.

Dave

6

$10 is nice tip here, but not really unusual. Our drivers get tips that big and bigger every night. I would not automatically assume that it was a mistake.

7

Be careful in taking my statements too far. My definition of theft and and yours are pretty much the same. I would fire for intentional taking money from a customer that is at all in question. There should never be a question that is not confirmed directly by my server/driver/cashier. My policy is that drivers ALWAYS confirm that the customer does or does not want change. We usually simply ask if they need change before we count the money; then count it before driving away to assure sufficient to cover the order.

It is simple and works well; customers and drivers alike are not put in awkward situations. This way, I am absolutely certain there is zero misunderstanding (as certain as we can be). The customers are familiar with it, and it works. For a driver in my own shop to walk away without confirming would constitute lack of “willful consent” according to my policy. Therefor, termination. Given that GA is an “at will” state, I can and would dismiss the driver for failure to follow the policy (no explanation actually necessary), and never see an attorney name on stationary.

I am not and never was actually talking about accepting large gratuities. Key is accepting. If one is certain it is a gratuity, then confirming with the customer is a no risk proposition. The only reason under my policy not to confirm the change with customer is intent to hide a mistake . … or negligence. Neither is acceptable on the road.[/b]

8

Ummmm. Do you count the money or not? If you count the money, then that is where my response comes into play. The original poster counted the money.

9

…my thought, just do the right thing,
give the customer’s change, whether a dime or a dollar…

I lean toward Nick’s thoughts, as a customer, I feel insulted if I not offerred my change back; if they keep it and it was less than I would have tipped, I let it go; if more, I wak’em up, cause either they are asleep in the head, or they are trying to get away with it and if they lie, I know they are.
Almost always give my change back, with a bad, embarassed attitude, and I give the a proverbial “thank you”, end of transaction.
I thought one big sucker was going to “ambush” me in the parking lot that’s another story though…

I waited tables for 6 years and there was always that kind, usually passing through, and if they bragged about it, they passed more quickly…

dmalh755, you did the right thing, that’s why it felt good,

…I see where you just joined us last week, hang around and add your thoughts, we could always use thoughtfull posts,
Otis

10

Integrity is doing the right thing when no one’s watching. You didn’t refuse a tip, you merely pointed out that he’d overpaid you. If it was an accident on his part, he appreciated it. If it were intended to be a tip, you simply made him aware of it, to which his reply should have been “you keep it”. To assume that he tipped $10 on a $14 order is certainly taking liberties in my opinion.

11

even when they say keep the change, I think the professional and right thing to do is let them know what the balance is, just in case they had other intentions…

It works both ways, I remember my waiter days, customers would say keep the change, I would say your change is $X, sometimes it would be so low that they or another remember would contribute more…
more times than not, that was it…
I waited tables for six years, got stiffed by the same people that gave me big tips other times…go figure :o

what am I futzing about, I don’t even get tips anymore

Otis :stuck_out_tongue:

12

I had a customer, on a delivery too, hand me a twenty and two crumpled bills for a tip. I glanced, and instantly said, “dude, that’s a hundred”!
He replaced the 100 with another 1, for my 2$ tip, and said, “Whoa, I knew I had that - I would’ve been chasing you down the driveway…”

Now I was a little surprised he didn’t up the tip in exchange for my honest response - not mad, just a little surprised, because I probably would have.

Anyway - I’m from the camp that says you are honest and trustworthy or you aren’t. I love getting tips and I try to encourage behaviour to increase tips for my employees and drivers. But I absolutely want those tips to be earned and intentional, and would fire someone for anything that could be interpreted as being less than honest - including accepting accidental overpayment.

13

I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHERE TAKING A $10.00 TIP IS DISHONEST.

I LEARNED NOT TO QUESTION AND NOT TO CHECK THE MONEY AT THE DOOR ALONG TIME AGO. ITS A MATTER OF TRUST BETWEEN YOU AND THE CUSTOMER. TO CHECK THEM AT THE TRANSACTION, IS TO QUESTION THERE HONESTY.

JUST LIKE ASKING THEM FOR THERE DRIVERS LICENSE ON A CHECK. YOU KNOW WHERE THEY LIVE, YOU HAVE THERE PHONE NUMBER, WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW. I LIVE IN AN AREA WHERE 1/2 THE PEOPLE ARE BELOW THE POVERTY LINE, AND MOST OF THEM ARE ON WELFARE, PRIME FOR BAD CHECKS IF YOU WERE IN THE CITY. BUT I AM IN THE COUNTRY, AND I HAVE ONLY RECEIVED ONE BAD CHECK IN THE LAST 3 YEARS.

I USED TO DELIVER TO A BASKETBALL PLAYER NAMED SHAWN KEMP, HE WOULD ALWAYS JUST HAND ME A FIFTY, AND JUST NOD AND SMILE.

THEN SOME IDIOT, AT MY COMPANY MADE A POINT OF HANDING HIM BACK THE CHANGE ONE NIGHT. THAT WAS THE LAST TIME HE ORDERED. WE FIRED THAT DRIVER.

HONESTY AND TRUST IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT. IF A GUY HANDS ME A $20. AND A $100. I WOULD PROBABLY STICK IT IN MY WALLET, AND WAIT. IF HE DOESN’T CALL ME BACK IN A DAY, ITS MINE.

I WORKED IN NEVADA FOR THREE YEARS, AND I RECEIVED $100 TIPS QUITE FREQUENTLY. I WORKED AS A VIP HOST FOR SIX MONTHS, AND MY AVERAGE TIP FOR A THREE DAYS HOSTING WAS $10,000.
MY LARGEST WAS $125,000. BUT THAT FOOL DROPPED SIX MILLION IN A THREE DAY WEEKEND, AND HE PARTIED 72 HOURS STRAIGHT, LIKE HE WAS GONNA DIE AT THE END OF THE TRIP.

MAYBE I AM WRONG IN NOT QUESTIONING A CUSTOMERS SINCERITY!

BUT MY CONSCIOUS IS CLEAR! AND THATS ALL THAT MATTERS TO ME!

14

The email yell. . . man. First, counting the money is simply good business is verifying that the agreed transaction was completed successfully . . . agreed food for agreed price. Really, if you agreed with the above, there would be no need for a cash register. That said . . .

This is simply another case of differences making for a wide and varied landscape. Some of us prefer to make sure in a general way that the customer is not making an inadvertent error and some of us prefer to take the money and ask no questions.

It is a business decision that we all have to make, and we all have to know our marketplace to know what works and what doesn’t. Remember that I am from West Georgia, where the culture is vastly different from North Idaho. To me in my shop and in my world, honesty and trust are handled differently than in yours. Better or worse doesn’t matter . . . just different.

“Accepting” tips is never a problem in my shop for any of my employees. We spend lots of time and effort and $$$ establishing a reputation of respect in the community to foster that sort of appreciation of our employees (tipping). Wife and I just handle defining “accepting” and “taking” differently than some others will define it. Again I make no statement of better or worse . . . just different.

15

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHERE TAKING A $10.00 TIP IS DISHONEST.”

nothing wrong with that, it’s just the way you do it that is different
I’m glad more people work on being more straight up,
see how the poll goes ? roughly 80/20
80% of the voters would consider others more

viva Las Vegas,
Otis