What's In A Name?

I drove the last 2 nights. Sunday we got about 4 more inches of snow, mostly in the morning. Part of it fell after we had left for church. After church we went straight to my niece's birthday party and then I was rushed, getting home just in time to change and get to work. I didn't take the time to shovel my driveway and ended up getting stuck in my own driveway for about 30 minutes and was late. How frustrating!

Sunday ended up being another super-busy night, in 5 1/2 hours driving I took 20 deliveries and made $58 in tips. I drove only 48 miles, a very low amount for that many deliveries. I typically average 4 miles per delivery.

My most interesting delivery was to an apartment building. The delivery ticket said what the street address was but did not say which unit. I knew that this address was a 3-floor, 12-unit apartment. Unfortunately my cell phone was dead and I didn't realize the apartment number was missing until I was well on my way. (It was another 4-bagger).

My options were to return to the store and call the customer, or take a chance and knock on all 12 doors until someone answered. I decided to gamble and drove on to the apartment.

The name on the ticket was "Sue." Once I got inside the building I checked the mailboxes to see if I could find a clue. Well each mailbox had a first initial and last name, and there were 4 first initials of "S." I went downstairs and tried the first one.

Bingo! Sue came to the door with $20 for a $14.08 order and said to keep the change! Not only did I get lucky finding the right door on my first try, but this $5.92 was my best tip of the night.

I did have 3 other $5 tips and 4 others that were $3.50 or higher. Everybody tipped except one customer who gave me $22 for a $21.32 order. That customer's name happened to be "Crook."

One other customer only tipped $1, but he was forgiven. When I arrived at his house, there was a car running in his driveway. The man walked out through his garage and said, "We told the girl it was for pick-up, we don't have any cash." He agreed to run his debit card over the phone and he gave me $1 cash tip, which he said was all he had.

On Monday I took the day off from my day job and went sledding with the kids. My son and I also watched a tape of the NBA All-Star Game, since I had to work Sunday night. Since I was off I was able to start driving at 5PM instead of my usual 6PM.

I ended up driving 34 miles for 12 deliveries and raking in $30 in tips. Nothing like the previous 2 but another above average night for sure.

One delivery was to a customer named "Short" who lives about 2 blocks from the store. I made a joke as I was leaving that this would be a "Short" delivery. I didn't realize the foreshadowing that this name-game would bring.

Two deliveries later and I was headed back to my least favorite customer from the night before, "Crook." As I told a newer driver the night before, pizza delivery drivers remember the good tips and the bad tips. And this was a bad one. The ticket was for $23.07 and I changed in a dollar bill so that I could give this woman her exact change, hopefully letting her know that the coin-change was not considered a tip.

Well what do you know, she arrived at the door with cash in hand, asked me for the total, and went back to her purse for 2 pennies and a nickel, so that she could give me $23,07 exactly. She stole my thunder! Now I have to try to think of another creative way to educate this stiffer.