Insider Screw-Ups - They Cost Me $

I had 2 serious screw-ups today. I'm not sure by who, but they both cost me time, gas, and money.

First off was my 8th delivery of the night. I arrived at the house, knocked, and the man who answered the door said "She already paid for it." I double-checked the ticket, and it was indeed a cash transaction (not credit-card).

The woman then came to the door, recognized my uniform, and said "Oh no, I canceled that order 2 seconds after I placed it. She said it was ok 'cause it wasn't even in the oven yet." Apparently she had then ordered from another pizza place and paid by debit card over the phone.

Well the pizza got made, boxed, and sent out for delivery. Whoever took the call for the cancellation (assuming the customer was telling the truth) should have made sure the ticket got voided right away.

Manager Nick did give me a $3 credit, but that's $1.10 for the run and $1.90 to replace the tip. As you'll see later on, my average tip for the night was over $2.

The second screw-up happened about the same time, but I didn't find out until about an hour later. This time an order was packed and placed on top of the oven to be delivered, but there wasn't a matching ticket on the dispatch screen. I checked the system and the order had been changed to a pick-up. So I moved it to the pick-up area.

Then about an hour later, I arrived back from a run and Manager Nick said "This order has to go out right away." It was the order that had been a pick-up, now changed back to delivery. It was already 85 minutes old!

The order was paid by credit card. When I arrived, the customer signed the slip, but, of course, neglected to add a tip. I don't blame them, but it wasn't my fault. I have no idea what happened that it got changed to a pick-up, but it cost me my tip.

On my 16 other orders, I drove 64 miles (18 orders total), and made $41 in tips. My average tip for the 16 non-screw-up orders was $2.56. This was for 6 hours driving.

I did have some positive experiences tonight:

A double to a notoriously bad-tipping neighborhood that earned me $7 in tips. (For the 2nd week in a row! Last week it was a triple for $9.50.)

A guy who added to his tip. He originally handed me $22 for his $19.57 order, then he said "Oh I thought it was $17 something" and added $2 more.

A guy in a trailer park who gave me $20 for a $15.33 order and thanked me for coming out so late (it was around 10 pm). I was glad that I had packed up 5 extra bread-sticks for this order, the guy gave me the $4.67 tip before he even knew I brought him some extra food.

2 other customers (4 in all) that tipped $4 or more.

It was a decent night, moneywise, but the screw-ups that cost me money really frustrate me.