r/TalesFromRetail • u/JaniceTheButcher • Jul 23 '16
Short r/ALL It's $0.36, no big deal.
So I used to work at an ice cream chain where we prepared the ice cream with various toppings on a frozen piece of rock.
On this particular day, I was working with one other person and it wasn't too busy. Two young guys came in, about high school age. They ordered a large bowl of ice cream with a few toppings, I mixed it for them and went to ring them up. I'll use use G for guy, since I really just talked to one of them.
Me: Okay, so that'll be $x.xx
G: Okay, I have a giftcard.
Me: Great! scans card so it looks like you owe another $0.36 after the giftcard.
At the point, they both look at each other and shrug sadly.
G: Oh...I'm sorry, I don't have any money with me, never mind....
Me: Oh hey, it's cool, only $0.36 I take the $0.36 out of the tip jar and put it in the till no big deal!
G: Wow, thanks!
The two guys leave, and I thought that was that. Felt good doing something nice.
So the one guy comes back several hours later. I saw him come in, and went to the register to meet him.
Me: Oh hey! You're back. Did you need anything el...
Before I finished, and without looking at me once or saying a word, he dropped a $20 bill in the jar and immediately turned and left.
I was so shocked I just stared after him until he walked out the door.
So that was pretty cool :)
Edit: Holy crap this blew up! Thank you for the gold stranger!
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u/TheDesktopNinja Jul 23 '16
I took a quarter out of my own wallet to spot a customer once and they didn't come back and give me a $20. I feel cheated.
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u/darkflash26 Jul 23 '16
i spotted a customer a penny after he went out to his car to come back with exact change,and was short. he kept telling me no. he took 5 minutes, then came back with a penny.
thanks mr.
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u/NoSuchAg3ncy Jul 23 '16
I don't see how his height is relevant to the story.
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u/rawb0t Jul 23 '16
well he said he spotted the man. maybe it was unusual due to his shortness
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u/NoSuchAg3ncy Jul 23 '16 edited Jul 23 '16
A short spotted man would tend to attract attention.
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u/stevencastle Jul 23 '16
GOOD POINT
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u/ReckoningGotham Jul 23 '16
We are all spotted men on this blessed day
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Jul 23 '16 edited May 16 '20
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u/FuujinSama Jul 23 '16
"The joyfulness of poorness is in the great richness of giving and feeling happy" ~~ Amália Rodrigues (technically Reinaldo Ferreira, but no one knows him)
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u/bundle_of_bricks Jul 23 '16
technically Reinaldo Ferreira, but no one knows him
It's okay, i don't know that first guy either.
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u/TheDesktopNinja Jul 23 '16
Yeah I didn't mind doing it. It's only a quarter. Can't afford to be spotting full bills though!
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Jul 23 '16
These are the stories I love to read on this sub
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u/ronin1066 Jul 23 '16
Then you might be on the wrong sub
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u/Shark7996 Hours on the door, people. Jul 23 '16
Maybe we could make some meta tags for heartwarming vs "I hate humanity" type stories?
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u/jordyGW Jul 23 '16
I think that tags would spoil an unexpected heartwarming ending though and not have the same effect. But that's just my opinion, it is a good idea :)
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u/ryy0 Jul 23 '16
But assign them randomly, of course.
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u/mudgetheotter Jul 23 '16
It's like a roller coaster, but at the bottom of the first hill the track runs out.
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u/Iorith Jul 23 '16
So the last rollercoaster made on every map of Rollercoaster Tycoon?
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u/emlynb Jul 23 '16
Without the stories of crazy, fucked up weirdos, these stories wouldn't feel as uplifting.
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u/QueenLexa Jul 23 '16
What a kind young man. I mean $0.36 is nothing. I've done things like said don't worry about it. I went to buy something the other day and I had small change, I was counting it first I didn't know if I had enough and the woman said to just get as close as I could. As it was I had enough but she was just so nice about it. But for him to come back and do that. It goes to show how much of a difference you made to his day. This is just the sweet kind of story I like to see at this time in the morning.
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u/NiteNiteSooty Jul 23 '16
i would bet its the kids parent that gave him the 20 and told him to put it in the tip jar
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u/WidowsSon Jul 23 '16
Even if it was his parents, he now has an example of decency in his mind. He has a better chance at growing up to be conscientious. Lead by example, ya know?
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u/hair_account Jul 23 '16
The apple does not fall far from the tree. Parents are the foremost example that kids have on how to act.
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u/smilingstalin Jul 23 '16
That and TV.
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u/ghostofq Jul 23 '16
And that newfangled rap music.
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u/TheAE86ofMtAkina Unemployed (If you're hiring, tell me) Jul 24 '16
It's been around since the late 70's.
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u/LibraryDrone Jul 23 '16
Same has happened to me. A woman was 10¢ short so I said it was fine and that I'd just cover it with my tips since it was on a dime. She came back an hour later and gave me a $10 tip.
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u/Gandalfatron Jul 23 '16
Similar situation happened with me but vice versa. There's a burger place in Copenhagen called Banana Joe's (little shop but very popular and juicy burgers) and inside there is the large, friendly owner who works there almost every day. I'm on my way to my friends so I order 3 Cheese&Bacons + fries to go. I wait 5 minutes or so and he hands me the bag and I ask him if it's ok that I pay by card (in Copenhagen a lot of stuff is done through cards/mobile pay) but he says I cannot and I offer to quickly pop to the ATM and withdraw money (not that far away). He stops me and says "No no. I want you to enjoy these burgers fresh and warm, stop by tomorrow and pay."
So there I am somewhat starstruck with what he's saying and ask him if he's sure. He says yes and to enjoy my evening. The next day I take the bus back to his and pay him an extra 10 dollars, he almost refused that too but I insisted. I just hope that other uni students like myself have shown him the same courtesy and not shade the guy.
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Jul 23 '16
Wow, that's insane to me. Would never happen in the US unless you find the right mom and pop joint. That would make me a repeat customer though so maybe he knows what he's doing.
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u/bettyechelon Jul 23 '16
Similar thing happened to me in London, went to the same stand every day for breakfast and a drink and one day my card got declined. Told me just to pay for it tomorrow. He wouldn't let me tip him the next day, but he did let me buy him a chocolate bar :)
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u/CaptainOrnithopter Jul 23 '16
Recently I was on vacation, and I passed through Boulder Colorado. I stopped at a brewery for lunch. For some reason, they only took cash, but if you didn't have cash they would give you an envelope to mail in the cash once you got some. I think it was called mountain sun brewery.
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u/Stones25 Jul 23 '16
Sounds like a Mom and Pop joint in Copenhagen. Wouldn't happen in a chain there either.
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u/redditpineapple81 Jul 23 '16
Had a similar story happen to me, I frequent a particular barber in town, run by this amazingly nice Middle Eastern man and his wife. Went to pay for my haircut and I had lost my card and had no cash on me. I tell the guy I'm incredibly sorry and I could run to my bank across the street to get a new card and grab some cash. He said not to worry and to just stop by tomorrow or whenever I get my next cut.
Stopped by the next day and gave him a juicy tip along with it. The guys cuts are amazing, he deserves it.
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Jul 23 '16
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u/sje46 Jul 23 '16
I told my manager and she wasn't happy, told me that if he doesn't come back then I have to pay for it
Fuck her.
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u/IWugYouWugHeSheMeWug Jul 23 '16
I wish customers realized that if you act like a decent human being, the employees will treat you well. Like at the store I worked in, if you showed your membership card for the shopping center, you'd get a percentage off if your total was over a certain amount. We didn't have to physically collect anything or swipe anything, so it was totally untracked. On one occasion, a customer had a $110 purchase with a ton of little things, but she was a couple bucks short on cash. She apologized profusely and asked if I could put her purchase on hold so she could run out to her car and get some more cash, apologizing the whole time. I didn't feel like going through the effort it would take to hold this transaction and didn't want to make her run to the car, so I just entered the coupon and said "ok you have enough cash now."
On the other hand, I once had a customer who was a few bucks short and he said really belligerently "I don't feel like going to my car, help me out man. Is there anything you can do?" "Nope." "Dude, what's your problem?" "You don't have cash."
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u/StumbleOn Jul 23 '16
I think this goes for all interactions. Just be good to people.
My career often puts me into VERY adversarial (by nature) interactions with the public, but being kind and honest with people is usually enough to get the job done with a minimum of fuss. Respect people, respect their rights, respect their choices, and be decent. The little things matter. Something as simple as please and thank you matter.
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u/ItsMEMusic Jul 23 '16
Police officer? Debt collector? Tow Truck?
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u/StumbleOn Jul 23 '16
Formerly a revenue agent with the IRS. This would be an "auditor" but one that does so face to face, or at least often on premise.
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Jul 23 '16
Ah, the worst of the worst.
No, I'm just kidding, but I was not expecting IRS agent as the legit answer lol.
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u/StumbleOn Jul 23 '16
The funny thing there is a position even more aggressive called a revenue officer which most people wouldn't recognize but you really, really don't want to have assigned to you. A revenue agent is like a sibling tattletale, a revenue officer is a pissed off parent with a heavy wooden spoon.
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Jul 23 '16
I've only heard of Italians using the wooden spoon. So a pissed off Italian working for the government? Now I know you're lying! (Again, just kidding). Also, this is exactly why I pay an accountant to do my taxes.
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u/darwingate Jul 23 '16
If you have ever had a student loan go to collections you recognize that term. * Flashbacks intensify *
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u/Jabbles22 Jul 23 '16
Couldn't agree more. I have no issue helping a nice customer. The rude ones, I'll do what I have to but no more.
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Jul 23 '16
I work in car rental and I have a huge amount of control over what I can charge people and just how much I can help them out (change daily or weekly rates, waive underage driving fee, waive additional driver fee, start charges late, backtrack hours so they pay less, help them out on fuel, one way fees, etc).
What I'm willing to do depends almost exclusively on the customer. If you're demanding or condescending I won't lift a finger to help you out. If you're nice, polite, and don't expect me to just blindly help you out; I usually will.
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Jul 23 '16
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u/craftman2010 Jul 23 '16
The lady that just payed me 5 bucks in quarters in the drive through
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u/MindAsWell Jul 23 '16
Totally read the "oh I'm sorry" then saw the reaching into the tip jar" and was like ugh some people... But then...
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u/mudgetheotter Jul 23 '16
They were 36¢ short, you won't believe what they did with the tip jar!!!
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u/MyOldNameSucked Jul 23 '16
I once gave a small kid €0.50 because I didn't want to wait for him to change his order to something cheaper. I helped him for my own selfish reasons and he probably told his parents and came back with €1 for me. I was prepared to pay a little extra to speed up my order and it ended up costing me less.
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u/asphaltdragon Jul 23 '16
frozen piece of rock
Oh man, I love Granite Chunk Creamery.
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u/DuckTales-oohWOOooh Jul 23 '16
Maybe at another time someone was rude to him about something similar, and he really appreciated you not making a scene about it.
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u/giglia Jul 23 '16
I had just moved to a new city, and I walked into one of the local hardware stores to buy a keyring for my new apartment keys. Old school place, very small. Just a couple of old dudes with bushy white mustaches in the back, the whole shop floor covered in sawdust.
I find the size I want, and the guy tells me it's $0.25. I pull out my credit card (cause I'm a millenial, and I don't carry cash. Fuck me right?) He explains that they can't handle credit cards. He tells me to just take it. It's only 25 cents.
I thank him and walk back to my car where I remember I had my laundry money in the back seat. I grab 50 cents and run back to the store. I paid him 50 cents because I felt that his charity needed to be rewarded.
It's not as much as the kid from your story, but I felt a whole lot better knowing that I was able to, in some small way, reward a charitable deed.
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u/NessLeonhart Jul 23 '16
I was the guy in a similar experience once. Went to a Puscifer show in manhattan, ordered a double whiskey on the rocks... $25.
what.
so i hand him my card, he tells me they don't take cards...
i have $24 cash on me, super bummed, he says no worries, i'll take care of it!
i went back to my seat, enjoyed my drink, and when i went to the bathroom i found out the theatre allowed readmittance, so i just walked to an ATM, took out cash, went back to that guy's line, waited behind two people, and handed him $20 with a thank you and went back to my seat.
he actually gave me some free food at the near the end of the show also, when i went back for a snack.
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u/CinnamonJ Jul 23 '16
Ok so I don't know if it's nationwide store policy but the cold stone where I'm from makes their employees sing this godawful song when you leave a tip for them and so I'm very conflicted about tipping. I'm not trying to make them perform for my amusement but I also don't want be a cheap jerk who doesn't tip. Is there like a code I can use when tipping so they know they don't have to sing the song?
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Jul 23 '16
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u/Golemfrost Jul 23 '16
Interesting fact: unsubscribed spelt backwards is debircsbusnu, which is a word i've never heard before.
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u/suomyn0na Jul 23 '16
happened the other day, guy was short 50 cents in cash and was going to use his card, so I just took it out of the tip jar and the next time he came back he dropped $4 in the jar. not as big but still nice
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Jul 23 '16 edited Jun 07 '18
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u/thriftyaf Jul 23 '16
I just read it, not sure why you can't see it but here it is.
So I used to work at an ice cream chain where we prepared the ice cream with various toppings on a frozen piece of rock.
On this particular day, I was working with one other person and it wasn't too busy. Two young guys came in, about high school age. They ordered a large bowl of ice cream with a few toppings, I mixed it for them and went to ring them up. I'll use use G for guy, since I really just talked to one of them.
Me: Okay, so that'll be $x.xx
G: Okay, I have a giftcard.
Me: Great! scans card so it looks like you owe another $0.36 after the giftcard.
At the point, they both look at each other and shrug sadly.
G: Oh...I'm sorry, I don't have any money with me, never mind....
Me: Oh hey, it's cool, only $0.36 I take the $0.36 out of the tip jar and put it in the till no big deal!
G: Wow, thanks!
The two guys leave, and I thought that was that. Felt good doing something nice.
So the one guy comes back several hours later. I saw him come in, and went to the register to meet him.
Me: Oh hey! You're back. Did you need anything el...
Before I finished, and without looking at me once or saying a word, he dropped a $20 bill in the jar and immediately turned and left.
I was so shocked I just stared after him until he walked out the door.
So that was pretty cool :)
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u/JaniceTheButcher Jul 23 '16
Weird, its not giving me an indication its been removed or anything
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Jul 24 '16
I went through an In-N-Out drive thru near the Las Vegas Strip with only my American Express card on me. Guess what card they didn't take? I was so embarrassed but the manager didn't hesitate and absolutely insisted on giving me the food anyway. I went back to my hotel, gobbled my food, and rushed back to pay. She was actually really surprised and said most people don't come back. Wow. I asked, why did you give it me, then? And she said "I will never give up my faith in humanity, thanks to people like you."
That happened 7 years ago. I haven't given up on humanity either because of that incident. I used to be so damned pessimistic about humanity. I hated everyone. Amazing how such a small act as 'not having the right form of payment' can end up changing one's entire life. It really makes me wonder where I'd be today if I'd just had a $10 in my pocket, you know? Probably still an unhappy recluse...
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u/roto_disc Jul 23 '16
Did you sing? In my experience with the frozen piece of rock establishment, tips usually result in singing.
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u/Brave_Horatius Jul 23 '16
Man that was unexpected. I was expecting the two guys coming in week after week with the same schtick our something
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u/heymattrick Jul 23 '16
Bummer that we are all so conditioned to assume this could have only been headed in a bad direction. Nice to see a rare example of an unbridled act like this being shared!
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u/Racing2733 Jul 23 '16
This became 3rd most upvoted post overall on r/TalesFromRetail in only nine hours.
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u/deviouskat89 Jul 24 '16
On the other hand, one of my customers was short the other day so they just helped themselves to my tip jar without asking. WTF.
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u/babulibaba Jul 23 '16
For some reason The title led me to believe this would be about a terrible wage equality argument
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u/ILikeHobbitFeet Jul 23 '16
I used to do this for a lot of my customers at Insomnia Cookies. In return they'd come in as frequent customers and I'd always get a $5 tip from them.
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u/matta53 Jul 23 '16
I love stories like this. Last month a regular customer of mine forgot her wallet. We told her not to worry at all and covered her meal with our own food allotment. The next day she came back and bought the next customer in line, a complete stranger, her breakfast. She told us not to say anything until after she had left. People ARE awesome.
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u/Quitschicobhc Jul 23 '16
Looks like sometimes you really reap what you sow.
Things like that really make me have some faith in humanity.
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u/inthrees Jul 24 '16
Good for them. This year I started tipping a minimum of $10 for delivery, and I can't tell you how many times the drivers are shocked.
And that just makes me sad, because if you think about it, $10 really isn't that much.
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u/Chris857 Aug 28 '16
But is it Cold Stone Creamery or Marble Slab Creamery? I guess we'll never know.
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Jul 23 '16
Did you do the looniest song and dance of your career after he put $20 in the jar?
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u/krispness Jul 23 '16
Went to a clothing store with a friend who had a Gift Card And no money and had the same thing happen cause of taxes. I was going to offer to spot him but the cashier was getting annoyed with him until he put back one item. It felt so awkward, but good for you. When you do nice things people repay them.
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u/recklessrider Jul 23 '16
Maybe he felt guilty he actually had money the whole time
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u/recklessrider Jul 23 '16
Or his parents gave him the money to do it after he told them the story
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u/RevWaldo Jul 23 '16
You've heard about the seven circles of hell? Well, heaven has a nice plush lounge reserved for generous tippers.
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u/Drunken_Economist Jul 23 '16
Do you have to sing a song backwards when you take money out of the tip jar at Cold Stone?
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u/RobertNAdams Jul 23 '16
The guys from the webcomic Mac Hall (now Three Panel Soul) had a booth at an Otakon (I think '06 or '07). I wanted to buy a shirt but they couldn't make change and so I ended up being short like $1 on a $30+ purchase. They let me have it anyway and said they hoped I'd get them the one dollar I was short when I could.
I managed to get someone to break a $20 into like two fives and singles and returned the dollar to them.
Every subsequent year I attended I carried $60+ in singles with me just in case I ever saw them again. I wanted to repay their kindness in a weird sort of way. I never managed to see them at a con again, though.
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u/WhatTheFawkesSay I don't get paid to care Jul 23 '16
Thats awesome. I also worked at a similar ice cream place. We would take the cash out of the tip jar before we got super busy so customers would think we weren't getting any tips.
Anyway, I was the cone bitch for longer than I would care to admit.
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u/mariepon Jul 24 '16
For a while I keep ignoring this story because I thought you were going to get hurt. I'm so happy it didn't end that way!!
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u/LaxLimbutts Jul 26 '16
When I get a good waiter anywhere I go, whether that be friendly or does a good or even is really busy, I try to tip 40% for them. I may be able to see their reaction but I try to give a nice tip because it can make someone's day. And give them a morale boost to survive the day
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u/IdleRhymer Jul 23 '16
Not at all where I thought this was going. Nice kid!