Showing Your Appreciation

Watch the episode here

Episode Topics:

• Gratitude towards Customer Service Industry
• Where your tips go
• An attitude towards businesses
• Inflation on food businesses

What shakin’! Hey, I’m Rick Jordan. Today we’re going all in. I want to tell you a story about, uh, pizza that I picked up the other day. And this is about being gratuitous with individuals in your life and being appreciative and showing them that appreciation, especially when it comes to the service industry. So I ordered a pizza, actually a couple of pizzas. Two pizzas, right? And I went in to pick these pizzas up and it was a carry out order. It wasn’t DoorDash, it wasn’t having the pizza being delivered, surprisingly, Hey, pizza delivery places actually still deliver their own pizzas. Still. It’s not just all DoorDash anymore, which is kind of cool, right? It’s like a callback and sometimes it turns out better. I went in and, you know, the order was like 60 bucks whatever for, for the two pizzas and the receipt prints out and you see on there that there’s a, there’s a tip field, right? And, and the tip field is there usually when it comes to like, full service restaurants. 

And obviously that’s meant for the server to tip the server. That’s always how it is. But in the restaurant industry as a whole, it’s just how the machine, like the terminal is actually set up with the, it’s called a merchant provider. And I don’t know if you knew this or not, but you can configure the machines to print out a tip, even if there is no tip on there, even if you don’t typically accept the tips at all. But the machine itself is configured to have that function enabled. When you are coded as a restaurant, that’s typically how it happens. So this thing prints out, and I’m sure there’s not a lot of people that do this, but I’m taking a look down on this thing and I see that there’s a tip field, you know, for 60, for $60. I write 10 bucks there, right? 

So it’s like $70 and some change now. And the dude who was there, this was so awesome, right? He was quite obviously the owner of this place and just amazing pizza. This is the second time I’ve ever gone to this place. By the way, this is a squirrel, but I loved it. Just amazing crust to and gonna order from this place a lot. And he’s wearing a Rolex, right? Now, I see that, and I don’t know if he’s actually affluence or, or anything like that, but a lot of people like to have even just one nice watch in their life. I mean, this is something like all the way back. I remember my grandfather wore one really, really, really good watch. I believe it was a Rolex. And he had that thing for years. I’m talking like decades apparently from what I was told. 

Now I tip. And he looks at this like, “Hey man, you don’t have to do that.” You know, he’s looking at me like it cuz I’m like, No, I appreciate the work that you guys are going through. And I think it’s good to show the people that are making the pizza because this dude was probably in his upper fifties, maybe early sixties, right? The owner of this place and he’s got a lot of young dudes that are there, like sweating, right? Making the pizzas and they’re, they’re mostly in their twenties and I like showing them gratuity for the good work that they’re doing. So he looks at, he’s like, You don’t have to do that. Like, no, I want to, I appreciate what you guys are doing. And I know it’s been a little difficult the last couple years. I mean, pizza places have probably done great, right? 

During the pandemic, but still costs are rising, right? Especially food costs these days. I’m like, I appreciate you guys putting a lot of care into my pizzas, cuz I’m sure you know, you know, you’re probably thinking, Rick, you’re crazy at this point, right? Because this is a pizza story, but I’m sure you’ve had bad pizza to where they didn’t make much effort into making it how it should be made, right? I’m not talking, you know, like dominoes or anything like that, but you’ve probably had pizza where you could just tell that the person making it was lazy, that they hated their job, they hated being there. They’re, they’re only focused on themselves. They’re not focused on the people that they’re actually serving. A cook is serving you just as much as a server is serving you. 

This is how I view this, because if they’re showing up and they hate their freaking job and they’re not placing their customer’s needs top of mind. Because if somebody’s eating at a place where you work as a cook or even as a server, they’re there because they want good food and they want good service. 

Yeah, it’s your job. And if you hate the job, go get something else, okay? Because if you’re on that side of it, understand that there’s people like me that appreciate you. There’s probably a lot more of us than what you realize. I appreciate you for what you do. If that’s you, and that’s what you’re doing right now. Now across the board, I do this, right? Because you get people that will bring these things up, you know, even if it’s just a, you know, you go to a, a, a donut shop. Now I’m talking about food all day long, right? I’m fit, obviously. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen me on video, follow me on Instagram, whatever, I’m fit. But I eat some craft food here and there just because it’s good. And I love donuts. I still got a sweet tooth even after I dropped all the weight that I did. 

But even if you go to a donut shop, right? And they’re not the ones that actually made the donuts. They’re just the clerks or somewhere else to where they’re just ringing you up and they’ve got the tablet register, right? That turns around, that spins around towards you and you can always tap like for a tip, like 18%, 20%, 22%, whatever. And it’s still just a service industry, you know? That’s all it is. I will still tip, I will absolutely still freaking tip. Or you go to crumbl cookies, which I love. Oh my gosh, I love it, right? They’re like Umba Loompa’s in there. If you’ve ever seen Charlie in the chocolate factory, Wonka, whatever the like, um, PLO is in there and there’s like 20 of them freaking making cookies all day long. And the person at the register is just there to really ring you out, right? And everybody else there is baking, but you know what? I appreciate those people putting all the effort they possibly can into making the best freaking cookies that they can because they are showing up. They’re not just going there to do a job, They’re showing up and they’re doing what they’re supposed to do to make sure that every cookie tastes good. 

So I tell this dude the same thing, right? And I do this at a sushi restaurant down the street from me too. Every time I pick up sushi, I always tip, even if it’s just a carry out order, I would like to challenge you to do the same thing today. If you’re on that side of it, if you’re on the side to where you’re somebody right now and you’re just working a job, right? And you’re just showing up, put yourself in the shoes of the people that you’re serving. Because even if you’re a cook, you’re serving, even if you’re just a person that’s a customer service person, a T-mobile or something you’re serving, you’re there to provide exemplary, top-notch service to whatever person it is in whatever industry you’re in. And people will appreciate that, even if it’s not a monetary tip, even if it’s just as much as a thank you. You know what, even on the phone with people, like I was on the phone with Chase Bank the other day, right? Getting auto pay set up for a new car that I got for my kids. 

It hadn’t showed up in my online account yet. So I’m calling up and I just talk with this individual. I’m like, Hey, you know what? I appreciate your help today. I tell people that all the time on the phone because I do, they’re literally there to help me out. So Chase Bank, I go through what I need and everything. I’m like, Okay, sure, let me bring up your account and everything. It’s right in the beginning of the call too. I will tell ’em, Hey, you know what? I really appreciate your help today. How’s your day going? It will throw them for a loop because there’s not many people that do this. It’s freaking awesome just in those moments, because they’re there to help me, but what if I just lifted, lifted that person up and now they’re gonna have a great day because of that? 

Because I’m genuine, I’m sincere, and I say, “Hey, I appreciate you. How’s your day going today?” Like, wow, well, well thank you. My day’s going pretty good at this point. Of course it is. Because they were just appreciated. Being gratuitous to anybody that serves you is a, a mode, a rhythm, a habits, a discipline, a consistency, a persistency that you should have in your life when are grateful and show that gratitude when you are gratuitous to other people around you, even in just the little things just for handing you a product and you got a tablet and you can tap a button to tip ’em, your life is gonna shift around because now all of a sudden you’re gonna start attracting a whole bunch of other good things. Your outlook on things will change. It’s incredible. It’s absolutely incredible. 

Now, I started thinking about this today because I don’t really understand why people don’t do this, right? If you, if they’re ignorant, that’s fine. If they haven’t thought through this, that’s okay. But there was an individual I was talking to who was venting about someone that said about one of those tablets, right? And it was something that’s like what I’m supposed to tip you for spinning the tablet around because they were literally just there to just check out the order, right? I could kind of compare that to like a crumble cookie, my example to where that person’s there and they’re just punching in your cookie order, spinning it around, and then you’re supposed to check out with your credit card and sign it and tap a tip button, no tip. Or one of the other three options, 18, 20 or 22%. And this person’s comment was what I’m supposed to tip you for just spinning around the tablet so that I can pay. Come on now first, that dude’s an asshole. Okay? That dude obviously doesn’t appreciate life. There’s something wrong because if you’re feeling that way about things, you’re pretty pissed off about something else in your life because it’s pretty easy to appreciate people when they’re doing their job to help you. It’s pretty freaking easy to do that when you actually recognize and become aware of those things. Every little thing that I do, even if it’s just as much as a thank you or to a Chase bank phone representative where I say, I appreciate you. 

That’s the way to live life. That’s the way to show your gratuity and your gratitude towards other individuals. And you know what, Even on the flip side of this, this is where I get, this is like a bonus for you today because it’s freaking amazing. It’s awesome, it’s wonderful. You know, see how I was the, the customer, And I say that at the beginning of things, at the beginning of the phone conversations with the representative that’s helping me or I tip, uh, just for picking up a pizza or sushi or, or, uh, a crumble cookie, whatever. It’s really cool when you’re actually on the customer service side because something that I’ll do with my clients is I will be gratuitous to my clients after the fact. Now, a lot of salespeople, they will actually go in and, and, you know, bring in a bottle of, of liquor or some cigars or some other kind of gift ahead of time before the deal’s even done just to say, Hey, I, you know, I just wanna let you know, you know, no matter what goes on, I just wanted to say that I appreciate you having this meeting today. 

You know, you know that that’s a freaking bribe. Come on. Some people may be sincere, but it’s a tactic and people know that that’s a tactic. What I’m gonna tell you to do is wait until after the deal is signed, get down to business and they will respect you. The pleasantries can wait. Business comes first In those scenarios, business comes first and they will respect you for that. And even if you tell ’em, You know what, I’d love to sit here and talk about the baseball game or, or, you know, the weather or whatever else, but I know that we’re here to get down to business. I appreciate your time. I respect your time. I’m sure you do the same with me. I would love to just sit down with you and get down to your needs so that I can help you, so that I can serve you the best that I possibly can. That’s the way we should go right now. Let’s do this. Come on now. It’s awesome. They will be like, Oh wow. They’ll be blown away. And then when they sign the deal with you, because you’ve already won them over and their confidence level in you, which is awesome, after they sign the deal, get them a gift. The Beager tour is afterwards. You will blow their minds by doing this after the fact, after they’ve already paid you. It’s the flip side of this. It’s so freaking awesome. 

Beag GRA tour is in everything you do, you’re gonna see your life just, just blow up and explode because you, you’re just running around just with thankfulness and gratitude towards literally everybody that’s around you. It’s amazing. It’s absolutely freaking amazing to go ALL IN.