Apparently, this has caused problems at our local Subway. We ordered lunch today, and new face appeared at the door. Today was a 15 minute day. I open the door to great him, but something out of the ordinary happened. Instead of giving me the total and handing me our lunch, the delivery guy introduces himself as "Srinivas, the manager of Subway Gachibowli", and extends his hand. Suddenly, the green and white checkered shirt made sense.
Srinivas proceeds to tell me that when his guys come, we take the food and the receipt, give them the money and say 'keep the change'. I confirmed this is what usually happens. This is an indirect and non-confrontational (read: typical Indian) way of saying we are over tipping. He goes on to say that his guys are fighting with each other to determine who gets our delivery. Being a fixer, I suggested that he have the guys take turns. That seems reasonable, right?
His solution to the problem was that we reduce our tip amount by 80-90% of what we normally give. Instead of helping out a group of guys who are working to earn an honest living, we were basically asked to scale things back stick to the status quo.
I was pretty amused by the whole thing. I haven't decided what to the next time we order Subway. Do we continue to fund the Subway Fight Club, or do we help an ineffective manager keep control of his team by tipping more appropriately?
The takeaway for this one is no matter where you go, The Man will be there to keep the people below him down. Sigh...
I hope things are more boring or normal where ever you are.
Be well,
-TJS