Does pizza delivery guy deserve $30,000?

walletLast night, I shared this video showing a pizza delivery guy in Massachusetts, who was made to go back to a customer and return $7. There was a misunderstanding as to whether the extra money he collected was his tip, and the treatment he received was beyond rude. To add insult to injury, someone from the dealership posted the exchange online, taking the incident to a personal and humiliating level. Degrading someone for a few laughs on the Internet is, in my opinion, reprehensible.

My husband heard the tail-end of this story on the radio, so we looked it up and found it making headlines all over the world. A GoFundMe campaign was started to support the delivery guy. Being moved by the story, I re-posted it on social media. Someone commented, “Why does he deserve $30,000?” That was a good, honest question.

In a nutshell, I would say that he doesn’t. But this is a story that is more than about the money. It is about how we, as a society, treat people.

As I write this, Jarrid (the pizza delivery guy), has more than $27,000 heading his way. What is remarkable about this, is that the majority of the donations are in increments of $5-$10. There were a few donations of $50-$100. But as I said, it is not about the money.

What this story is about is a man who is working. He gets out there in the cold and snow, and delivers food to people. It is by no means glamorous, and by no means the worst job in the world. He is not out stealing from people. I don’t know anything about the guy, just that he is working and dealing with the public every day.

Does he deliver pizzas to put himself through school? Or to care for his family? Is his wife on unpaid maternity leave? Is he about to lose his house? Is he working to pay off debt? Is he working two or more jobs? I haven’t a clue.

I was bothered most by the person who took an embarrassing situation and made it public. Had it gone the way the poster had intended, the world would be laughing at some dolt who is delivering pizzas for a living. But, that is not how it went at all. The complete opposite happened: there was a backlash by people who were just as disgusted as me that someone would go out of their way to publicly humiliate another human being.

The person who started the GoFundMe for Jarrid did nothing more than bring to people’s attention the mistreatment of another. Her intent was to show Jarrid that not everyone is a jerk, and if there was a way to re-coup his delivery tip, then so be it.

If you want a lesson in the greater good, go to the link and read the comments. The support Jarrid is receiving is amazing. It isn’t the monetary amount that caught my attention. It is the outpouring of verbal support this man is receiving. Yes, there have been a few nasty and sinister comments. But for the most part, it seems as if the entire school yard has stepped up to defend this guy against the bullies.

Most everyone can relate to Jarrid’s story. For some reason, people feel that those working in service industries are “beneath” the rest.

Social media can be horrid. Being rude and vicious by posting photos and videos of people is beyond disrespectful. Comments people leave are vile and vengeful.

I have to ask: What if the dealership encounter had gone the way of its original intent to humiliate the man? What if that was the final straw and he had ended his life? Do people trying to hurt others ever think of the repercussions?

Apparently not.

So back to the question: does Jarrid deserve $30,000? Truthfully, no. But this campaign has nothing to do with the money, and everything to do with respect. The tips that are being sent to him from around the world are nothing more than a message saying, “Here you go. I have dealt with idiots, too. Not all of us are bad.”

In the end, the good guys win.

© Lynne Cobb – 2015

 

12 Replies to “Does pizza delivery guy deserve $30,000?”

  1. I am with you, Lynne. It is mind-boggling to think that there are people who go out of their way to humiliate another person. It’s wonderful that technology provided the silver lining here where people rallied around Jarrid.

  2. Right on, Lynne. This is certainly about how others wanted to help out a person that has been wronged. I bet a lot of the people donating to Jarrid have been in the same situation and nothing was done about it. I am also glad how the manager of the dealership fired the employee that was the worst and went to the Pizza store to apologize in person.

  3. I hadn’t heard about this story, Lynne, but I’m glad there’s still people who care and take action in make an unfortunate situation right. I enjoyed browsing around your site thanks to Wendy McCance’s FB offer with links to her bloggers to attract more traffic. I liked it and I’m happy to meet you.

    1. Thanks, Pat! I browsed all the blogs, too! It was great of Wendy to offer. Thanks for reading my post…I, too, was relieved to see people still care, too!

      1. You’re welcome, Lynne. It was fun to pop in and read what people are doing. I enjoyed visiting you and was inspired with your post and, like you, glad to see people still care. 🙂

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