Car Dealership Workers Demand Pizza Delivery Guy Return His Tip, And The Internet Is Displeased

Everybody wants to go viral, but for workers at one car dealership in Massachusetts the dream of Internet popularity went totally awry after a video posted online appears to show employees stiffing the pizza delivery guy out of his tip.

First, some background on the situation: Boston.com reports that a video originally titled “irate pizza driver,” that appears to be shot from the vantage point of a camera stationed in a Westport, MA car dealership’s office was first uploaded to YouTube, but has since been deleted.

The title of the video combined with the camera angle and the fact that the video was yanked from YouTube makes one think that the workers at first intended to show how the driver was in the wrong.

Boston.com confirmed with the pizzeria that the transaction took place at the dealership, and a new video has since been posted on LiveLeak showing the testy encounter.

Here’s how it went down:

The driver shows up to deliver the pizzas, which came to a total price of $42 and some odd cents. He received $50 — two $20 bills and two $5 bills, and while this part isn’t in the video, he says he confirmed with the workers that they wouldn’t need change and left, thinking he’d gotten a $7 tip.

Instead, the dealership apparently called his manager and demanded that he hand over the change he’d absconded with.

That’s when the video starts, with the delivery guy asking the very good question of why they’d given him an extra $5 bill in the first place only to have him turn around and waste his resources to return it.

“It just doesn’t make sense why you’d hand me a bill that you were just gonna have me drive back here to give you back anyway,” the driver says in the video. “I’m not mad, I just had to waste my resources coming back here.”

In turn, the office workers lay into him for daring to take the change in the first place.

“So listen: The manager apologized once for you. Do you want him to apologize again for you?” one worker threatens.

“Out the door before I put my foot in your ass,” another says.

“Get the f—ing owner and the manager on the phone, I want that mother-f—er done,” a third man says after the driver leaves. “I want him fired.”

The pizzeria manager did hear from the dealership, with a worker claiming the driver had “verbally berated” them. But he also believed his worker, who explained the situation when asked. He said it wasn’t the first time the pizzeria has had problems with the dealership.

Since the video first hit the Internet, the pizzeria has been getting calls from around the country in support of the driver, with many offering to raise or donate money for him. The manager says now that both the owner of the dealership and his son came by yesterday to apologize in person.

“I was the manager on that night, and today they came and spoke to me, profusely apologized,” the manager says. “We both want to make things right between us. We don’t want any bad blood.”

But when the Internet wants blood, it will have blood — the dealership’s site was struggling to load and workers had stopped picking up calls, with negative reviews flooding in on Yelp and Google yesterday as well.

Westport Car Dealership Messes With Pizza Delivery Guy, Feels Internet’s Wrath [Boston.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Wendy’s Reportedly Dropping Soda From Kids’ Meals

(bluwmongoose)

More than a year after McDonald’s announced plans to remove sodas from Happy Meals, the folks at Wendy’s have reportedly decided that they should also stop including the sugary drinks in their kids’ meals.

While we’re still waiting for confirmation about this menu change from the fast food chain, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and other groups are reporting that the Ohio-based business is joining McDonald’s, Subway, Chipotle, Arby’s, and Panera on the list of eateries that don’t serve soda with kids’ meals.

If true, Burger King would remain as the only one of the big three burger chains to still include soda (or pop, Coke, cola, fizzy brown stuff) in the meals for junior diners.

“While parents bear most of the responsibility for feeding their children well, restaurant chains also need to do their part,” said CSPI senior nutrition policy counsel Jessica Almy in a statement. “Restaurants should not be setting parents up for a fight by bundling soda with meal options designed for kids.”

According to CSPI, the Wendy’s menu change came about after shareholders from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility filed a resolution with the company regarding soda in kids’ meals. ICCR subsequently withdrew the resolution after Wendy’s agreed to rethink the inclusion of soda in kids’ meals.

“We applaud Wendy’s for prioritizing children’s health and providing more nutritious beverage options,” said ICCR member Fr. Michael Crosby of the Wisconsin/Iowa/Minnesota Coalition for Responsible Investment. “Beyond the obvious health risks for kids is the reputational risk these unhealthy drinks carry for the company. As their investors, we are pleased to see them address this important concern.”

We’ve sent multiple e-mails to Wendy’s reps asking for confirmation of this menu change but have yet to hear anything back. If we do, we’ll update this story.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Pizzeria Lets Customers Donate Extra Slices To Homeless And Hungry Visitors

(frankieleon)

Back in 2013, we had some misgivings about a message spreading around Facebook that explained the idea of the suspended coffee, and urged people to spread the idea and the idea of donating free coffees to the needy all over the world. Since then, the idea has taken off in some places, including a pizzeria in Philadelphia where customers have bought more than 8,400 slices for homeless and hungry people who stop by.

While the power of a cup of coffee to warm a person up and make them feel human is undeniable, a slice of pizza is both hot and nutritious. (More nutritious than coffee, at least.) A customer who had seen that “suspended coffee” online meme suggested the idea to the owner of Rosa’s Fresh Pizza, and it caught on.

The free slices were tracked in a very simple way at first, with Post-Its on the wall each representing a slices of pizza paid for by a customer, and available to another customer in need. Now that the program has grown to almost 1,000 slices a month, it’s part of the cash register, and remains popular with everyone.

Word spread in the homeless community, and now the walls are covered with thank-you notes from pizza recipients.

Philadelphia Pizza Lovers Pay It Forward One Slice At A Time [NPR]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

T-Mobile Announces New Unlimited (3G) Prepaid Plans Starting At $40

(Patrick)

If you’re someone who wants a prepaid mobile plan that includes unlimited talk, text and data access for things like checking e-mail or occasionally browsing the Internet, T-Mobile’s new Simply Prepaid plans may be worth looking into.

The new plans, which start at $40/month and go on sale Jan. 25, will offer the typical unlimited talk and text that most people are used to. They also provide unlimited data — but only to the provider’s 3G network. How much you pay for the plan depends on how much you want to use T-Mobile’s faster 4G LTE data.

The $40 plan includes 1GB of 4G LTE. For $50/month, that increases to 3GB of 4G LTE, which is currently enough for the average smartphone user. If you want 5GB of LTE each month, the rate goes up to $60.

While Simply Prepaid users will have access to other T-Mobile features like WiFi phone calls at no extra charge, they won’t get certain benefits offered to the company’s postpaid customers — like access to numerous streaming music services that won’t count against users’ data allotments.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Passenger Tips Philly Cab Driver Almost $1,000 For A Two-Minute Trip

(wwward0)

It’s a dream come true for anyone who depends largely the generosity of others to make a living — land a huge tip for a small or otherwise not difficult job, and walk away happy. But one Philadelphia cab driver was so shocked by an almost $1,000 tip for a two-minute that he was more worried the passenger had made a mistake than he was excited about his windfall, at first.

The cabbie was cruising for fares in the early morning hours of Dec. 13 when he was flagged down by a man asking to go for just a short ride, reports Philly.com. He asked how the driver’s night was going, according to the founder of the cab company who spoke to the press on behalf of his worker.

“A little hectic, but not bad,” the cab driver said.

“I’ll make it a great night,” the mystery passenger replied.

At the end of the ride, which took a little more than a minute, the passenger swiped his card to pay the $4.32 fare and entered a tip — of $989.98.

The driver was worried that the passenger had made a mistake and asked if he’d meant to put such a large tip in, but the passenger answered, “I know what I did.”

Still, the cab company was concerned it was all a mixup, and waited 30 days for the credit card company to process the fare. Finally yesterday, the fare was all clear and the company could announce the driver’s big win. His generous customer remains a mystery.

“We’ve tried to get in touch with him, but the credit card company won’t divulge his name,” the cab company founder told Philly.com. “The fare was not disputed. That’s all they would say.”

He adds that this extra cash couldn’t have come to a better guy — he originally hails from West Africa, and works six or seven days a week to send a “good amount” of the money he makes to family still remaining overseas, the founder explains.

“I’ve heard of some large tips before, but nothing this big,” he says of his employee. “It couldn’t have happened to a better guy.”

Cabbie surprised by nearly $1,000 tip [Philly.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

New Travel App Only Lets You Book Hotel Rooms For Tonight or Tomorrow

(kevin dean)

Every once in a while, customers get stranded in an unfamiliar town for any number of reasons: flight cancelled, last-minute business meeting, the list goes on. If you’ve ever found yourself in one of those situations then you know it can be difficult to score a last-minute hotel room without forking over the big bucks. Priceline-owned travel company Booking.com (you know the company with annoying booking.yeah commercials?) claims to have the answer in the form of its Tinder-for-hotel-rooms mobile app, Booking Now.

Gigaom reports that Booking Now is a companion piece to the already in service Booking.com app, but with a huge caveat: you can only book rooms for tonight or tomorrow night.

The app is based on the same idea of normal travel sites while also sprinkling in a Tinder-esque function.

To use the app, customers provide their email address and a list of preferences such as if you need Wi-Fi or how much you’re willing to pay for the last-minute accommodations.

Now comes the Tinder-lovers favorite part: swiping yes or no. When the app provides a list of available rooms, customers simply swipe right or left to view their matches.

While Gigaom reports that the new app creates a less anxiety filled experience for last-minute travel bookers, it does have some fairly glaring deficiencies.

For one, it’s not very good at pinpointing the closes hotels to you. When looking for a hotel in New York, Gigaom found the app suggested rooms that were over 30 blocks away while closer hotels were buried further down in the search results list.

Although the app does store your credit card information, the company says it’s only used to confirm the reservation. When you arrive at the hotel you pay for your lodging directly.

Because most hotels no longer accept cancellations within 24 hours of the reservation, consumers who use the app will likely be out the cost of the room if their travel plans unexpectedly change.

Priceline gets into last-minute booking with new iPhone app [Gigaom]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Marriott Gives Up For Now On Plan To Jam Guests’ Personal Wifi Hotspots

(afagen)

Marriott got a big fat fine from the FCC last year for illegally blocking customers’ personal wifi hotspots. The chain paid the fine, but doesn’t want another one. Their solution? Ask the FCC to make what they did legal going forward. But after widespread backlash from tech companies, customers, and basically everyone on the internet, Marriott is now backing away from the plan.

In a brief statement issued late yesterday, the chain said, “Marriott International listens to its customers, and we will not block guests from using their personal Wi-Fi devices at any of our managed hotels.”

Marriott’s claim with the FCC was that blocking personal wifi hotspots was essential to guarantee the safety and integrity of the company’s own wifi network, and the statement concludes by once again diving behind that cover: “Marriott remains committed to protecting the security of Wi-Fi access in meeting and conference areas at our hotels. We will continue to look to the FCC to clarify appropriate security measures network operators can take to protect customer data, and will continue to work with the industry and others to find appropriate market solutions that do not involve the blocking of Wi-Fi devices.”

The saga began when the FCC fined the company $600,000 last fall for illegally jamming personal wifi hotspots in a Nashville convention center in 2013.

Instead of doing some corporate introspection about the limited virtues of nickeling and diming consumers to death, Marriott decided that the best way to avoid incurring such a penalty again in the future was to petition the FCC to make it legal for them to jam personal wifi hotspots on their properties.

Other hotel chains and trade groups chimed in to the proceeding on Marriott’s side. Tech giants Microsoft and Google, among others, stood on the other side, filing responses that Marriott should be allowed to do no such thing.

Over the holidays, Marriott tried to placate the hordes burying them in bad PR by clarifying that they didn’t want to block personal wifi hotspots in guest rooms, but only in the shared spaces where you actually need to use one. But since the people who work at, attend, and cover conventions like being able to use the internet to do their jobs while at those conventions, that argument didn’t fly either.

Marriott’s statement is good news for consumers in the short term. However, their FCC petition is still an open proceeding that the Commission will have to deal with one way or the other.

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Target Preparing To Exit Canada, Will Close All 133 Stores In The Country

(Mr.TinDC)

Some news for our friends shopping north of the border, or any Americans who wander into the country looking for a bit of home: Target is pulling up the stakes, closing all 133 stores in the country and rolling out of Canada, after the company said there was just no way to make Target Canada profitable anytime soon.

The company announced the news today in a statement from Brian Cornell, Target Corporation Chairman and CEO, reports the Toronto Star:

“After a thorough review of our Canadian performance and careful consideration of the implications of all options, we were unable to find a realistic scenario that would get Target Canada to profitability until at least 2021,” he says in the statement. “Personally, this was a very difficult decision, but it was the right decision for our company. With the full support of Target Corporation’s Board of Directors, we have determined that it is in the best interest of our business and our shareholders to exit the Canadian market and focus on driving growth and building further momentum in our U.S. business.”

Canada’s 133 Target stores employ about 17,600 people, with “nearly all Target Canada-based employees receive a minimum of 16 weeks of compensation, including wages and benefits coverage for employees who are not required for the full wind-down period,” the company says.

Target says it’ll cost about $500 million to $600 million in cash to shut things down in the wintry north, with stores remaining open during a court-supervised liquidation period. Things were supposed to get better during the holidays after an added effort, but alas, it wasn’t enough.

“We hoped that these efforts in Canada would lead to a successful holiday season, but we did not see the required step-change in our holiday performance,” said CEO Cornell. “There is no doubt that the next several weeks will be difficult, but we will make every effort to handle our exit in an appropriate and orderly way.”

Target to close up shop in Canada [Toronto Star]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Report: RadioShack Preparing To File For Bankruptcy As Soon As Next Month

(Da Chris Boss)

RadioShack’s march toward doom is continuing steadily on, after announcing it would close a bunch of stores, then saying it wouldn’t close as many because even that was too expensive, and telling employees it would no longer match employees’ retirement contributions as of next year, the struggling electronics retailer is reportedly getting ready to file bankruptcy papers.

The filing could come as early as next month, reports the Wall Street Journal, as RadioShack is in talks with lenders who could help provide the cash to cover its operations during the bankruptcy protection proceedings.

The company is also reportedly in talks with a private-equity firm that could be interested in buying its assets out of bankruptcy, but that deal is far from being a sure thing. RadioShack might go the more typical road of reducing its debt and restructuring its operations in bankruptcy court.

Everything could change in the next few weeks, of course, but it seems inevitable that RadioShack has to do something — it’s been bleeding cash and posting losses for 11 straight quarters.

RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing [Wall Street Journal]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

TIC’s y Formación llega a los 6.000.000 de visitas #socialmedia

Cuando hace algo más de cuatro años comencé esté blog para recopilar material para mis cursos y conferencias, no tenía ni idea de cual iba a ser el futuro del mismo.

Un día publiqué una infografía, que siempre me ha parecido un formato tremendamente efectivo para comunicar, y observé que la gente visitaba ese post mucho más que los demás, pero no le di mucha importancia en ese momento. A cabo de un cierto tiempo publiqué una segunda infografía y se repitió el proceso, y poco a poco la infografía se convirtió en el alma mater del blog.

Al principio el blog trataba los temas relacionado con la formación y las TIC’s, pero con el tiempo, sin abandonar los temas primigenios se ha especializado en marketing y Social Media.

No me quiero enrollar mucho, ya que lo único que quiero hacer con este breve post es dar 6.000.000 millones de gracias a todos los que me habéis acompañado en esta andadura, sin vosotros esto no hubiera sido posible.

Pienso seguir trabajando en el blog, y espero que me acompañéis con vuestras visitas, comentarios y críticas. ¿Que la fuerza nos acompañe!

Un abrazo y nos vemos por aquí ;-)

TIC’s y Formación llega a los 6.000.000 de visitas

Es bonito cuando consigues el reconocimiento de tu trabajo:

Top 20 blogs de marketing y publicidad

Y aprovechando que el Pisuerga pasa por Valladolid (y soy vallisoletano) os presento otro de mis proyectos, que el día 26 de enero estará en las librerías de toda España, y en marzo en las de América.

Cómo buscar trabajo con Redes Sociales (y sin ellas)

Archivado en: Marketing on line, Redes Sociales, Sociedad de la información Tagged: Blogs, internet, Marketing, redes sociales, tic, Web 2.0.



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