Met a guy at a bus stop who fixed my whole approach to tips

I was standing at the bus stop near 14th street last Tuesday, complaining to myself about how my tips have been flat for months. This older dude just pipes up and says "you're probably asking the wrong questions." He told me his trick is to ask people what they're celebrating instead of asking how their day is going. I tried it that night at work and my tips jumped by like 30 bucks in one shift lol. It's wild how a tiny shift in wording can change the whole vibe with strangers. Has anyone else found a simple question that works way better than the usual small talk?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_susan11d ago

Because honestly that's the whole secret nobody tells you about dealing with people. We all just go through life on autopilot asking the same boring questions expecting different results. I noticed this at the grocery store of all places. The cashier who asks "find everything okay?" gets a grunt. But the one who says "cooking anything good this week?" gets actual conversations and people opening up. It's like the brain checks out on "how's your day" because we've heard it a million times. But when you ask something that makes somebody think about a happy thing like what they're celebrating, you're basically tricking their brain into giving you the good vibes. It's such a small change but it works because people want to talk about the good stuff, they're just used to people asking lazy questions.

hayden14410d ago

That old dude was onto something real, huh? I used to roll my eyes at stuff like this, figured it was all just luck or whatever. But I tried the "what are you celebrating" thing last week at a diner I go to regular, and the waitress actually smiled and told me about her kid's soccer game, then comped my coffee. I was shocked. You're right, people are just tired of the same robotic questions. Now I feel like an idiot for ignoring that simple switch for so long.