Delivery driver's note asking for generous tip to pay for his wedding gets overwhelming response

Rising costs of living have left people living paycheck to paycheck and those in the service industry are further facing difficulties due to an ongoing debate about tipping. Although leaving a tip for waiters at restaurants and others providing services at hotels is considered common, customers don't always show the same generosity towards delivery drivers who have emerged in the e-commerce era. One such gig worker is an UberEats delivery driver named Paul ​Slobodzian, who has been working to make some extra cash. Since he was getting married, the delivery guy was hoping to make the most of his side gig to pay for the big day.

While Slobodzian was making a delivery for Chipotle to one of the customer's houses, he decided to slip in a special note in the bag. He asked the customers to leave him a generous tip and even provided details of his Venmo account on the note. The customer named Erica Hernandez, also known as @erica_cristal on TikTok, decided to share a slideshow post on her page with a picture of the note left by the delivery driver with her order. In the short message, Slobodzian explained why he became a delivery driver and requested a tip to meet the expenses of his wedding. 

"Thank you for your order!" the note read. "I'm driving for [name of company] on the side to give my fiancee the wedding she deserves. Any additional tip through the app or Venmo is greatly appreciated." The kindhearted customer also put some overlay text on the pictures, addressing her followers. Even though Herandez didn't have a whole lot of followers who could see the post, she still hoped that the online community would step in to help Slobodzian. The effort was worth it since the video about Slobodzian's note gained over 33 million views and counting.

Fellow TikTok users appreciated Hernandez for helping Slobodzian to collect the necessary funds for his wedding. @mirnix777 wrote, "They invited her to the wedding! This is probably the cutest thing to happen on the internet." @baylayyy commented, "See, this is how you do it. My DoorDash driver told me she was pregnant and wasn't getting out of her car and I could come get it. I was also 34 weeks pregnant." @twinadriz added, "I am sure you had zero idea this would blow up and you just changed someone's life! That has to be so rewarding that money doesn't buy! You're a great soul queen!"

Hernandez also had a chat with Fox 10 Pheonix where she shared her side of the story. "I just felt really inspired to post it and see if my friends would be willing to donate or if any followers that I had on there would donate," she told the outlet. On the other hand, Slobodzian opened his own TikTok page @paulsobo711 and shared how the donations from strangers helped him to collect more than enough funds to invest in his wedding. "I never set out to leave those notes with the intention of somebody making a video about it or even trying to broadcast it to anybody besides the person I was delivering to," he told the news outlet.

His fiancee, Aly Perkins, also mentioned to the outlet that "they really didn't expect anything coming out of this little idea involving the notes to strangers." "The fact that a stranger got our note and felt so compelled to post it on the internet and advocate for two strangers is unbelievable," Perkins said. Slobodzian continued to update his followers about his upcoming nuptials in September 2024 and how he received donations from Chipotle as well.

Follow Paul ​Slobodzian (@paulslobo711) and Erica Hernandez (@erica_cristal) on TikTok for more videos.


Editor's note: This article was originally published on July 5, 2024. It has since been updated.