Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years.

I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that.

It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he never once offered a tip.

Frugality aside, he was always very polite and warm so I can't be mad. Makes for a good ice breaker story.

Edit: holy moly, this is a sensitive subject. Please remember this was from a time before tipflation. Tipping meant you left your change behind once in a while only if you felt the desire to show appreciation. It wasn't an obligation. Yes, I still do think it's a funny story. Roast me for being entitled lol

Reminds me of his visit to my undergrad. He had a niece or nephew or something (I never met them) who went there, and he was going to visit them. The university planned what amounted to a large science fair to showcase all the projects around and everyone was required to put something together. The day came, he walked in, made a beeline for his relative's project, talked to them for a minute, then hurried right out. My mentor ran after him trying to get him to take some merchandise.

In retrospect it's pretty obvious there was a big miscommunication, and he didn't really seem rude about it (supposedly he did talk to a project they put outside the hall because it used a Kinect IIRC). It really wouldn't surprise me to find out the university told him we just so happened to have this research fair going on the day he'd be visiting.