By slicing the ball from time to time you can throw off your opponent’s timing and make returning the ball more difficult. Slice shots can make life difficult on your opponent, in particular, if used intermittently with topspin.
#Slice it forward free#
He says word has spread within Philadelphia's homeless community, and each day 30 to 40 homeless people come in asking for a free slice.The slice shot is a technique used in tennis to create backspin on a ball. Wartman doesn't need to advertise, and he is receiving enough "paid forward" pizza that he does not have to turn away any of the homeless people who come in. "This is a super-easy way, a super-efficient way and a super-transparent way to help the homeless." "They're just really nice people, you know? Sometimes homeless people buy them for other homeless people." He says people want to help but aren't sure what to do. Wartman says the pay-it-forward method at his tiny Philly pizza shop has made him think about customers' motivations. Gould points to an impressive example: More than 1,000 customers at a Connecticut Starbucks paid it forward on Christmas Eve in 2013.
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Gould says some people just offer to pay for the person behind them in line, while others "might load a certain dollar amount onto a Starbucks card and the store partners have it on hand and they keep adding to it as the line goes on." "It happens for Starbucks all around the world," she says. spokeswoman Sanja Gould says the company doesn't have a formal system in place, but some customers ask to pay for others and some store partners may encourage customers to do so verbally. Other chains' pay-it-forward systems have grown organically. In a written statement, Panera spokesperson Kate McConnell tells The Salt that the cafes "provide suggested donation amounts for all menu items to help guide those who would like to 'pay it forward.' " She says the money collected is used to cover the operating costs of the cafes, "while also covering the cost of the meals for those who come in and are unable to contribute the suggested donation amount." Even mega-chains, including the bakery and sandwich chain Panera, have gotten into the giving act.Īt five "Panera Cares" locations across the country, there are no set menu prices. Pay-it-forward generosity isn't limited to Italian cafes or one Philly pizza shop. Wartman says the customer who started it all was inspired by a practice in Italy called " suspended coffee" where customers purchase an extra cup for someone who can't afford it. On the notes and papers hung around the shop there are messages like, "I just want to thank everyone that donated to Rosa's it gave me a place to eat everyday and the opportunity to get back on my feet. He now keeps track at the register.īut his customers - both paying and nonpaying - keep sharing their motivations and their thanks in writing. Then the accounting system became untenable. He kept track of the prepaid slices with Post-it notes on the walls until he hit about 500 free slices. Over the past nine months, Wartman says, clients have bought 8,400 slices of pizza for their homeless neighbors.
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"I said, 'Sure.' I took his dollar and ran out and got some Post-it notes and put one up to signify that a slice was purchased," he recalls. The pay-it-forward pizza program started about a year ago, Wartman says, when one paying customer asked if he could buy a slice for a homeless person. "The homeless, they come in and say, 'I hear you give out free pizza to homeless people,' " owner Mason Wartman tells The Salt. The messages are from customers who gave $1 so homeless members in the community could get a slice, which costs $1. Some pizza restaurants decorate the walls with signed photos of minor local celebrities who once stopped by for a slice.Īt Rosa's Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia, the shop is adorned with Post-it notes and letters.