Woes of a Pizza Delivery Guy

[EricKei]

When I was at DaddyJim's and at a small, independent Italian joint (late 90's/early naughties), we got 4.5% "commission" on net sales normally, or 5.5% for a closing shift, plus standard minimum wage, topper or not (well, there was no "not" -- getting caught without your topper on, and lit up (at night) when on-duty was a good way to get your hours slashed). This was prior to any delivery charges being implemented (which normally DO NOT go to the driver, btw). Note that the "net sales" bit meant that a HUGE freebie order to a school/church/whatever meant zero commish x.x

At both places, they *required* that we keep track of, and count our money. Preferably along with keeping anything over what we would need for change in locked boxes until end-of shift, too.

[ADeMartino]

Those car topper signs are a menace. When I was delivery driving, there was a large, fairly rough neighborhood in the southeast corner of our delivery zone, and a car topper in THAT neighborhood was essentially a giant, lighted 'ROB ME' sign. Our drivers were involved in two major incidents in that neighborhood - robberies both, but in the second incident (only 4 months after the first), the driver was literally dragged out of his car, badly beaten, and then his money and car stolen. These were just the incidents that involved OUR drivers; other restaurants had had problems there as well - including an incident where a driver had his car TURNED OVER ON ITS ROOF. Shortly before I quit, my restaurant adopted the same 'no deliveries after dark' policy that other restaurants had already implemented - MUCH to the displeasure of the residents there.

They couldn't give me enough money to carry a topper in that part of town. With our bright green uniform shirts and jackets, we were already conspicuous enough, thank you. I carried a big 4xD-cell Maglight when I went there - and the light it provided was actually it's SECONDARY function. Think 'heavy, blunt object that I could legally carry.'

[greek_jester]

I carried a big 4xD-cell Maglight when I went there - and the light it provided was actually it's SECONDARY function. Think 'heavy, blunt object that I could legally carry.'

Ah, the old (not quite a) joke about being able to weaponise anything.

At high school some of the female teachers ran an "unofficial" self-defence course for the girls. There are many ladies on this board who could list secondary uses for female grooming implements/clothing:

- Stiletto shoes with metal tips; look sexy as hell, with sufficient force can do serious damage to the foot of someone who's grabbed you from behind.
- Pocket-sized hairspray; good for primping your 'do half-way through the night, doubles as pepper spray when someone tries to grab you.
- Inch-long nails (false or real); they show off hands beautifully, and can do major damage to the face/hands/arms of anyone trying to drag you around by your hair.
- Metal teasing comb https://www.google.co.uk/#q=metal+teasing+comb+pics; do I even need to explain this one?

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

NOT ALLOWED TO COUNT THE PAYMENT (that would OFFEND the customer... God forbid!)... I wound up giving up $6 of those CC tips.

*Hands over 25c and a bottle cap on return to store* "No, don't count it, that would be OFFENSIVE..."

[ADeMartino]

Ah, the old (not quite a) joke about being able to weaponise anything.

Out of necessity in this case. There are laws on the books that prohibit carrying anything that could be interpreted as a 'weapon'. I could not, for example, carry around a baseball bat late at night. A Maglight, on the other hand, has a legitimate purpose after dark - the facts that it's made out of aircraft-grade aluminum and could leave a sizable dent in someone's brain case notwithstanding.

[Mr Hero]

I just witnessed this tonight. I wonder how often it happens. Noid Pizza has a delivery for one of the rooms in my hotel. They knock the door. There's no answer. They knock again. There's no answer. So they come down to the desk and we try calling the room phone with again no answer. There's a cell phone number on the order. We call it and it goes straight to voice mail. In the end, the delivery driver left without having been able to deliver the goods. I wonder if there will be a complaint or a crappy tip.

and we are NOT ALLOWED TO COUNT THE PAYMENT (that would OFFEND the customer.!

You never count your money
When you're standing in the doorway
There'll be time enough for counting
When the delivery's done.

[ADeMartino]

I just witnessed this tonight. I wonder how often it happens. Noid Pizza has a delivery for one of the rooms in my hotel. They knock the door. There's no answer. They knock again. There's no answer. So they come down to the desk and we try calling the room phone with again no answer. There's a cell phone number on the order. We call it and it goes straight to voice mail. In the end, the delivery driver left without having been able to deliver the goods. I wonder if there will be a complaint or a crappy tip.

More often than you might think. It might be a prank (gee, how thoroughly original, and seriously, how is that even funny?), but there are stories with other reasons, such as:

The customer ordered food: (pick one)

- while drinking, then shortly thereafter passed out

- then completely forgot (or got impatient), and went out to eat.

- but had recently moved and gave an old address and/or phone number.

- gave the wrong hotel room #.... or even gave the wrong hotel.

- then became amorous with his partner

- then removed his/her hearing aid

- with the intent to ambush the driver. Yes, REALLY.

[Canarr]

I just witnessed this tonight. I wonder how often it happens. Noid Pizza has a delivery for one of the rooms in my hotel. They knock the door. There's no answer. They knock again. There's no answer. So they come down to the desk and we try calling the room phone with again no answer. There's a cell phone number on the order. We call it and it goes straight to voice mail. In the end, the delivery driver left without having been able to deliver the goods. I wonder if there will be a complaint or a crappy tip.

Guilty of that on my last trip to the US. I'd ordered a pizza to my hotel room after arriving, but then jet lag overcame me and I fell asleep while waiting for the delivery. I called the pizza joint (just down the road, fortunately), apologized for my oversight, then just doubled the tip for the driver. Problem solved.

[Gilhelmi]

Guilty of that on my last trip to the US. I'd ordered a pizza to my hotel room after arriving, but then jet lag overcame me and I fell asleep while waiting for the delivery. I called the pizza joint (just down the road, fortunately), apologized for my oversight, then just doubled the tip for the driver. Problem solved.

But that does not make you a bad customer, that makes you a really really good customer. In a saner world, companies should be having their CEOs compete in an MMA fighting tournament just to make you their customer. That is how good of customer you are right now.

Everyone has a brain fart, but how one reacts to it is the character of the person.

[greek_jester]

Out of necessity in this case. There are laws on the books that prohibit carrying anything that could be interpreted as a 'weapon'.

The same for us. We could be arrested for carrying knives, pepper spray, etc. The point of the unofficial lessons was to encourage us to think creatively of ways to protect ourselves that still fell within the law.

I took it a step further once I left high-school; I used to be a goth, and part of some of my favourite outfits was an array of large, heavy steel rings which left some interesting imprints the one time I had to use them (a drunk university twit who wanted to haze the short, pudgy goth girl).

[Sapphire Silk]

Out of necessity in this case. There are laws on the books that prohibit carrying anything that could be interpreted as a 'weapon'. I could not, for example, carry around a baseball bat late at night. A Maglight, on the other hand, has a legitimate purpose after dark - the facts that it's made out of aircraft-grade aluminum and could leave a sizable dent in someone's brain case notwithstanding.

This is precisely the reason I used one when delivering pizza's, and still carry one in my car.

[Tyg3rW01f]

Out of necessity in this case. There are laws on the books that prohibit carrying anything that could be interpreted as a 'weapon'. I could not, for example, carry around a baseball bat late at night. A Maglight, on the other hand, has a legitimate purpose after dark - the facts that it's made out of aircraft-grade aluminum and could leave a sizable dent in someone's brain case notwithstanding.

This is precisely the reason I used one when delivering pizza's, and still carry one in my car.

A story on this one!!
*I* --the author of this thread-- carried about a cassette-flash (one of those pocket flashlights that uses a 3-cell AAA cassette) on my deliveries until THIS GUY>>>
I was making a delivery in Blountville, TN, a zone of no tips, and blue-skinned (inbred) hicks who don't know Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5, 1933, nor do some of them know Truman is no longer President.
This customer came to the door of his broken, sag-roofed, sag-FRAMED single wide pile of junk. Instead of fully being in the door, however, he was hiding behind the frame and telling me I had to come into his p.o.s. home!! I had gotten sick of having to bang around, shake, rattle, and roll my cassette light, and so I was carrying my 3-cell Mag... and jittering it out of pure habit.
SC looks at this and leans back. I hear KLUNK, and SC comes outside to sign the receipt, when he'd previously been telling me to come INSIDE.

I have very rarely failed to carry my big, beautiful, heavy Maglite since! But I have NEVER failed to carry my pocketknife. Gibbs Rule #9: Always carry a pocketknife.

[ADeMartino]

I used to get jokes about my Mag from other drivers - until that incident I mentioned earlier in the thread, about the driver who was dragged out of his car, beaten, and robbed, and his car stolen. My paranoia started to make a little more sense after that, but by then I was already looking for another job. It had just become too dangerous for my tastes.

The delivery drivers at that restaurant were forbidden to carry explicit weapons on deliveries- no knives, tasers, pepper spray, baseball bats or tire irons....and certainly no guns. There was nothing forbidding us to have such items in the car (within the restrictions of law, of course), but we couldn't carry them on the actual delivery. It sounds silly until you realize that some of the customers we delivered to had actual policies forbidding weapons of ANY kind on the premises. The mental hospital and the National Guard facility were two good examples.

I've had the police question many things in my vehicles over the years, but I've never been questioned about having that Mag.

[EricKei]

One of our drivers at DaddyJim's - Let's call her Z - Used to carry a nice heavy halogen light that could easily outshine the brightest of bright car headlights. She used it mostly to locate address numbers on dark, unlit streets (usually the wealthiest areas)

[Sapphire Silk]

This customer came to the door of his broken, sag-roofed, sag-FRAMED single wide pile of junk. Instead of fully being in the door, however, he was hiding behind the frame and telling me I had to come into his p.o.s. home!! I had gotten sick of having to bang around, shake, rattle, and roll my cassette light, and so I was carrying my 3-cell Mag... and jittering it out of pure habit.
SC looks at this and leans back. I hear KLUNK, and SC comes outside to sign the receipt, when he'd previously been telling me to come INSIDE.

Yeah, because he planned to rob you.

I had a close call when I was delivery. On that delivery, I'd brought along one of the shop cooks as a "shotgun" because the neighborhood was so bad we didn't deliver there alone. One of our drivers had been robbed the previous week.

Dude meets me at the door, but is very slow and cagey about paying. I was instantly uncomfortable. Two other dudes come out from behind the side of the house to my left, and start to circle behind me. I knew instantly I was about to get robbed.

Then the cook gets out of my car. He was a big, bad looking dude (biker type). The two dudes behind me melt back into the night, first dude pays me, and cook and I get the hell out of dodge.