So I'm a pizza delivery driver.

[JeffV]

Ok, first post. Let's start off with a little background.

I found this board from a link to the True Porn Clerk Stories. Good stuff Anywho, I'm in highschool, just turned 18 and coincidentally just got fired from my shitty job folding clothes all day long at Eddie Bauer. The job wasn't so bad -- it was the managers. Two out of the four knew what they were doing, the other two... well they were just plain failures in life.

To make a long story short, I had asked for my birthday off, got it confirmed and then proceeded to make plans with my family. The day I get my schedule, I find out that I am working from something like two till eight -- not a good thing. I asked my manager about it and he claims I told him it was the December 2nd (It's the 1st.)

So now that we have determined he can't take the blame for anything, it also turns out he can't fix mistakes. The most he does is give me a list of people not working that shift and I am left to contact them. No dice on the people I talk to and I am left with making a call on my birthday to let them know I couldn't come in. I get a call the next day from my manager and he gave me some bullshit, "blah blah, you aren't working out in this relationship, blah blah, we are going to have to terminate you... etc..." It sounded more like I got dumped by a girlfriend than fired.

It was all good though because I had another job lined up [just in case ] and now I am officially a pizza delivery driver.

Check back as I post stories, rants, and other things worthy of my time here.

--Jeff

 

[JeffV]

Day 2

Let me start off by letting everyone who reads this know, that delivery drivers NEED their tips! We all make minimum wage. When you add on top of that the cost of gas and average wear and tear on the vehicle, that $6.90 goes way down. Now I am a nice guy, not going to do anything to non tippers, but I DO know other people that go so far as to keep a list of non-tippers for reasons one probably wouldn't want to ponder.

Ok then, Here's the stats from day 2 of the new job:

* 3 hour shift
* 6 deliveries
* 4 runs
* $18 in tips (Excellent)
* 2 non tipping bastards
* 1 break down

So I am already getting used to the flow of things. When there are no deliveries, I do my best to look busy, which includes making pizzas, folding boxes, making pizzas, and maybe folding boxes

Nothing special about my first run, but on my second one, my car began to make a slight rubbing / grinding noise. I figured the breaks were dirty. By the second delivery of that run, the noise had gotten a lot worse and sounded a lot more like grinding. I had a good idea of what it was which turned out to be exactly right. The castle nut that holds my axle tight against my hub had come loose. This isn't a good thing and in most situations I would have left the car there and had someone pick me up. But, since I was on the clock, it was my second day of work, and this exact thing had happened to my car before, I decided to brave the rest of the trip back to my house to switch vehicles.

Let me tell you something, a Nissan Frontier is not a good delivery vehicle. First off, it is big and hard to maneuver through traffic, parking lots, and people's yards Second, gas mileage is horrible. Third, I don't like being responsible for an expensive truck that belongs to my father.

Now about that part about driving through people's yards. It wasn't intentional and it was only one bush. I was trying to find a house and eventually made a best guess, involving a long, gravel, pot-hole saturated, narrow driveway from hell. I get to the house, go to the door, ring the doorbell, and wait...... Nothing. I ring it again, same thing. So I go back to the truck and call the number on the ticket. No answer. I figure shit, the customer is probably sleeping, shitting, or deceased. As I am backing out of the driveway, I realized by the scraping sound under the truck, that I was backing out of the landscaping, and in the process mowing down a small bush. It didn't look like I did any damage so I don't think there will be any calls tomorrow.

I ended up checking inside the mailbox where I found out the address was correct. I tried delivering one more time and the guy answered the door, and gave me a check for the exact amount. Fuck. I almost went and finished off the rest of the garden.

The rest of the night was uneventfull other than the fact that I lost $10 out of my pocket. Another driver found it and I got it back a little later. I owe him one

Until next time, don't forget to tip your friendly pizza delivery driver!

--Jeff

 

[JeffV]

Day 3

Stats from day 3 of the new job:

* 3.5 hour shift
* 8 deliveries
* 6 runs
* $27 in tips (Excellent)
* 0 non tipping bastards
* 0 break downs

Not much news today other than the fact that I made some good tips, the last one is worth mentioning.

So I pull up to this house, it's a pretty nice one. I wasn't sure of the address and there were no cars in the driveway. Oh well, I ring the doorbell and some kid, about junior high age answers and I tell him the charge, "Your total's only $12.01." He replies with, "Oh, um ok..." and hands me a $20 bill. I say, "How much would you like back?" and he says, "I dunno, a couple dollars." So I hand him 2 bucks, thank him, and I am on my way back :up:

Now who says kids aren't turning out right these days??!

Oh yeah, before I forget, I just have to say how good of a job pizza delivery is for someone in high school or college. I went from a job where $9.50/hr was making my friends envious to making over $15/hr with tips. On top of that, I only deal with customers about 1% of the time I am on the clock. The rest of the time, I am driving, making pizzas, or just chillin out waiting for a delivery.

My dad once told me, "If you think about it... Everybody loves the UPS driver. They always bring good stuff." I found that this works for pizza delivery drivers as well Even if there's a problem with the pizza, I am already on my way back, and they have to call in and talk to an in-store.

Well tomorrow, If I have to work, I get to start driving vehicle number 3 in my high school career as a pizza delivery driver. A 1984 Chevy POS-10!! This baby comes complete with an engine that burns tons of oil and an exhaust that's about to fall off. OK it's not as bad as I make it out to be, and I would rather drive it than my 81 subaru 4x4 lifted hatchback (it's a beast, but not a good car to drive all night long.)

Give me some feedback! Send me an e-mail at: jeff at jdccs dot com or send a pm on the message board.

--Jeff