Pizza Delivery Stories

I've been working at a small chain store for a year and a half in suburban Pittsburgh. I have many stories, but this is my favorite.

We had an order the previous day from the local Chamber of Commerce for a delivery the next day. It was a big order, about 15 pies with various toppings for a meeting they were going to have. They also asked if we could time the delivery for 12 noon sharp. So far, no problem. We came in and prepared the pizzas before hand and set them in the refrigerator, so all they needed was to be run through the oven.

At 11:00 AM, we got a call from the CoC. I answered it and the woman on the other end wanted to know if they can have their pizzas RIGHT NOW. Apparently the CoC decided to move the meeting up an hour. I tried to explain that they're not even baked yet, which will take a good 30 minutes, but no dice. She wanted them now. I explained that all I can do is get them there ASAP, but it's still going to be a half hour.

I took the delivery and they were waiting for me like dogs in a kennel. I figured I'd go the extra mile and set the stuff up for them "buffet" style on some tables (I'm thinking BIG tip here). I lined the pizzas up, opened the boxes, and announced to the gathering which pies had which toppings. Of course, they set in on the food like they haven't eaten in weeks. I presented the bill to the guy who looked like he was in charge -- $192.00. He looked it over and said, "Where do I sign?"

Seeing where this conversation was going, I politely added, "That doesn't include the tip."

I was told that the CoC (yes, the local Chamber of Commerce) doesn't have the money and will have to cut me a check, later. I informed the guy that no arrangements were made and that I would have to call my manager. I made the call (to which the manager flips out) and we agreed to let them pay the bill later after the meeting was over, figuring they're the CoC -- we know where to find them. I relayed this information to the guy in charge. "Okay", he said. "How much was the total again?" I repeated it once more, "$192, plus tip."

Later in the shift, my manager told me to go back to the CoC and get paid. I did and suddenly no one knew anything about it. Uh-huh. So I walked around the building a bit and just happened to bump into the guy from before, who directed me to a secretary somewhere. I found her and she had the *&%$ing nerve to haggle the bill!

My jaw hit the floor. After bending over backwards for these people, they wanted to haggle over the bill! I stated politely, yet firmly, that if they wanted a bigger discount, that would be up to my manager, not me, and that I expected payment right now. Of course, she takes this as her cue to call my manager. After a while, she hands me the phone. My manager told me to come back to the store and that someone from the CoC will bring a check to us. He also told me that he reminded the woman that my tip was NOT included in the bill.

Later yet in the shift, someone came in with a blank check for the order. Of course, they were instructed to get a bigger discount, so the person and my manager went in the back to hammer this all out. In the end, the bill was haggled down to $120 and no tip. When my manager "reminded" the person that it was customary to tip the driver, especially with a bill this large, he was told that a tip would be considered an additional expense and that it wasn't approved.

One night when I was delivering for Domino's in Duncanville, Texas, I was assigned a delivery to an apartment in a wooded area. A wooded area with a creek ran alongside the apartments. When I pulled up to the building where I was to deliver to, I saw two raccoons next to a dumpster. Grown up in Texas, I'd seen many raccoons and never had an incident with them. I walked past the raccoons with my order, but soon I heard the sound of scurrying animals behind me. I turned around to see six raccoons in pursuit. I began to walk a bit faster in hopes that they would give up the chase. This was not to be, and it turned into a full blown chase.

Luckily, I was delivering an order of hot wings with the order, so I grabbed one wing and used it as a peace offering. I'm just glad the customer never asked about his missing wing. When I returned back to the store and told my tale, everyone was rolling on the floor with laughter. I don't remember appreciating their laughter at my brush with death at the time, but I'm okay with it now. I was branded CoonMan, a name that sticks with me today.

When I worked at a Domino's store in Waxahachie, Texas, I discovered both the pros and cons of nudity on deliveries. One night, an order was placed with instructions to go around back to the pool. When the driver arrived, he went around back to see three college-aged girls swimming. One was completely nude and the other two were topless. He figured the girl would put a robe on or something when she went to retrieve the money for the order. Much to his surprise, she remained naked as she handed him the money, and a $6 tip. The driver said he tripped four or five times getting out of the back yard.

Of course, I'm never lucky enough to get a delivery like that. The next day, I took a delivery to a nice house in the same neighborhood. When I rang the doorbell, a 60-year-old man with an open bathrobe opened the door. Five years later, I still can't erase the horrible image from my mind. It was after that experience that I determined that "no nudes, is good nudes."

I work for Domino's Pizza in Minnesota. A topic on the discussion board sparked the memory of this experience. It was a run to the edge of our delivery area and to a shed in the middle of a field, no less. But I cruised out there and found the place just fine. It was surrounded by bikes in every stage of disrepair. There were three young boys (9 or 10 yrs old) hanging around, a guy with long hair, and an older guy. Out in the boonies, kids, long hair, and a credit card payment to boot, I figured this was a sure stiff! But the guy signs the credit card slip, then hands the three boys each a dollar and instructs them to give it to me and thank me for delivering their pizza. Which they each did, very politely. Wow! I was shocked! But what really gave me warm fuzzies was this. As I was walking away, I heard the older guy say to the kids, "Now, tell me why we tip the pizza delivery person?..." and goes on to explain to them that we're providing a service, etc. I wish I could hook that guy up with a few other customers!

I've been a pizza deliverer for a national pizza chain for just over a year. Delivering in a New England state lends to driving in all kinds of weather. This happened about two weeks ago when we had a really bad snow storm. For the most part, people were really understanding when it took more than 45 minutes to deliver their pizza. And almost everyone give a reasonable ($3.00+) tip. On one of my last deliveries that long night, "Dave" was upset when I arrived at his house with his very hot pizza. Not that it took 45 minutes, but the fact that he didn't have enough money for a decent tip. I still got a dollar for my effort.

Anyway, "Dave" went on about how he was sorry that he didn't get a chance to run to the ATM just around the corner from his house (which there is) and that he didn't expect me as soon as he did. "Dave" went on about knowing that I work most weekends and that he would meet me at work that Saturday to give me a decent tip. Now I know all the delivery people out there are saying (because I was saying it myself and so were my fellow co-workers) "I'll believe it when I see it!" because this was not the first time I've heard a customer say they'll give me a big tip next time.

Well, Saturday night came around and I pull up to work. As I'm exiting my car I hear my name being called. As I look around, I see "Dave" on the other side of the lot waving his arms and calling my name. He had been waiting there for about 5 minutes. He told me that there was an additional $4.00 waiting for me inside that he left with my manager. I must have looked somewhat surprised to him because he told me, "Really, there's four dollars in there. I left it with "Jack." He was surprised, too." At that point, all I could do was to shake this man's hand and thank him profusely.

He asked me if I ever had a customer like him. I replied with a chuckle, "You're the first and only customer (of mine) who has ever made good on their promise for a better tip." After that, I told every driver in the store that whenever they get "Dave's" address, make sure he gets an extra, "Thank you," and that the pizza is still piping hot.

I've worked for a Domino's in Michigan for 5 years now. Every year there are a couple of days that snow quite hard. In the last couple of days we had accumulated about 12 inches of snow. It was still snowing hard, but most people had been plowing and shoveling their driveways enough so that we could deliver their food.

It was one of those heavy-snow-friday-night-ass-whoopins. The volume alone was causing us to back up. The slippery roads and motorists who shouldn't be allowed on the roads when it snows were making it even worse!

A co-working/longtime friend of mine was delivering in a smaller-sized car, doing his best to do his job on this very taxing day. He got a run to a guy who lived up a long unpaved driveway, the kind that you can barely see the house from the road. He gathered momentum and made his way up the driveway and delivered the pizza. No love.

He started back down the drive and got stuck about halfway!! He tried to dig himself out, having kept a shovel in his car for just this occasion. It wasn't working. His car was just too stuck. So now what?

He's already cold and the light jacket Domino's provides is barely helping. He walks up the driveway back to the guy's house. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, DING DONG. No matter what door he tries or what window he knocks on, this guy refuses to come back to the door.

We finally got a call at the store. It had been a long time since anyone had heard from him. He had walked 2 miles to a payphone and called to have a tow out of the guy's driveway.

To the guy who wouldn't answer the door right after he got pizza ... thanks a lot, jerk.

Well, I've got lots of stories! I'll only tell one right now. My husband, his brother, and I owned a pizza delivery restaurant for 8 years. It was Pizza Plus in rural north Alabama. We did the majority of the deliveries so we have lots of funny stories!

Once my husband was delivering to these people out in a mobile home park. When he pulled up, there were about six kids all under the age of 10 out in the front yard playing. As he walked up to the porch and started up the steps, this little boy of about 5 walked out naked as a jaybird. Except for a gun belt with a couple of guns in the holster and a cowboy hat on. Several adults walked out behind him, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the boy was naked. My husband was holding three large pizzas and a couple of 2-liter drinks. He was trying to dodge all the kids and about 4 dogs that had swarmed around him - while the adults were searching for the money. (As usual, waiting until the driver got to the door before getting their money ready.) No one offered to take the pizzas yet or anything. All of a sudden, the little naked cowboy said, "Pizza man, I'm gonna sock you!" and hit my husband square in the privates as hard as he could with his fist. He didn't drop the pizzas and he didn't kick the child! Although he couldn't breathe, the adults finally paid him and took the food. NO TIP!

I deliver pizza for Dave's Pizza in NM. Sometimes, as most of you know, things get very busy and delivery times go up. And like most good pizza places, if the customer calls in then they may end up getting the pizza at no charge. Some people are very unappreciative and don't even tip for a no charge pizza. One night recently though, I delivered an order that was late and no charge and the people gave me an $8 tip just for making the trip because no other place delivers to them.

Another story relates to something that happened to another driver. It is a bad story, but kind of funny. The driver was delivering 3 large pizzas to the housing authority in town, a $31 order. The driver arrived and knocked on the door. A woman came to the door, took the pizzas, and told him she would be right back with the money. She went to a back room while the driver waited. After 2-3 minutes, the driver realized something wasn't right and called the manager on his cell phone. Shortly after, the woman came to the door with the 3 pizzas and handed them back to the driver, telling him that she couldn't afford $31, and she slammed the door in his face. As he was walking back to his car, he felt something was wrong and decided to check the pizzas. He openned the top one and saw it was all there. Then, he openned the middle pizza and saw that it was half eaten. He further checked the bottom pizza and when he opened the box, he found a bed sheet stuffed inside so that the box would hold its form. Needless to say, a police report was filed.

One last story. Occasionally we get prank or false orders from kids. The owner often uses caller id and calls them back if he can. One time he told the kid on the other end he was gonna call the police. That scared the kid, and not only did he admit he had a part in it, he also ratted out a friend who was also involved. The owner also tries to get hold of these kids parents. Those kids never pranked again. Another time a girl called in an order and the driver went to make the delivery to find out that it was a prank. The owner called the girl, as she gave her home phone, and started telling her that he doesn't appreciate the prank as it costs him money. Not a few minutes later, the owner got a call from the girl's father. Apparently, she told her dad that the owner was giving her a hard time. The owner told the dad to mention the address she had given to the order taker. The father then told the owner that he would talk it over with his daughter and if she did do it, he was gonna come in and have a talk with the owner; and if she did not admit to it he was still gonna come in. Well, about half hour later, the father comes in with his daughter and made her pay for the pizza out of her own money, and to further teach her a lesson the father made her give the driver a $2 tip for the trouble.

One day when it was getting pretty late and after getting stiffed a number times I was more than ready to call it a day and go home. What was going to be my last delivery was to a trailer park. Now for ya'll that don't know, trailer parks all have two things in common. They hardly ever tip and they never have house numbers -- so not only do you spend forever trying to figure out which trailer gets the food, you know it's for naught also. Anyway, I'm getting off subject. I found the trailer in short order and was very pleased with that small accomplishment. I knocked on the door and a lady and small child (3 or less years old) came to the door. The lady paid for her order (no tip) while the child watched the transaction very quietly. Just as I started to leave the child gave the international pick me up signal, sticking both arms straight up into the air and gently wiggling his small fingers. I reached down and picked up the child and in an instant the little boy hugged me tight around the neck and said, "I Love You Pizza Man." Now maybe it was hunger talking but that story will live forever in my memory making it the best tip ever received.

Awhile back, I was going down a residential street in Carrollton - it's a typical blue collar neighborhood, and I'd never had any problems before or since - at the time, I lived in a similar neighborhood and didn't have any problems with leaving windows open, car unlocked, etc.

First off, I was in a rental car - my car (96 Civic EX) was in the body shop. Was in a 2002 Ford Escort, base model, with a slipping transmission.

Anyway, coming down my side of the road was a 2002 Honda Civic with its high beams on. I flashed my high beams on and off quickly, trying to get their attention (plus I was nearly blind from the lights). They turned their lights off and on, still high beams, got back on their side of the road, and parked. I flicked the high beams again (bad move Sean), then went around a curve in the road.

About 10 houses from my delivery, the Civic comes flying up next to me and swerves in front of me, forcing me into the curb. 2 guys get out, another guy pulls up in a pickup truck. 2 guys start screaming at me about flashing the lights. Thankfully, I had all the doors except the drivers door locked, and all windows up except the drivers window. One guy grabs the door and tries to yank it open, other grabs my shirt through the window and punches me in the face. (3rd guy did nothing but watch/egg them on). Their mistake was grabbing the door handle - I jumped into the passenger seat, balled up, and as soon as I heard the door unlatch, I kicked it as hard as I could.

One of them was trying to reach in again after me and instead (judging by the screams and where he was), probably caught the edge of the door in the crotch. Other guy had his hand on the door handle - I heard several bones break, and screams.

All 3 took off - I took off after the Civic long enough to get the plate # (amazingly the Escort kept up, though I was pulling some pretty insane stunts trying to keep up), called the police, and gave them the plate # and said "it's a silver 2002 Honda Civic coupe, LX" (matched perfect, cops said "you must know hondas pretty well"). Found the truck on the same street a few days later as well, gave plate # to police.

Unfortunately, this was 6 months ago, and I've yet to hear anything about it The snapping noises were by far the most satisfying noise I've ever heard though.

I had a hard time explaining to Enterprise how the door got bent though, and I managed to rip off half of the rear bumper while chasing them. If you ever have a rental, PAY THE EXTRA $9/DAY! It saved my ass

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It was a well-known obnoxious stiffer that I absolutely can't stand. This guy delights in making fun of me on a delivery. I can't believe people can be that rude when receiving a service. He had absolutely no right and his service was exemplary each time. A relatively new customer, I gave him the standard 5 stiffs in a row before I labeled him.

Anyway ...

He always pays cash to the next highest dollar. His order was $10.79. Sure enough, he gave me $11 in cash. After I quoted the total, he even said, "Here's eleven dollars. Keep the change."

I knew he would do that, so I was prepared. Before I left my car, I had 21 cents in my hand, all pennies and nickels. I palmed it. After the money transaction, when I reached into the hot bag to pull out the pizza, I dropped all the coins on the middle of the pizza box.

I simply left at that point without saying a word. No "thank you" from me. I walked back to my car. On my way, I noticed he dropped most of the coins on the floor when he moved the pizza inside. He couldn't hold the box perfectly level. He yelled, "Oh s^&t!" and tried to grab the coins. I was laughing to myself and by that time, I was at my car and took off.

To accept a 21-cent tip would be undignified. I just can't accept. Especially from someone who makes fun of me.

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There were two houses next to each other - 3801 and 3805 Gaywood - and they were fairly close by the shop. They would never order at the same time, and they always ordered big - lots of people. They'd have you come inside while they "looked for the person with the money". Meanwhile, their neighbors were rummaging through your car getting some of the food out of your car from your next order. At first, we thought it was some neighborhood kids just taking random advantage of an opportunity.

Eventually, we caught wise, and set a trap. Next time one of them ordered, we made up a phony ticket for another address and a pizza to go with the phony ticket. Looked yummy, too. Except, hidden under each slice of pepperoni was a small chunk of Ex-Lax. The phony-order pizza rode along with the driver while he delivered the real order. Sure enough, the phony pizza turned up missing after the driver dropped off the real order.

And you know, wonder of wonders, they continued to order, but no one's order ever turned up missing again.

More here: http://www.pizzadeliverydrivers.org/discussion.shtml

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