I changed my shift around. I now deliver Wednesdays and Fridays.
“But RI,” you might ask, “if you’re being Gazelle Intense about getting out of debt, why are you dropping hours?”
Sanity, I think. My own and that of my wonderful wife and children. Sundays have become grumptastic for me. We don’t like that. Also, the weather is changing. I’m going to need time to work on the house. Saturdays fit.
In other news, we got three drivers from another restaurant. They’re cool. I haven’t gotten to know two of the three very well. They seem nice.
The third doesn’t seem to enjoy the change. Or maybe someone bullied him before work. Or maybe he’s just got painful gas during every shift. I call him ‘Disappointed’. Notice the capital ‘D’.
For those of you that are new to my blog, I don’t give out the names of the people I work with. But, you need to hear my stories, so I give them other names. I’ve told you about Cap’n, Tick, Tock, the Scott, Leff-tenant, the Warrior and a couple of others. Now, I add Disappointed. I won’t call him Grumpy. Too much of a dwarf reference. Copyright infringement with Disney sounds like a bad idea. Meanie isn’t true to form. He’s been polite with me. Disappointed just fits. ‘Dis’ for short.
I had come up from the rear of the restaurant. Another driver had told me an order was ready. There was Dis, holding a bunch of money with the cash drop screen pulled up. He was waiting for a manager to take his money. I stepped to the side and put my patience pants on.
Tock came from the dish area and stepped up to the computer. He clicked a few keys and backed out of the drop screen.
“And he just backed out of it. Wow,” Dis said, shaking his head. He shifted his weight a couple of times and passed the money to his other hand.
Then Tock checked out the delivery that was ready.
“I think Disappointed was trying to make a drop,” I said.
Dis shook his head again.
“He can go back into it,” Tock said. “I forgot to clock in anyway, so I was up.”
I shrugged. I was still cool with the Universe. I headed back to do dishes.
A few moments later I went to check the screen. A second order was nigh unto being born from the ovens of flame and cookery. Dis had finished his drop. I found the order not done yet, so I turned to go back to dishes.
“Hey man, why’d you let him skip you like that?” he asked.
I turned back to him, but not all the way. His negativity felt abrasive.
“He said he hadn’t clocked in yet.”
“But he did. I saw him,” he said.
“I guess I’m not worried about it.” And I wasn’t.
Dis followed me to say something two or three more times. I think he was disappointed with my answers. I didn’t hear from him for the rest of the night because we got busy.
His disappointment made me think about my own attitude.
I checked out a delivery to 1616 Dodge later that night after Dis had left. It’s the Hilton Double Tree downtown. It’s 19 stories of cool views and nice people. I looked forward to going there. I had to use the restroom first, though. So I did. When I came back – after thoroughly washing my hands – I noticed another bag on the shelf with the same destination. I asked my manager if she wanted me to take that one, too.
She said yes, but that it was special. The kids that ordered it had walked 28 blocks only to find out our restaurant didn’t have chairs. They wanted the pizza delivered back at the hotel. Mind you, this is the manager I speak Spanish with. Sometimes I have to check for understanding.
But this made sense. Walk 28 blocks, order the pizza, then walk back. That’s a long walk with a giant piece of delicious smelling fatness. I told her that was no problem, that I’d drop it off. I grabbed the bags and stepped out.
There in the door were the four teenagers who had ordered it.
“Uh,” I said, looking at the manager, then back at the kids. Then it hit me. They wanted me to deliver the pizza AND THEM to the hotel. They wanted a ride!
They piled into my car and put on their seatbelts. I handed the pizzas to the one in shotgun. We set off and made good time. They wanted to listen to classic rock. They were in town from Malcolm, Nebraska just south of Branched Oak Lake. They had come for Skills USA.
They piled out at the hotel. I thanked them for their business. I delivered the other pizza – the hotel was a madhouse – and got back in my car.
There was a $5 bill in the passenger seat.
That experience was not disappointing to me at all. I don’t think that sort of thing should be. But I can’t speak for everybody. I’m sure if I walked a mile in my new coworker’s shoes, I’d be Disappointed.
ROE INTENSE
**UPDATE – It is against company policy with most pizza delivery establishments to have anyone else in your vehicle besides yourself. This is an insurance and liability thing, in most cases. I did not know that at the time.
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