Hot Tub Party!

Well, I have alot to write about today. So much that this is going to be one of those long posts that describe my night in detail, delivery by delivery.

Actually tonight's story starts on last night. A week ago, the exhaust system fell loose from our 1987 GMC Van. Last night while getting gas at Speedway, I asked the manager there, an ex-pizza driver, about a muffler place he had recommended in the past. He gave me the phone number for Action Muffler.

I called and drove the van out there today. The owner took a look and quoted me a price of $140 to replace the converter and remount the exhaust system. I thought that sounded great so I agreed to it. My wife and I then went to Subway for lunch, and when we went back, the van was fixed. Excellent service at a great price!

At Subway, we ran into another ex-employee. Former cook Nate now works at Subway. Nate was a good kid, he still stops in for food occasionally, but I didn't know he had found work at Subway. Ironically, this Subway is owned by the mother of one of the girls on the soccer team coach.

Add in that I saw former driver Tyler driving last night for Hungry Howies, as well as former driver Amy driving for Marco's, and I actually saw 4 ex-employees, each separately, in a 16-hour period.

Now finally we get to today's delivery stories.

A couple months ago, we rolled out a new internet-ordering system. Basically the customer orders over the internet, the order gets sent to and printed at a special web-enabled computer in our store, and then someone must enter that order into the system. We probably get 10-12 internet orders per week.

My first order tonight was to the guy who uses internet ordering far more often than anyone else in our delivery area, Bryon H. Bryon's order, paid by credit card, was $17.58 and he added on a $4 tip!

My next delivery was un-remarkable, a $21.57 order with a $3.43 tip.

My 3rd delivery was to the far reaches of our delivery area. The total was $19.07 and the customer gave me $24. I don't mind driving a long ways for a $5 tip!

About this time I said good bye and good luck to our GM Rick and driver Melissa, as they are moving to Virginia where Melissa got a job as a schoolteacher.

After that I had a triple, 2 deliveries that were literally less than 10 houses apart, and a 3rd that was just 3 blocks away. This was to a notoriously low-tipping area so I didn't expect much.

Was I ever wrong. The first customer's total was $17.08 and she tipped me $2.17. The next house had a for-sale sign but there seemed to be a party going on. Adults on the porch, kids inside playing video games, and more adults at the kitchen table. They had a $37.06 order including pizza, pasta, and wings. The guy joked about needing a discount because it was late (it wasn't) but then they gave me a $5.04 tip! Not only that but they offered me a shot of Gray Goose (which I declined).

The third house also tipped well, $2.43 on a $25.57 (2 pizza) order, so that was over $9.50 for a 3-bagger to a bad part of town.

My next run was a double, I got a $3 tip from a regular customer on a $17.57 order, and then got stiffed (0.42). After that I had a close delivery, got $1.92 on a $17.08 order from a guy who came to the door in his boxer-shorts and a t-shirt.

After that was my most frustrating order of the night. A credit card order for $15.46, just a couple blocks from the store. The girl who signed wrote $15.46 on the tip line and then a big slash through the total line. Obviously her intent was to not tip, but I was so mad I was tempted to enter the $15.46 as the tip, as that WAS what she wrote. Of course I thought better of it, deciding it wasn't worth the trouble.

The delivery after that, about 9:30 at night, was to a nice neighborhood where I was greeted in the driveway by about 6-8 kids, who looked to be late elementary age. They introduced themselves, asked my name, and told me it was one of their birthdays. The kids were alot friendlier than the mom of the house, who tipped me $1.42 for a $13.58 order.

Next up was an order to a house where cook Steve's dad was. It was for 4 XL specialty pizzas and Steve had given them his employee discount of 20% (for deliveries), maximum $10. This came to $53.55 The problem was, these pizzas are on sale and the regular sale price would have been $45.55, but it was a credit card order so we couldn't change it. Whoever answered the door did tip me $3.

After that was an un-remarkable order, $23.56 with a $3.44 tip.

My next order had a note on it "out back in the hot tub." I checked with manager Nick and he said it was indeed a new note (some notes stay on the order in the computer system from a previous delivery).

Sure enough it was a guy, his brother, and his girlfriend, in their hot-tub in the back yard. They asked if I brought beer too. Tip on this delivery was $2.42 on a $12.58 order.

My final delivery was $22.20, they tipped $3.39. The customer was a former Papa Johns driver who had worked for our GM before our local PJ closed and Rick came to work at our store. We messed up their order (was supposed to be pepperoni with banana peppers on the side) but Nick then remade the pizza the right way, and we ended up sending out the mistake pizza too, so they got a little extra.

Speaking of Nick (the manager), he was very sunburnt, having spent the day at Cedar Point with driver Amber. Amber stopped by to see him tonight and it's obvious she's very smitten with him. She had the day off, yet she came up and waited in her car for a couple hours, so that she would be there when we finally closed and Nick got off work.

Nick is a great kid, I hope it works out for both of them.

Total for the night, I took 16 deliveries, drove 57 miles, made $43 in tips, in 8 hours of work.

I ended the night back at Speedway, putting tonight's gas money on my gas card. Since last night's fill-up, I drove 75 miles on 2.15 gallons of gas. That's 34.9 miles per gallon, which is excellent for all the stop-and-go driving I do while delivering pizzas all over town!