Wednesday, October 31, 2007

2000 Chevy Prism - Gas Mileage

On my first partial tank of gas, I drove 151 miles. I refilled the tank with 4.74 gallons. So the mileage on the new delivery vehicle is 32 MPG.

October 2007 Monthly Totals

Shifts: 12
Hours: 60
Deliveries: 114
Tips: $278
Miles: 467

Average miles per delivery: 4.1
Average deliveries per hour: 1.9
Average tips per delivery: $2.44
Average tips per hour: $4.63
Average cash per hour: $6.72
(tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $13.57
(includes wage of $6.85)

Monday, October 29, 2007

2 Big Tips, 4 Small Tips

I worked from 6 - 10:30 tonight. We were pretty slow and I took just 6 deliveries. Two of them were credit card orders that pre-tipped my $5.00 each. My total for the night was $14 so you can figure out the average tip from the other 4 orders.

I drove 30 miles in our new car, a 2000 Chevy Prism with 81,000 miles. Victoria researched and bought it last week. I plan to write more about it later.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Pizza In The News

Last week there was a girl stabbed to death in Cleveland, allegedly over some dispute about making the cheerleading squad. Four family members were arrested in this case, including one who was also arrested but not charged in this case. The man was a cook at a Pizza Hut in Texas when a manager and a delivery driver were shot dead.

Sticking with the crime theme, this story describes how a man claiming to be Jesus pursued a pregnant Dominos employee into the pizzeria, offered her drugs, and fondled her.

On a lighter note, this Cleveland Plain Dealer article notes several factual errors in John Grisham's latest best-seller, Playing For Pizza. The book is about a disgraced Cleveland Browns quarterback who goes to Italy to play football.

Yum! Thank You Jacoby Ellsbury!

America owes a debt of gratitude to Jacoby Ellsbury for swiping 2nd base in the bottom of the 4th inning of last night's World Series game between Boston and Colorado. Now we can all go to Taco Bell on Tuesday October 30th, between 2 and 5 PM, and get our free taco!

Taco Bell is owned by Yum Brands, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut.

I hope all the Taco Bell's are prepared for the extra business!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Free Taco For America

If you watched the World Series tonight you heard the announcers discussing the Taco Bell promotion of giving away a free taco if someone steals a base. The tacos will be given away on a Tuesday between 2 and 5 PM. Either October 30 (if the base is stolen by then) or November 6 (if it's later in the series).

Get more information at the MLB website.

Note that this is not a new idea for Taco Bell, but it is the most likely to pay off.

In the 2004 World Series between Boston and St. Louis, Taco Bell offered a free taco if a player hit a 12' x 12' home run target in game 3.

In 2001, the company had a different but larger target. They floated a 40' x 40' banner in the South Pacific, offering a free taco if the plummeting space station Mir fell to the ocean in their spot.

Update: Thank you Jacoby Ellsbury!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Do The Right Thing

My next to last delivery was a stuffed crust pizza and an italian salad to room 210 at the Super-8. Actually it was part of a triple, because I was the last driver. Well I was a little frustrated at having to get the salads put together since the salad bar was already put away.

When I was well on my way, I realized I didn't grab any plastic forks. I thought maybe I could get some at the front desk of the motel, but I really didn't want the hassle. I decided that if I got a good tip I would get them some silverware, and if they didn't, I'd just ignore the issue.

Well the check was $22.95 and they paid with $23.

I handed them the food and went back to my car, feeling guilty. I decided to look in the glove box, and sure enough, I found a single spork, in plastic. I took it back up to room 210. They were so happy that they then decided to give me a $3 tip.

The moral of the story is, do the right thing, whether you get tipped or not.

Totals for the night were 5 1/2 hours, 9 deliveries, $18 in tips, 29 miles.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Night The Indians Lose

The Indians lost tonight, I listened to most of the game on the radio while delivering. I did get home to watch the last inning but the game was pretty much decided by then.

I worked 5 1/2 hours, took 12 deliveries, drove 52 miles, and made $34 in tips.

My first customer didn't know his address. There was no 204 4th Street. I called him and asked about it, he said it was closer to Middle than East, I drove a ways and found the brick apartment building that he described, 240 4th Street. I fixed the address in the system once I got back. Of course he didn't tip.

Another delivery was to an older man in a low-income housing building. Nick had told me "this guy sounds crazy but he said he would tip the driver $4 or $5."

Well I got there and he handed me a $20, some $1's, and a handful of quarters. Then he said "it's worth $5, isn't it?"

"With the price of gas, I sure do appreciate it," was my reply.

He went back in and brought back a few more quarters. I ended up collecting $31.25 for a $23.70 order.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Short Shift

I was supposed to work tonight from 6-9 but we were so slow I got sent home around 8:30. I took 3 deliveries, drove 12 miles, and made $8 in tips.

Not much else to say.

Roy Williams Delivers Pizza

Roy Williams, a wide reciever for the NFL's Detroit Lions, came through on his promise and spent a few hours on Tuesday afternoon delivering pizzas.

According to this story in the Detroit Free Press, he spent some time "being trained". He then took some pizzas to the NFL Youth Education Team Boys and Girls Club and spoke to the kids there.

And then he delivered at least one order to an actual customer. With the media along to take pictures, of course.

I applaud Roy for giving back to the community and also for taking the time to get a little insight into how the common man earns a living.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Madhouse!

Tonight my son's soccer team (that I do not coach) had their end-of-season party at the pizza shop where I work. They had about a dozen kids plus families.

We only had 1 waitress on duty so I pitched in, refilling some pitchers of Pepsi. Meanwhile, the phone was ringing and I started answering it. After about 4 consecutive phone orders, Steve asked me if I could take over cut and pack for a few minutes.

I ended up clocking in and working for about an hour.

Between the big dine-in party, the Indians game, and the rainy weather, it just meant a very busy night for us.

When it was time for us to go home, my kids had a great time busing the tables.

Roy Williams Update

Detroit Lion wideout Roy Williams, who recently was converted from a non-tipper to a tipper, is taking the next step. He is actually going to work as a pizza delivery driver today at a Pizza Hut in Detroit.

Obviously a PR stunt for both Williams and Pizza Hut, but he's also making a donation to the World Food Program. This is interesting because Detroit is the home of both Dominos and Hungry Howies, but not Pizza Hut, which has it's corporate headquarters in Dallas.

Read about it here in the Detroit Free Press.

Monday, October 15, 2007

It's All Pan Pizza

We have a newer driver and tonight he was doing some prep. I walked back to find that he had placed the hand-tossed disks in oiled pan-pizza pans. Now if you don't know how prep is done at our franchise, this won't be funny to you, but for those of us in the shop, it was hilarious!

Tips were good for me tonight, except for the 1 delivery I should have let Nick take as a double anyways.

I drove for 5 hours, took 8 deliveries, drove 29 miles, and made $22 in tips.

NFL's Roy Williams On Tipping

Apparently Roy Williams, Wide Receiver for the Detroit Lions, made the news a few weeks ago in a radio interview, stating that he had a no tipping policy. You can read about it in the Detroit Free Press. After his interview, he says, he was stopped at a red light and got into a conversation with the pizza driver, who told Roy how much he should be tipping.

This story in the same paper the next week describes how Roy then actulally did order pizza and paid a $20 for his $13+ order, leaving a generous $6+ tip.

I'm not sure I believe it, especially the part about the red-light conversation, but it does make some interesting reading.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Slow Saturday

I worked 6 hours tonight and took just 9 deliveries. I drove 44 miles and made $23 in tips.

Tips were decent with 5 of 9 tips of $3 or more. Also 4 of the 9 were credit card payments. Other than that, not much to say.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Pizza Delivery To The Office (TV Show)

My wife is a huge fan of the tv sitcom, The Office. She watched it last night and told me about a scene involving pizza delivery that she found especially funny.

Apparently they ordered pizza to celebrate the launch of their company's new website. Then when they couldn't use a 50% off coupon for 8 pizzas, they locked the pizza delivery guy in a room. Then realized they were in effect kidnapping him.

Then when they let him go, they gave him a "generous tip" of $2.

Now I didn't watch the show, but I certainly don't find much funny about a $2 tip being called generous.

You can read a synopsis of the entire eposode at TV Squad, or watch it on YouTube.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Amazing, Expanding Shift

Tonight I was on the schedule from 6-9 PM. So why didn't I walk out until after 12 midnight?

I have found that, in most cases, other drivers are anxious to leave early. Now the closing driver may not want to leave at 9, but if I first switch with Desiree, so that she leaves at 9 and I leave at 10, then maybe the closing driver will be more apt to switch with me and leave at 10. Tonight actually, both closing drivers, Kristi and Chris, wanted to leave early but Chris ended up having to stay with me and close.

I had a really good night tonight for a Wednesday, with 6 of my 9 tips being over $3! My only bad delivery was to an address that did not exist. I guess I have to train some of our newer people to do callbacks on new addresses after dark.

I had 2 orders that tipped $1.42, but both of them the total check was under $15 so it's really not that bad of a tip.

My final delivery was to a nursing home. It was actually just a partial order, Kristi had taken half of the order earlier in the day and collected a $24 tip. She was supposed to take the rest at 11 PM but I offered to take it for 1/3 of her tip, or $8, and she eventually agreed.

When I got there I asked the nurse that escorted me in what the special occasion was. She said that the family of one of their patients (residents?) had bought pizza for the nurses. That was a very nice gesture, appreciated by both the nurses and also the pizza drivers!

Totals for the night were 5 hours driving, 10 deliveries, 47 miles, and $31 in tips.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Monday Extra Driver

I wasn't on the schedule (again) tonight but I went in around 5:30. I was hoping that the Indians game would bring some extra business. We did have a little rush around 6:30 or so but it didn't last so after my 4th delivery, around 7:30, I got sent home.

I could have stayed and closed but after closing the last 3 nights in a row, and with my new schedule of leaving home at 6:45 AM for my day job, I declined.

I worked 2 hours, took 4 deliveries, drove 19 miles, and made $11 in tips.

The big tip of the night was $5.43 on my very first delivery. We usually start with a $15 bank but because of the amount ($21.57) of the check, I asked for an temporary extra $10. I was glad I did because the customer wanted to pay with a $50 bill.

Another delivery was to a house with some beautifully carved pumpkins. One that looked like Winnie the Pooh and one that was (I think) Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Since it's about 3 weeks until Halloween, I suggested that they soak the pumpkins in water overnight to keep them from drying out.

October 2007 Carnival Of Pizza

Welcome to the October 8, 2007 edition of carnival of pizza. We're a few days late (again) this month. Between soccer and delivering pizza, I totally forgot about the carnival.

We do have some great submissions this month though, so without further ado, here they are!

Recipes


Annette Berlin presents Flat Bread Pizza posted at Frugal Journey. Annette describer her post like this: "Flat Bread Pizza is based on a recipe I saw in an old copy of Martha Stewart Living. The original recipe required a homemade dough, which I replaced with the flat bread." Who can argue with Martha Stewart?

Dani presents Barbecue Chicken Pizza posted at Catch the Spoon. I love barbecue chicken pizza.

Reviews


Jeremy Hobbs presents Freschetta Brick Oven posted at Jeremy's Consumer's Corner. Jeremy has a well written review of this frozen pizza.

Alcohol


I don't usually have a entire section devoted to booze, but since it's October, we'll just blame this one on the Germans and call it Octoberfest. At least the 2nd entry there mentions pizza in the poem.

The Free Geek presents Broke? Alcoholic? How to Drink on a Dime: 10 Surefire Tips posted at Free Geekery.

200motels presents O BEER-O MIO! A Love Poem to Beer posted at 200motels.net.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of pizza using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Why Does It Look So Small?

Every once in a while we run out of something. Sometimes it is 2-liter bottles of Pepsi, sometimes it is mushrooms.

Today it was medium boxes. So whenever I had to deliver a medium pizza it was in a large box. I hate this situation because I feel embarrassed explaining to the customer that the pizza is the right size, it just looks small because the box is too big.

I wasn't even scheduled to work today, but I went in around 6:30 PM after we got home from our soccer game (the boys' team won 6-4). In just 4 1/2 hours on the road I took 12 deliveries, drove 40 miles, and made $31 in tips.

Naked Pizza Customer

I had my first ever naked person come to the door tonight. It was a little boy about 2 years old, who sneaked up while his mom was paying for the pizza. It was really hot today and you can hardly blame him!

I took a phone order today, and after getting the phone number, if they are a new customer I have to get their last name. The girl said "Do I have to give you my last name?" I replied that she could give whatever name she wanted, and she said to put it under "Jamie."

I reminder her that she had called us and I had no intentions of stalking her, and then she explained that her last name was just very long and difficult to spell.

My last delivery of the night was a $5 tip to a group of people sitting around a fire and drinking in their back yard. Two young men were wrestling on the ground, while the rest of the group sat around and chuckled.

I worked 6 hours tonight and took 13 deliveries, drove 45 miles and made $28 in tips. If I hadn't gotten that last $5 tip, it would have been a crummy night but it ended up decent.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Busy Friday

We only had 5 drivers at our peak tonight and we were extremely busy. Not only was it a fall Friday but the Indians had a playoff game, beating the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings! Mike is probably just finishing up dishes now as I type, and we've been closed for 1 1/2 hours.

I drove for 8 hours, took 20 deliveries, drove 82 miles, and made $45 in tips. Only 3 stiffs, one $5 tip, and alot of $2's.

No exciting stories tonight, but I work again Saturday so maybe something will happen then.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

September 2007 Totals

I only worked 5 shifts in the whole month of September. This was due to soccer coaching, a weekend away, and just time with my family in general. Money-wise, it was a much better month than August but still nothing to write home about.

Shifts: 5
Hours: 24.25
Deliveries: 46
Tips: $120
Miles: 197

Average miles per delivery: 4.3
Average deliveries per hour: 1.9
Average tips per delivery: $2.62
Average tips per hour: $4.98
Average cash per hour: $6.87
(tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $13.72
(includes wage of $6.85)

Monday, October 1, 2007

I'm Baaaaack!

I wasn't on the schedule tonight, even though I hadn't requested off. I had told Kristie last night that I would come in and close for her. So when I got home from my day job around 5:30 I called to see what was up.

Manager Rosa let me know that driver Chris did not show up for work today and they needed me as soon as I could get in. I feel like, after several weeks of not working much, I'm back in the swing of things.

The night started off well. The weather was rainy and we were busy. I took 4 deliveries in the first 1 1/2 hours and had collected $11 in tips before it got dark. Then business slowed down and tips got even worse.

I ended the 5 1/2 hour night with 8 deliveries, 38 miles, and $13 in tips.

We had a new guy, Todd, who also has a day job as a substitute teacher, and a new waitress, Tiffany.

Then after we closed, while I was getting gas at Speedway, 2 interesting things happened. Waitress Jeanette was there, with her boyfriend. She's been on medical leave and I haven't seen her in about a month. Then while we were saying hi, a guy came up to ask for money.

His story was that he and his mom were from Toledo and ran out of gas. Well, I know that asking for money at the gas station is one of the biggest scams going, and I told him to get lost.

Paris Hilton Dating Pizza Delivery Driver

I never thought I'd be writing about Paris Hilton in my blog, but here it is, as reported by the Cleveland Leader. Paris is dating a 20-year-old from Sweden, an aspiring model currently working in LA as a "pizza boy".