On The Road Again

I don't have any stories about delivery tonight but I did drive a couple hours. As promised, with the holiday past and people not quite as desperate (hopefully), I was willing to put on a car-topper.

Since I was a late addition to the schedule, I was the first driver sent home. I took 4 deliveries in 2 hours, drove 21 miles, and made $12 in tips.

The only story is that I brought in a couple boxes of Bean Boozled Jelly Belly jellybeans. Nick made a game of it, having people take turns trying them. There are some hilarious videos on YouTube of other people trying them.

Packing Heat

My nephew Andy brought this story to my attention. Some punk kids pulled a gun on the pizza guy and he threw the pizza at them!

True Crime Reports

Crime Doesn't Pay:

These guys got sentenced to 5 years for robbing 2 pizza delivery guys in Akron back in February. Apparently they ordered the pizzas delivered to their own house. I hope the police figured that one out pretty quickly!

Who Would Steal A Bag Of Clothes?

Apparently the guys in this story. Back in August, a female pizza driver from Youngstown was robbed in a set-up. The guy on the porch told her to come to him (she should have took off right then). They met partway up the drive, where she was punched and then 2 other guys, 1 with a gun, jumped out of the darkness.

They stole the food, the money, and a bag of clothes from her car.

Dayton Pizza Shops Cooperate

... but not soon enough.

This story describes how a pizza guy was robbed on a set-up in Dayton. Afterwards he called some other pizza shops to warn them, and one of them had already had an order from the number and had tried (unsuccessfully) to deliver it.

Who Let The Dog Out?

Here is a story about another pizza delivery robbery (at gunpoint) in Cuyahoga county last month. Luckly their police force had a K9 unit who was able to track down and apprehend the suspects.

Crime - What Are The Chances

According to this list, there are 23 Pizza Huts operated by Midland Food Services in Cuyahoga County. Hallrich also owns 1 in Cuyahoga County and 7 in Lorain County. So that is a total of 31 restaurants.

I am aware of 3 armed robberies or attempts, just against Pizza Hut, in the past 4 weeks.

Of those 3, 2 seem to be set-ups where the driver was sent to an address that did not order pizza. The perpetrators then would confront the driver at that time.

The other 1 happened after the driver had delivered the pizza to the customer, so it seems to be more by chance. The attacker saw the driver (or his car) and decided to rob him at that time.

According to a survey done by APDD, "January had twice the number of robberies as any other month. The spike happened in January. The pattern repeated during the 3 years that APDD kept track. That's not to say that December wasn't busy. It was the number two highest month for crime. December had 1.5 robberies per day as reported in the online news."

"Out of all the robberies, 2/3 were setups. 1/3 were crimes of opportunity created by the cartopper."

Note that in my small sample size, it corresponds with the national data. That is, 2 of 3 were set-ups and 1 was not.

Suspended!

As I arrived tonight, Manager Mike asked if I was going to use a car-topper. I said no. He said then he had to suspend me.

GM Ady and District Manager Jim were both there tonight. I spoke briefly to them, explaining that there was too much crime going on right now, that I was willing to wear a topper after Christmas, and that in the meantime I would be willing to work as an insider if necessary.

They have a meeting tomorrow with Sam from our franchise HR department and they said they would discuss it with him.

But this may be one of my final posts on this blog.

Cleveland Pizza Driver Shot - Update

Here is an updated story about this robbery from Saturday night. The driver was a Pizza Hut driver. He was shot and robbed at his vehicle, after delivering the food.

It doesn't sound like the driver was resisting at all, witnesses claim he shouted "Don't kill me" as the bad guys held a gun to his head.

Just more confirmation that I will not be using a car-topper until the holiday crime season is past.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today was my birthday. My wife surprised me by bringing a batch of cupcakes up to the pizza shop for my coworkers and I. But an even better present was driver Todd calling off.

I took 16 deliveries in 5 hours, drove 66 miles, and made $42 in tips. That is a very good night for a Monday. We were especially busy when I first arrived. Two of my first 4 deliveries were over an hour late and didn't tip at all. Now maybe they wouldn't have tipped anyways, but the lateness sure didn't help.

I do owe a thanks to Manager-In-Training Joanna and also to Mona for keeping up with the dishes all night while I was out on the road. And Manager Mike made sure that drivers Nate and Chris finished the dough prep before they left. So most of my time was indeed spent driving (and delivering).

I did have one minor issue tonight that may become a major issue. We have new lighted (rechargable) car-toppers and Mike told me to put one on my car. Normally I enjoy using a car-topper as I appreciate the extra business. But with the number of armed robberies in our area recently and the pizza driver getting shot in Cleveland over the weekend, I don't feel safe using the car-topper so I refused.

I told Mike that he could send me home or even fire me if he felt he had to. He said our District Manager Jim might be by and that he might fire me. At this point I don't need this job badly enough to risk my safety so I won't be wearing a car topper until after the Christmas holiday cime spree is over.

Cleveland Pizza Driver Shot

I heard it first on WTAM radio and now there is a short story posted on the WEWS TV website.

A pizza driver for Pizza Hut was shot tonight shortly after 8 PM on the east side of Cleveland. The driver was taken to the hospital and his condition is unknown. The article says the driver was "hit" so it's unclear whether this was an assault and robbery, or if he was caught in some crossfire or hit by a stray bullet.

But based on the dramatic increase in crimes lately, including multiple bank robberies, and 2 successful and 1 failed pizza driver robbery just in our area, most likely it seems that this was another robbery.

I hope and pray that the driver is ok, and that the police successfully pursue the perpetrator.

The Curious Story Of The Glasses And The Parking Brake Levers

The night started normally enough and I was dispatched on a run to Taft St. I packed up the bag and headed out. As I drove off I reached for my glasses and couldn't find them in their usual slot in the center-console of my car.

I pulled off to the side into a bank parking lot and checked everywhere. Under my seat. In the back seat. Mixed in with the clothes I changed out of as I was driving here from my day job. Nowhere.

I remembered setting them on my knee as I changed shirts on the way. I wondered if maybe I had left them on my knee and then they fell off in the parking lot. I drove back and looked in the lot where I had parked, and in between my parking spot and the door. Still no luck.

Manager Mike had new driver Rob deliver the order.

Nick came out and helped look and we thoroughly searched my car again. Still no glasses. Now I can see to drive, if I know where I'm going. But I can't really see well enough to pick out house numbers, so I decided to go home and get my contacts.

But before I could leave, Mike needed me to prep some dough that we were about to run out of.

So about 10 minutes later, I was on my way home. I reached over into the slot for the parking brake. I felt my glasses, but I couldn't quite get a grip and pull them out. I drove back to the shop (I had only gone about a mile), stopped, and eventually was able to get the glasses out.

So after about an hour wasted, I finally started out on my first delivery, a double. My next run was also a double, which included the most interesting delivery of the night. It was a credit card order and the guy met me at the door, remarking about how quick it was.

It was a credit card order, and the guy wrote $5 on the tip line. He then told me that he just moved here, and pulled out another $3 cash, for $8 total! I think he may have been trying to "establish" himself as a good tipper.

Unfortunately that was about it, as it was 9PM and I didn't take another delivery until right at 11 PM.

Totals for the night were 4.5 hours, 5 deliveries, $19 tips, and 16 miles. I did cost myself another 2 deliveries due to the lost glasses incident.

November 2008 Monthly Totals

These numbers do not include driving expenses.

Shifts: 13
Hours: 64.5
Deliveries: 131
Tips: $323
Miles: 466

Average miles per delivery: 3.6
Average deliveries per hour: 2.0
Average tips per delivery: $2.47
Average tips per hour: $5.01
Average cash per hour: $7.24 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $14.24 (includes wage of $7.00)

Five Stiffs (one per hour)

Well I called off my day job sick, and was hoping to just work a couple hours tonight, but the other closing driver Chris had already called off with the flu before I got in, so I was stuck working my scheduled shift from 6-12.

The bad omen for the night came on my very first delivery. A woman gave me $20 for her $18.07 order and was fishing around in her purse for the 7 cents. She handed me a dime saying, "Just give me the $2 back, don't worry about the 3 cents."

Thanks alot!

This was the first of 5 customers tonight who decided not to tip me. The next 4 were troublesome orders in one way or another, besides being non-tippers.

• The girl with the gift card who apparently wasn't even paying for her food.
• The guy who tried to pay for his $28.87 order with a $100 bill. I took it to make change to the Gas USA 2 blocks away, the site of a murder just 6 months ago. Does he really think I should carry that much change in that neighborhood?
• The girl who gave us a wrong phone number and we couldn't confirm their order.
• The couple who's dad had paid by credit card, so I couldn't get a physical imprint of the credit card.

Best tip of the night was $3.79.

Totals for the night were 5 hours, 14 deliveries, $22 in tips, and 64 miles driven. A big thanks goes out to cooks Mona for keeping up with the dishes, and Alicia, for doing most of the dough-prep.

Robbery (Not Me!) . . . (Again) . . .

Another armed robbery, this was not in our delivery area but it was the next town over, about 10 miles away from our shop. Scary stuff!

Another One Bites The Dust

Another local restaurant is closing. This time it is T.G.I. Friday's. This is disappointing, both because it is another sign that the crummy economy is not improving, but also because my wife and I liked to eat there.