More Crime

Sorry, I'm still pretty much retired from driving but here is a story in my local paper about more crime.

Why was this guy carrying this much cash?

Why would the newspaper print the amount?

I expect a flurry of robberies in the area now.

More Crime, Now It's Local

This robbery happened in the next town over.

"The Marco’s manager said the pizza parlor doesn’t have caller ID .... The (driver) said Marco’s does everything they can to protect delivery people."

Does anyone but me see the problem with these 2 statements from the article?

Busted! And Shot!

Well done by the pizza driver who recognized what was going on, and the Columbus Police.

30 Minutes Or Less - Movie Review

I watched a special screening of the movie 30 Minutes Or Less tonight at Crocker Park.  I got the passes in an email from www.gofobo.com.  I'm not sure why, other than that I won passes for Mastermind from the same website via facebook.

It's interesting that I got to go, as I am regarded as an expert on pizza delivery movies.  My Top 10 List used to be cited as a reference on Wikipedia, but I just checked and now it is not.

Back to tonight, I arrived about 15 minutes before the movie was to start, and the theater was quite full.  There were seats in the first 3 rows, but mostly just single seats near the top, where I usually like to sit.  Lucky for me I was alone so I took one of the single seats.

The movie stars Jesse Eisenberg, famous for playing Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Media.  It had some funny parts, including a line from Eisenberg's character where he said he was "good with faces", and alot of crude humor.

The plot fell apart when the pizza guy was kidnapped from an abandoned junkyard.  If the pizza guy doesn't return from the run in a reasonable amount of time, and doesn't answer his phone, any reasonable manager will either send another driver to check on him, check the location himself, or call the police.  Yet when our hero shows up the next day to quit his job (on his way to rob the bank), the missing pizza (and subsequent payment) from the night before is never mentioned.  How did they balance the register?  What's wrong at Vito's Pizza?

But as a whole, I can't approve of a movie that makes light of a pizza guy having a bomb strapped to his chest and robbing a bank, when a real pizza driver died in that exact situation in Erie PA in 2003. RIP Brian Wells.

Mouse Attack!

This story is hard to believe!  One pizzeria owner set some mice free in a rival's pizza shop!

Mice are certainly troublesome, we have had a few off and on over the years and we generally keep traps out.  But while they are annoying, I can't imagine they would cause enough trouble that someone would risk getting caught (which he did).

Why not wipe the footprints off the toilet seat?

Address Verification

Third delivery of the night was to an apartment building.  The door was locked and there was no buzzer, so I called the customer on the phone # listed on the ticket.  I identified myself and the girl said she would be right down.

She paid for the pizza, then started up the stairs, asking, "Do you need to see that it's my apartment?"

"Nope", I replied, "You gave me the money, you can have the pizza."

I wonder who she thought might be looking out the window, waiting to pay for someone else's pizza without even knowing what it was?!?!?

Fourth delivery of the night was a new customer, I called on the way to confirm the address (which is store policy to prevent crime) and he was convinced I was lost.  He didn't tip.  He got his food in about 40 minutes after his order.  If he keeps not tipping, I will certainly be in less of a hurry to bring his food in the future.

Totals for the night were 2.43 hours, 5 deliveries, 18 miles, and $12 in tips.  This is becoming pretty average for a Monday night.

Back To The Scene Of The Crime

My first delivery tonight was to the street where Matt got robbed just before Christmas.  I was overly cautious, even though a neighbor was outside shovelling snow and I was parked about 20 feet away, I asked the customer to "stay by the door until I got in my car."  She agreed, I remarked that we had some trouble here a few weeks ago.  It's better to have people be more alert and aware.

Oh and she tipped $3.50.

I had a pretty decent night, got several solid tips in areas where I didn't expect it.  I worked 3.05 hours, took 9 deliveries, drove 33 miles, and made $24.50 in tips.

Bad Night

I got called in to work tonight just before 10 pm.  I knew something strange was up when I got the call.  I was just finishing up some shopping at Toys 'R' Us.

I arrived to find out one of our veteran drivers got robbed, at gunpoint.  It seems random. The delivery was legitimate, paid (tipped even), then confronted by 2 youths on his way back to his car. This was a veteran driver, neither young nor small.

So I worked 1.79 hours, took 4 deliveries, made $7, and drove 10 miles.  I delivered to 2 houses and made $7.  I delivered to 2 businesses and made $0.

That's right, a nurse on the 10th floor chose not to tip on a $30 order, even though I brought the pizza all the way into the hospital and up to their floor.

Then a girl working at a bar, that's right, a girl that works for tips, paid $13 for a $12.99 order.  I wished I had a penny to give back to her.  I was totally dumbstruck and unprepared, I don't think I've ever been stiffed at a bar before!

Police Disguised As Pizza Guy Arrest 3 Punks In My Town

I wish this was how it always worked! This is actually in my town! Well done by the Marco's crew for recognizing the situation and the police for believing them and playing along!
Chronicle Article


WKYC Article

Pizza Driver Safety Advice

What was he thinking?

On Sunday we drove past this house where the robbery took place last week.  It's hard for me to believe that even in the dark, the driver got out of his car at this house.

Here is some safety advice for pizza drivers.

• 
  
  Carry a cell phone.
• 
  
  Call the phone number for new addresses to verify the order.
• 
  
  Never get out of your car at a dark house.
• 
  
  If there is any question about the safety of a location, don't even pull into the driveway so that someone could park behind you and block you in.  Pull up on the street and leave your flashers flashing.
• 
  
  Don't approach a house with numerous people loitering near the door or on the porch.

Oh and a quick shout out to my friend Ward, a former pizza manager.  He was attacked with a golf club the other day while doing repo work for Rent-A-Center.

Still Not Driving

Just as I was considering going back to driving after soccer season ended, we had a family tragedy and I still have not started back to my 2nd job.  However, my wife just lost 2 of her day-care kids (their mom lost her job) so I may pick up a night or 2 in the near future.

Meanwhile, here are a few pizza-related links I have found lately.  First, a video from CNN about a pizza guy (and EMT) who arrived just in time to give CPR and save a life!  What a great story!

The other link is not so great.  It is an article about a local pizza guy getting set up and robbed.  Come on guys, make your call-backs and never go towards an unlit house!

Robbery

This one is way too close to home. I'm surprised nobody mentioned it on Monday when I worked. Be careful out there my friends.

Another Robbery

This is the 2nd publicized robbery in my town in less than a week. Not surprising, since the newspaper published a large amount that was stolen the 1st time.

This time there was a gang, they used a gun and took the guy's car (or at least his keys).

I have to admit I'm having 2nd thoughts about going back to work even 1 night / week.

Chinese Food Driver Robbed

I'm on the schedule to work again 1 week from tonight. Unfortunately, this morning I read in the newspaper that a Chinese food deliveryman was robbed in our city.

Doubly unfortunate is that the newspaper chose to publish the amount stolen, and it was ridiculously high. I would not carry even 10% of that amount into that neighborhood if we did deliver there, which we do not!

Pizza Manager Robbed

There was a pizza-related robbery in my area last night. Seems like a set-up. After closing, the pizzeria manager found his car tires flat and was attacked while trying to change his tire. They stole the day's deposit.

You can read more about it here.

In unrelated news, I stopped by our shop last night. Tomorrow was my one night to work in the next month and I'm not on the schedule. Not that I mind.

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.

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.

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.