We had a new kid working in the kitchen tonight. He told me this was his 3rd day. Eventually he made it over to the cut and pack area, where the pizzas are taken off the oven, cut into slices, and packed into boxes for delivery or pick up.
Well I had a delivery order setting on top of the oven, and I just had a hunch I should check it to make sure it was the right order before driving out to the customer and finding a mistake and having to come back.
Well, I found a mistake all right. The pizza wasn't cut! I was very glad I checked.
The other interesting event of the night was on one of my last couple deliveries, there was a young man sitting on his porch. After his friend paid for the food, he started asking questions. How long had I been a pizza driver, did the company pay for my gas, and what would happen if I got into an accident.
I drove 8 hours, took 18 deliveries, put 63 miles on my car, and made $35 in tips. It was a decent night but it should have been better.
Showing posts with label Pizza Insider Jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pizza Insider Jobs. Show all posts
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Dish-Pan Hands? Not Tonight!
I started my night with my first 2 deliveries, both to decent areas pretty close to the shop. The first paid exact change and the 2nd tipped $1 and the coins. After that, I had a GREAT night!
I got 2 $5 tips, one to my favorite customer, and sports-fan widow in the local trailer park. She orders often on the weekend, always pays by credit, always orders a 20-ounce pop, and always tips $4 or $5.
The 2nd was to a bar. Bartenders usually tip pretty decent, so I'm always happy to deliver to them.
I also had 9 tips of $2.93 - $3.70 tonight. Only 4 under that (including my first 2) and the 2 over. I had a hospital delivery, and a delivery to ex-driver and current IHOP waitress Chelsea.
Our chain is marketing a new family-size pasta. We were told tonight we had to suggest this when we answered the phone. Our GM Ady phoned at least 5 times to make sure we were doing it right. I answered her call once and she was happy with the way I did it. Better yet, one customer even bought one after I suggested it. And I delivered another pasta so we sold at least 2 tonight.
We really weren't that busy tonight but we were perfectly staffed. Manager Mike, waitress Catherine, and especially cook Mona all 3 did a great job inside. For the first time in my almost 4-year career, I didn't wash a single load of dishes!!!
In 5 1/2 hours driving, I took 15 deliveries, drove 62 miles, and made $43 in tips.
I got 2 $5 tips, one to my favorite customer, and sports-fan widow in the local trailer park. She orders often on the weekend, always pays by credit, always orders a 20-ounce pop, and always tips $4 or $5.
The 2nd was to a bar. Bartenders usually tip pretty decent, so I'm always happy to deliver to them.
I also had 9 tips of $2.93 - $3.70 tonight. Only 4 under that (including my first 2) and the 2 over. I had a hospital delivery, and a delivery to ex-driver and current IHOP waitress Chelsea.
Our chain is marketing a new family-size pasta. We were told tonight we had to suggest this when we answered the phone. Our GM Ady phoned at least 5 times to make sure we were doing it right. I answered her call once and she was happy with the way I did it. Better yet, one customer even bought one after I suggested it. And I delivered another pasta so we sold at least 2 tonight.
We really weren't that busy tonight but we were perfectly staffed. Manager Mike, waitress Catherine, and especially cook Mona all 3 did a great job inside. For the first time in my almost 4-year career, I didn't wash a single load of dishes!!!
In 5 1/2 hours driving, I took 15 deliveries, drove 62 miles, and made $43 in tips.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Routing & Inside Jobs
Tonight was a frustrating night for me.
I drove for a little over 4 hours, took 9 deliveries, drove 29 miles, and made $23 in tips. Of the 9 deliveries, 8 of them were doubles. The high percentage of doubles was what kept my mileage low as most of them were far away.
We had a manager not so familiar with the map doing the routing tonight. It was frustrating to me as I had to un-dispatch several runs that were routed as doubles that were in opposite directions, and then combine them as doubles with runs in the right direction.
Also, around 7 the managers asked if it was ok to send the day-driver home. I commented that none of the prep work was done and there were alot of dishes. The day driver then stayed "to help" but he brought in one box from the freezer and then left on a delivery.
Once upon a time, after drivers were taken "off the road", they had to work for 20 to 30 miinutes doing inside work (prep or dishes) before clocking out. This never happens anymore and it leaves alot of work for the late drivers.
Luckily Steve pitched in tonight to help with dishes. He can run alot of dishes through in a short amount of time!
Finally, best of luck to Brianne as she becomes the GM at another shop in our franchise.
ADDENDUM: I want to clarify that the routing issues are not the manager's fault. The manager was quick to listen to my suggestions and implement them. The problem is we not using the system in the way it was designed and it forces managers to guess what driver may be back next, as well as guess from what sector the next phone call may come from. This is pretty much impossible.
I drove for a little over 4 hours, took 9 deliveries, drove 29 miles, and made $23 in tips. Of the 9 deliveries, 8 of them were doubles. The high percentage of doubles was what kept my mileage low as most of them were far away.
We had a manager not so familiar with the map doing the routing tonight. It was frustrating to me as I had to un-dispatch several runs that were routed as doubles that were in opposite directions, and then combine them as doubles with runs in the right direction.
Also, around 7 the managers asked if it was ok to send the day-driver home. I commented that none of the prep work was done and there were alot of dishes. The day driver then stayed "to help" but he brought in one box from the freezer and then left on a delivery.
Once upon a time, after drivers were taken "off the road", they had to work for 20 to 30 miinutes doing inside work (prep or dishes) before clocking out. This never happens anymore and it leaves alot of work for the late drivers.
Luckily Steve pitched in tonight to help with dishes. He can run alot of dishes through in a short amount of time!
Finally, best of luck to Brianne as she becomes the GM at another shop in our franchise.
ADDENDUM: I want to clarify that the routing issues are not the manager's fault. The manager was quick to listen to my suggestions and implement them. The problem is we not using the system in the way it was designed and it forces managers to guess what driver may be back next, as well as guess from what sector the next phone call may come from. This is pretty much impossible.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Super Bowl Sunday?
Fellow driver Steve asked tonight if it was Super Bowl Sunday. This was because when I arrived for work at 5:30 we had 5 drivers working, John, Ted, and Cliff, besides Steve and myself. John was anxious to leave anyways as he goes to college a couple hours away and just works on the weekends.
So Steve, John, and I got the "pre-close" or frozen dough preparation done in record time and by 7 PM all the other drivers were gone except for Steve and I.
I didn't have any remarkable deliveries tonight but I did have a total of 16 runs in 5 1/2 hours of driving. I drove 54 miles and made $34 in tips, helped greatly by a $6.94 tip (on a $25.06 order).
So Steve, John, and I got the "pre-close" or frozen dough preparation done in record time and by 7 PM all the other drivers were gone except for Steve and I.
I didn't have any remarkable deliveries tonight but I did have a total of 16 runs in 5 1/2 hours of driving. I drove 54 miles and made $34 in tips, helped greatly by a $6.94 tip (on a $25.06 order).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Working With The Idiots
I want to preface this by saying I enjoy my job as a pizza driver and there isn't anyone at work that I dislike. Having said that, almost everything that anyone could do tonight to screw me up was done.
I drove for 8 hours, took 16 deliveries, drove 64 miles, and made $30 in tips. I also made a rare $1 tip on a pick-up order.
Now on to what went wrong. Our POS system requires the driver to "dispatch" and "return" each order. This timestamps the order within the system and calculates the oven time and the delivery time. Let's say the order was entered at 6:00 PM. The driver dispatched at 6:15 and returned at 6:35. Travel time of 20 minutes gets cut in half and the order is stamped as delivered at 6:25, or 25 minutes after the order was entered.
Several employees (including managers) don't understand how this works and think that if the driver isn't back 30 minutes from the order entry time, the order is late. Delivery on-time percentages are calculated and compared from store to store. Some managers will "return" a driver when he isn't really back, to make their numbers look better.
This upsets me to no end. First off my on-time numbers are always good to begin with. Second, returning a driver early is a lie. Also, returning a driver early makes it difficult to edit or void the order, if the customer found a coupon or if the order was a fake order. Finally, returning drivers out of order adds confusion, as the computer can't be used to mark which driver returned first (and thus which driver is up next).
Well tonight, somebody was returning drivers and there was mass confusion on who would be up next. At one point driver Chris accidentally took an order ahead of me when it should have been my turn before him.
Later on somebody actually returned me, which at that time was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. It happened to be on an order where I was shorted 5 cents by the customer. Now 5 cents is no big deal but there's no reason I should be expected to cover for the customer. The order should have been discounted by the store but it was too late.
At that point I stopped dispatching myself and returning myself, figuring if somebody else thought they should do it, I would let them try to figure out which deliveries I was taking.
The cooks also got into the act, forgetting cinnamon sticks on one order and making a supreme rather than a super supreme on another. This is bad enough, but both of these times the mess up would have went nicely as a double, saving us drivers both time and gas (money).
The phone people screwed by taking the same bad address twice. First they put the address as "19 STREET", as in house number 19 on STREET. We called back to try to get the address right an no one answered so the order was voided. Later they called back and this time gave a valid street address on Douglas. Except for the fact that their house was about 1 mile past the end of our delivery area. Desiree took the order and they shorted her $1 because they thought that was all they should pay due to the late pizza.
The address was marked and we will NOT be going there again, if I can help it.
Later I arrived at a house and asked for $24.84, the guy said he had paid by credit card online. I called the store and sure enough, we had neglected to transfer that info from our internet computer to our ordering computer. I apologized to the guy and told him I was working with a bunch of idiots tonight.
New manager James even got into the act in a very minor way. He was on cut-and-pack and missed a "well done" note, but I caught it before leaving with the food, so that item was put back in to bake a little longer.
To top it all off, my customers also joined in. Half of them tipped $1 or less. One of them left their sprinkler on (in the dark) for me to walk through.
The worst was the woman who answered the door, telling me her husband was getting the money. I thought she meant upstairs. She meant at the bank. I waited in their driveway for about 10 minutes!
I'm sure I could say more but it's almost 3 AM and I'm bushed. So I'll just note that I was so upset for a while that someone called in manager Nick (on his day off) to try to calm me down. Nick went for a ride and told me about his failed romance, and it actually helped.
Good news of the night ... there was a huge dine-in group of about 20-30 people. Both waitresses, Catherine and Jeanette, served them. The diners then gave each of them a $50 bill as a tip! WOW!
I drove for 8 hours, took 16 deliveries, drove 64 miles, and made $30 in tips. I also made a rare $1 tip on a pick-up order.
Now on to what went wrong. Our POS system requires the driver to "dispatch" and "return" each order. This timestamps the order within the system and calculates the oven time and the delivery time. Let's say the order was entered at 6:00 PM. The driver dispatched at 6:15 and returned at 6:35. Travel time of 20 minutes gets cut in half and the order is stamped as delivered at 6:25, or 25 minutes after the order was entered.
Several employees (including managers) don't understand how this works and think that if the driver isn't back 30 minutes from the order entry time, the order is late. Delivery on-time percentages are calculated and compared from store to store. Some managers will "return" a driver when he isn't really back, to make their numbers look better.
This upsets me to no end. First off my on-time numbers are always good to begin with. Second, returning a driver early is a lie. Also, returning a driver early makes it difficult to edit or void the order, if the customer found a coupon or if the order was a fake order. Finally, returning drivers out of order adds confusion, as the computer can't be used to mark which driver returned first (and thus which driver is up next).
Well tonight, somebody was returning drivers and there was mass confusion on who would be up next. At one point driver Chris accidentally took an order ahead of me when it should have been my turn before him.
Later on somebody actually returned me, which at that time was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. It happened to be on an order where I was shorted 5 cents by the customer. Now 5 cents is no big deal but there's no reason I should be expected to cover for the customer. The order should have been discounted by the store but it was too late.
At that point I stopped dispatching myself and returning myself, figuring if somebody else thought they should do it, I would let them try to figure out which deliveries I was taking.
The cooks also got into the act, forgetting cinnamon sticks on one order and making a supreme rather than a super supreme on another. This is bad enough, but both of these times the mess up would have went nicely as a double, saving us drivers both time and gas (money).
The phone people screwed by taking the same bad address twice. First they put the address as "19 STREET", as in house number 19 on STREET. We called back to try to get the address right an no one answered so the order was voided. Later they called back and this time gave a valid street address on Douglas. Except for the fact that their house was about 1 mile past the end of our delivery area. Desiree took the order and they shorted her $1 because they thought that was all they should pay due to the late pizza.
The address was marked and we will NOT be going there again, if I can help it.
Later I arrived at a house and asked for $24.84, the guy said he had paid by credit card online. I called the store and sure enough, we had neglected to transfer that info from our internet computer to our ordering computer. I apologized to the guy and told him I was working with a bunch of idiots tonight.
New manager James even got into the act in a very minor way. He was on cut-and-pack and missed a "well done" note, but I caught it before leaving with the food, so that item was put back in to bake a little longer.
To top it all off, my customers also joined in. Half of them tipped $1 or less. One of them left their sprinkler on (in the dark) for me to walk through.
The worst was the woman who answered the door, telling me her husband was getting the money. I thought she meant upstairs. She meant at the bank. I waited in their driveway for about 10 minutes!
I'm sure I could say more but it's almost 3 AM and I'm bushed. So I'll just note that I was so upset for a while that someone called in manager Nick (on his day off) to try to calm me down. Nick went for a ride and told me about his failed romance, and it actually helped.
Good news of the night ... there was a huge dine-in group of about 20-30 people. Both waitresses, Catherine and Jeanette, served them. The diners then gave each of them a $50 bill as a tip! WOW!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
32 Runs, $73 Tips, 7.5 Hours, 96 miles
What a night!
We only had 2 drivers tonight, Desiree and myself! Steve was supposed to come in around 7 but nobody heard from him.
So in 7.5 hours on the road, I took 32 deliveries, drove 96 miles, and made $73 in tips. This is one of my best nights ever! (I'll try to check my records and find out exactly where it stands).
When you're going that fast, you have less time to dwell on each individual delivery so I don't have any stories tonight. I do have to thank Manager Mike and Cooks Steve & Mona for helping out with the prep and the dishes all night long. If they hadn't stepped up (especially Mona), I'd still be in the dishroom!
Oh yeah and I was back in my Hyundai, thanks to Joe's Garage!
We only had 2 drivers tonight, Desiree and myself! Steve was supposed to come in around 7 but nobody heard from him.
So in 7.5 hours on the road, I took 32 deliveries, drove 96 miles, and made $73 in tips. This is one of my best nights ever! (I'll try to check my records and find out exactly where it stands).
When you're going that fast, you have less time to dwell on each individual delivery so I don't have any stories tonight. I do have to thank Manager Mike and Cooks Steve & Mona for helping out with the prep and the dishes all night long. If they hadn't stepped up (especially Mona), I'd still be in the dishroom!
Oh yeah and I was back in my Hyundai, thanks to Joe's Garage!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Insider Screw-Ups - They Cost Me $
I had 2 serious screw-ups today. I'm not sure by who, but they both cost me time, gas, and money.
First off was my 8th delivery of the night. I arrived at the house, knocked, and the man who answered the door said "She already paid for it." I double-checked the ticket, and it was indeed a cash transaction (not credit-card).
The woman then came to the door, recognized my uniform, and said "Oh no, I canceled that order 2 seconds after I placed it. She said it was ok 'cause it wasn't even in the oven yet." Apparently she had then ordered from another pizza place and paid by debit card over the phone.
Well the pizza got made, boxed, and sent out for delivery. Whoever took the call for the cancellation (assuming the customer was telling the truth) should have made sure the ticket got voided right away.
Manager Nick did give me a $3 credit, but that's $1.10 for the run and $1.90 to replace the tip. As you'll see later on, my average tip for the night was over $2.
The second screw-up happened about the same time, but I didn't find out until about an hour later. This time an order was packed and placed on top of the oven to be delivered, but there wasn't a matching ticket on the dispatch screen. I checked the system and the order had been changed to a pick-up. So I moved it to the pick-up area.
Then about an hour later, I arrived back from a run and Manager Nick said "This order has to go out right away." It was the order that had been a pick-up, now changed back to delivery. It was already 85 minutes old!
The order was paid by credit card. When I arrived, the customer signed the slip, but, of course, neglected to add a tip. I don't blame them, but it wasn't my fault. I have no idea what happened that it got changed to a pick-up, but it cost me my tip.
On my 16 other orders, I drove 64 miles (18 orders total), and made $41 in tips. My average tip for the 16 non-screw-up orders was $2.56. This was for 6 hours driving.
I did have some positive experiences tonight:
A double to a notoriously bad-tipping neighborhood that earned me $7 in tips. (For the 2nd week in a row! Last week it was a triple for $9.50.)
A guy who added to his tip. He originally handed me $22 for his $19.57 order, then he said "Oh I thought it was $17 something" and added $2 more.
A guy in a trailer park who gave me $20 for a $15.33 order and thanked me for coming out so late (it was around 10 pm). I was glad that I had packed up 5 extra bread-sticks for this order, the guy gave me the $4.67 tip before he even knew I brought him some extra food.
2 other customers (4 in all) that tipped $4 or more.
It was a decent night, moneywise, but the screw-ups that cost me money really frustrate me.
First off was my 8th delivery of the night. I arrived at the house, knocked, and the man who answered the door said "She already paid for it." I double-checked the ticket, and it was indeed a cash transaction (not credit-card).
The woman then came to the door, recognized my uniform, and said "Oh no, I canceled that order 2 seconds after I placed it. She said it was ok 'cause it wasn't even in the oven yet." Apparently she had then ordered from another pizza place and paid by debit card over the phone.
Well the pizza got made, boxed, and sent out for delivery. Whoever took the call for the cancellation (assuming the customer was telling the truth) should have made sure the ticket got voided right away.
Manager Nick did give me a $3 credit, but that's $1.10 for the run and $1.90 to replace the tip. As you'll see later on, my average tip for the night was over $2.
The second screw-up happened about the same time, but I didn't find out until about an hour later. This time an order was packed and placed on top of the oven to be delivered, but there wasn't a matching ticket on the dispatch screen. I checked the system and the order had been changed to a pick-up. So I moved it to the pick-up area.
Then about an hour later, I arrived back from a run and Manager Nick said "This order has to go out right away." It was the order that had been a pick-up, now changed back to delivery. It was already 85 minutes old!
The order was paid by credit card. When I arrived, the customer signed the slip, but, of course, neglected to add a tip. I don't blame them, but it wasn't my fault. I have no idea what happened that it got changed to a pick-up, but it cost me my tip.
On my 16 other orders, I drove 64 miles (18 orders total), and made $41 in tips. My average tip for the 16 non-screw-up orders was $2.56. This was for 6 hours driving.
I did have some positive experiences tonight:
A double to a notoriously bad-tipping neighborhood that earned me $7 in tips. (For the 2nd week in a row! Last week it was a triple for $9.50.)
A guy who added to his tip. He originally handed me $22 for his $19.57 order, then he said "Oh I thought it was $17 something" and added $2 more.
A guy in a trailer park who gave me $20 for a $15.33 order and thanked me for coming out so late (it was around 10 pm). I was glad that I had packed up 5 extra bread-sticks for this order, the guy gave me the $4.67 tip before he even knew I brought him some extra food.
2 other customers (4 in all) that tipped $4 or more.
It was a decent night, moneywise, but the screw-ups that cost me money really frustrate me.
Monday, June 11, 2007
3 Years Of Pizza
Tonight was my 3-year anniversary. That's right, I've been a pizza driver for 3 years. Time flies when you're having fun!
Time didn't fly tonight, it was a pretty slow night. In 5 hours I took just 7 deliveries. Tips were decent and I did make $16, driving 28 miles.
Lots of change going on, we have a new driver (Amber), a new waitress (Brittany), and a new manager-in-training (Olga). Meanwhile Manager Ady is taking vacation next week and GM Rick's last week is next week before he moves to North Carolina so his wife (driver Melissa) can get a teaching job.
Time didn't fly tonight, it was a pretty slow night. In 5 hours I took just 7 deliveries. Tips were decent and I did make $16, driving 28 miles.
Lots of change going on, we have a new driver (Amber), a new waitress (Brittany), and a new manager-in-training (Olga). Meanwhile Manager Ady is taking vacation next week and GM Rick's last week is next week before he moves to North Carolina so his wife (driver Melissa) can get a teaching job.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
She's A Baker
One of the funniest things we when it is slow at work is read job applications. Not that it was slow tonight but there was a hilarious app on top of the clipboard today. The girl's last name was "Baker." Under previous job history, she has worked at Panera Bread. Guess what she did there? She was a baker. Before that she worked at the grocery store, Giant Eagle. Her job title once again? Baker.
Tonight was Steve's last night. Steve is a great guy and a hard worker. This was a 2nd job for him so he only worked a couple nights a week, but he will surely be missed.
I had a pretty good night tonight. It would have been even better if business hadn't slowed down so much in the final 4 hours.
I worked 7.5 hours, took 15 deliveries, drove 49 miles, and made $39 in tips.
Best of all the Cavs beat the Pistons and are going to the NBA Finals!
Tonight was Steve's last night. Steve is a great guy and a hard worker. This was a 2nd job for him so he only worked a couple nights a week, but he will surely be missed.
I had a pretty good night tonight. It would have been even better if business hadn't slowed down so much in the final 4 hours.
I worked 7.5 hours, took 15 deliveries, drove 49 miles, and made $39 in tips.
Best of all the Cavs beat the Pistons and are going to the NBA Finals!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Stopping By
I was in court on Tuesday for a custody hearing for my kids. The trial was continued until July so nothing was decided.
I did stop in at my pizzeria later in the afternoon to speak with GM Rick about my schedule. He was on the phone for about an hour so I hung out, talked with driver Mark about his recent trip to Florida, took a few phone orders, cut a few pizzas, spoke with a prospective driver/cook who came in to fill out an application, and even folded a few boxes. All off the clock.
When I finally got to talk to Rick, he said it was no problem for me to have Friday off. So my next night to work is Saturday.
Rick did ask me about why we were so late in getting out on Monday, reminded me to always take the oldest order (which I do). I'm there to make money, but I'm always fair to other drivers.
I did stop in at my pizzeria later in the afternoon to speak with GM Rick about my schedule. He was on the phone for about an hour so I hung out, talked with driver Mark about his recent trip to Florida, took a few phone orders, cut a few pizzas, spoke with a prospective driver/cook who came in to fill out an application, and even folded a few boxes. All off the clock.
When I finally got to talk to Rick, he said it was no problem for me to have Friday off. So my next night to work is Saturday.
Rick did ask me about why we were so late in getting out on Monday, reminded me to always take the oldest order (which I do). I'm there to make money, but I'm always fair to other drivers.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Memorial Monday
My day-job was off today so I went in at 5 instead of my usual Monday start-time of 6 PM. The day-driver Desiree quickly left, leaving just Kristie and I as drivers, Nick as manager, and Jeannie as waitress and cook. Desiree had only taken 5 deliveries from 11-5 today.
My first 3 deliveries were unique as they were all single pizza orders, all on credit-card, and all added a $2 tip on the card. My 4th order broke the streak in a bad way, paying exact change for his $11.83 order, including 2 $5's, 10 dimes, 3 quarters, a nickel, and 3 pennies.
Also interesting tonight was a double of 2 $30+ orders, both paid by credit card, one tipped me a single $1 on the card and the other tipped $2 cash.
Hopefully these, and one other stiff later in the night, were the exception not the norm tonight. I had 7 tips of $3 or more including 2 tips of $5. All in all I took 18 deliveries in 6 hours, made $45 in tips, and drove 68 miles.
The excitement of the night was shortly after 9PM when I returned from a delivery to find a shouting match going on inside the store. Kristie, apparently used to hard-working Mona as cook, was chastising Jeannie for not helping with the dishes. In Jeannie's defense, she was working 2 jobs (server and cook) tonight. But on the other hand, Jeannie doesn't help much in the dishroom even when she is just the cook.
"Dishes are everybody's job," I was taught the night I started almost 3 years ago, "but most people seem to think dishes are the job of the drivers." And sure enough, 3 years later, drivers do even more dishes than when I started. Servers used to be responsible for washing the salad bar dishes, but that hasn't happened in over 2 years.
Anyways, back to tonight's fight. I brought up that even Steve takes care of his own make-table dishes when he is the cook. "I'm not Steve" was Jeannie's reply. Which led to a back-and-forth between Jeannie and Kristie about which one had a boyish body (Jeannie) and a boyish haircut (Kristie).
Luckily for all involved, the argument didn't escalate any further than that.
My problem for this week is that I forgot to request my days off and GM Rick did the schedule a day early, and now I'm scheduled to work the night of soccer tryouts and both nights that I have my kids this week. Nick called him at home about it but I'm going to have to stop in sometime this week to get my schedule straightened out.
My first 3 deliveries were unique as they were all single pizza orders, all on credit-card, and all added a $2 tip on the card. My 4th order broke the streak in a bad way, paying exact change for his $11.83 order, including 2 $5's, 10 dimes, 3 quarters, a nickel, and 3 pennies.
Also interesting tonight was a double of 2 $30+ orders, both paid by credit card, one tipped me a single $1 on the card and the other tipped $2 cash.
Hopefully these, and one other stiff later in the night, were the exception not the norm tonight. I had 7 tips of $3 or more including 2 tips of $5. All in all I took 18 deliveries in 6 hours, made $45 in tips, and drove 68 miles.
The excitement of the night was shortly after 9PM when I returned from a delivery to find a shouting match going on inside the store. Kristie, apparently used to hard-working Mona as cook, was chastising Jeannie for not helping with the dishes. In Jeannie's defense, she was working 2 jobs (server and cook) tonight. But on the other hand, Jeannie doesn't help much in the dishroom even when she is just the cook.
"Dishes are everybody's job," I was taught the night I started almost 3 years ago, "but most people seem to think dishes are the job of the drivers." And sure enough, 3 years later, drivers do even more dishes than when I started. Servers used to be responsible for washing the salad bar dishes, but that hasn't happened in over 2 years.
Anyways, back to tonight's fight. I brought up that even Steve takes care of his own make-table dishes when he is the cook. "I'm not Steve" was Jeannie's reply. Which led to a back-and-forth between Jeannie and Kristie about which one had a boyish body (Jeannie) and a boyish haircut (Kristie).
Luckily for all involved, the argument didn't escalate any further than that.
My problem for this week is that I forgot to request my days off and GM Rick did the schedule a day early, and now I'm scheduled to work the night of soccer tryouts and both nights that I have my kids this week. Nick called him at home about it but I'm going to have to stop in sometime this week to get my schedule straightened out.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Coupon Scam
This article describes 2 Dominos employees who ran the famous "coupon scam."
Basically the phone person takes the order. The driver delivers the order. The customer pays full price. But the driver discounts the order with a coupon, and the driver pockets the difference. In this case it seems the phone person and the driver were in on the scam together.
Our POS system tracks "surprise coupons", or any discount added to the order after the order is initially entered, so it would be pretty difficult to try this at our store.
Plus, as I always say, the money is too good as is for me to try something like this. Not to mention it's illegal!
Basically the phone person takes the order. The driver delivers the order. The customer pays full price. But the driver discounts the order with a coupon, and the driver pockets the difference. In this case it seems the phone person and the driver were in on the scam together.
Our POS system tracks "surprise coupons", or any discount added to the order after the order is initially entered, so it would be pretty difficult to try this at our store.
Plus, as I always say, the money is too good as is for me to try something like this. Not to mention it's illegal!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
That's Alot Of Lettuce
Tonight I drove 5 hours, delivered 12 orders, drove 46 miles (for deliveries, more on that later), and made $27 in tips. My average order was much larger than last time, almost $20 per order!
The most interesting order was a guy who met me on the balcony of his 2nd floor apartment, handed the money down, and had me pass the food up.
The only person who did not tip was the last order of the night.
Around 10 pm we got a pre-order for tomorrow from the local hospital for about 20-some pizzas, 10 orders of breadsticks, and 70-some carry-out salads. The salad is the most challenging item and Manager Nick sent me to a neighboring store to borrow a case of lettuce. We're still not sure we have enough.
The store I went to was 12 miles away, so for the 24 mile round trip, I asked for 6 extra runs (since my average run is 4 miles). Right now we get $1.05 per run, gas is skyrocketing but our per-run money has not been adjusted in weeks.
I figure I use my car for deliveries when I have a chance to get tipped, but I really don't want to have to use my car and my gas to be the errand-boy. Especially when we're still busy, as being out on an errand means I'm getting skipped over for any deliveries we may have.
Then I had to stay about an hour late while Nick made the extra dough for the large order tomorrow.
The most interesting order was a guy who met me on the balcony of his 2nd floor apartment, handed the money down, and had me pass the food up.
The only person who did not tip was the last order of the night.
Around 10 pm we got a pre-order for tomorrow from the local hospital for about 20-some pizzas, 10 orders of breadsticks, and 70-some carry-out salads. The salad is the most challenging item and Manager Nick sent me to a neighboring store to borrow a case of lettuce. We're still not sure we have enough.
The store I went to was 12 miles away, so for the 24 mile round trip, I asked for 6 extra runs (since my average run is 4 miles). Right now we get $1.05 per run, gas is skyrocketing but our per-run money has not been adjusted in weeks.
I figure I use my car for deliveries when I have a chance to get tipped, but I really don't want to have to use my car and my gas to be the errand-boy. Especially when we're still busy, as being out on an errand means I'm getting skipped over for any deliveries we may have.
Then I had to stay about an hour late while Nick made the extra dough for the large order tomorrow.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday Night's All Right For Cleaning
We have our big inspection coming up next week so tonight's main task was cleaning. Everybody had a job or 2 and a few people even stayed after close to clean.
One bad thing about this is we are overstaffed with drivers (so that drivers aren't as busy and can spend some time cleaning). Add to this the warm weather and it was a pretty slow day.
The nicest tip of the day was to a high-school aged girl's birthday party. She paid me $28 for the $25.58 order and then her dad added $2 more, saying something about the price of gas.
In 8 hours I took 15 runs, made $32 in tips, and drove 56 miles. Not an awful night but nothing to write home about, that's for sure.
Oh, my cleaning job was to clean the floor in the back hallway and move the Pepsi cooler from one side of the room to the other.
One bad thing about this is we are overstaffed with drivers (so that drivers aren't as busy and can spend some time cleaning). Add to this the warm weather and it was a pretty slow day.
The nicest tip of the day was to a high-school aged girl's birthday party. She paid me $28 for the $25.58 order and then her dad added $2 more, saying something about the price of gas.
In 8 hours I took 15 runs, made $32 in tips, and drove 56 miles. Not an awful night but nothing to write home about, that's for sure.
Oh, my cleaning job was to clean the floor in the back hallway and move the Pepsi cooler from one side of the room to the other.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Slow Wednesday
It was a little rainy tonight but it didn't help the delivery business at all. I worked 4.5 hours and only took 6 deliveries. Tips were good tonight and I made $15. I drove 22 miles in all.
We have "Tony Tour", our annual inspection by our franchise president Tony coming up next month so everybody has had extra cleaning duties lately. My job tonight was to scrub the outside of the sinks in the dishroom.
Also of note, we had a new driver tonight, a girl named Kristie. She was a waitress / manager / part-time driver at another franchise in our chain so she should be ok.
We have "Tony Tour", our annual inspection by our franchise president Tony coming up next month so everybody has had extra cleaning duties lately. My job tonight was to scrub the outside of the sinks in the dishroom.
Also of note, we had a new driver tonight, a girl named Kristie. She was a waitress / manager / part-time driver at another franchise in our chain so she should be ok.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Another Carnival, and Nick Has A Blog!
Turnover at most pizza places is pretty high. I have worked at our shop, a franchise, for less than 3 years and there are only 4 employees with more seniority than me. Of those 4, 3 of them work the day shift. One driver, Mark, and 2 waitresses, Kim and Angie.
The only evening employee that has been there longer than me is Nick. Nick started a couple months before me, as a cook, while he was still a sophomore in high school. Nick is a hard worker and a real go-to guy. After he turned 18 he has run some manager shifts. Recently due to another store closing and us inheriting several of their employees, Nick is back on the make-line.
But the reason I mention all of this is, Nick has a blog! Check him out.
Also, we have been included in another Blog Carnival, this time the Carnival Of Dining Out!
I'm busy this weekend finalizing the schedule for the soccer league that my team plays in. I have 476 games that I need to assign to fields, dates, and times. So I won't be delivering again until Monday.
I thought I posted this already but I must have put it somewhere else. My nephew Zorlod also has a blog. Good stuff!
The only evening employee that has been there longer than me is Nick. Nick started a couple months before me, as a cook, while he was still a sophomore in high school. Nick is a hard worker and a real go-to guy. After he turned 18 he has run some manager shifts. Recently due to another store closing and us inheriting several of their employees, Nick is back on the make-line.
But the reason I mention all of this is, Nick has a blog! Check him out.
Also, we have been included in another Blog Carnival, this time the Carnival Of Dining Out!
I'm busy this weekend finalizing the schedule for the soccer league that my team plays in. I have 476 games that I need to assign to fields, dates, and times. So I won't be delivering again until Monday.
I thought I posted this already but I must have put it somewhere else. My nephew Zorlod also has a blog. Good stuff!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Just Like Mona Lisa
I had a little car trouble last night. I am driving a new (to me) 1992 Hyundai Excel and I forgot to turn the lights off when I parked it for my day job. So when I got back after work, the battery was dead. I called my store to tell them I would be late, called AAA, but eventually I got a jump-start from a La Quinta Inn shuttle van. Tipped them $4, it was all I had in my wallet at the time.
And yes, I called back and cancelled the AAA call. (They had said it may be up to 90 minutes).
So I got to work about a half hour late. I worked about 5.5 hours (4.5 driving), drove 39 miles on 12 deliveries, and made $31 in tips. This was boosted by a $10 triple-run, 3 orders called in within the last 10 minutes before we closed. All in all a pretty profitable night.
But the topic of this post is my new friend Mona. Mona was a cook at another restaurant in our franchise that recently closed (due to a bad location on the wrong side of the local mall). She got transferred over to our store about 2 weeks ago, and she is awesome. I haven't met anyone named Mona before so when she told me her name I asked how to spell it. She said "M O N A, just like Mona Lisa."
Mona has worked for our franchise for almost 23 years. She is 70 years old. And she does more work than any other 2 workers combined, maybe even 3. She never stands still, if she doesn't have anything to do she will find something to clean. It may not even be something in her area, but she will work on it anyways. Mona obviosly takes great pride in her work.
Last night while I was out on my last 3 deliveries, Mona finished up most of the dishes. Then while I was doing the very last of the dishes and cleaning the sinks, Mona swept and mopped the area that I was responsible for.
While we were waiting for the manager to finish closing up the registers, I jokingly asked Mona how long they were going to make her work there before they made her the boss.
"Until the day I die" Mona replied. "They tried making me a manager at the other place but it didn't work out"
"Some people are too good at working to be the boss," I told her. "It would be a waste to have you standing around telling people what to do."
She laughed and said, sarcastically, "I can see me standing around."
Mona is a great asset to our restaurant and I hope to work with her more often.
And yes, I called back and cancelled the AAA call. (They had said it may be up to 90 minutes).
So I got to work about a half hour late. I worked about 5.5 hours (4.5 driving), drove 39 miles on 12 deliveries, and made $31 in tips. This was boosted by a $10 triple-run, 3 orders called in within the last 10 minutes before we closed. All in all a pretty profitable night.
But the topic of this post is my new friend Mona. Mona was a cook at another restaurant in our franchise that recently closed (due to a bad location on the wrong side of the local mall). She got transferred over to our store about 2 weeks ago, and she is awesome. I haven't met anyone named Mona before so when she told me her name I asked how to spell it. She said "M O N A, just like Mona Lisa."
Mona has worked for our franchise for almost 23 years. She is 70 years old. And she does more work than any other 2 workers combined, maybe even 3. She never stands still, if she doesn't have anything to do she will find something to clean. It may not even be something in her area, but she will work on it anyways. Mona obviosly takes great pride in her work.
Last night while I was out on my last 3 deliveries, Mona finished up most of the dishes. Then while I was doing the very last of the dishes and cleaning the sinks, Mona swept and mopped the area that I was responsible for.
While we were waiting for the manager to finish closing up the registers, I jokingly asked Mona how long they were going to make her work there before they made her the boss.
"Until the day I die" Mona replied. "They tried making me a manager at the other place but it didn't work out"
"Some people are too good at working to be the boss," I told her. "It would be a waste to have you standing around telling people what to do."
She laughed and said, sarcastically, "I can see me standing around."
Mona is a great asset to our restaurant and I hope to work with her more often.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Never Count Your Money, When You're Standing At The Table
First off, my daily stats. I worked Sunday night from 5-close. That's 6 hours on the road. I took 11 deliveries, drove 53 miles, and made $28 in tips. Decent night. It snowed about 2 inches between 8-11, so that made things a little slippery as well.
One interesting note, I had 3 consecutive deliveries to a mobile home park. Those 3 deliveries tipped $11, almost $4 each. My other 8 deliveries tipped $17, barely over $2 each. Some of my best tippers live in trailers.
Now to the topic of this post. We had a dine-in customer tonight that was absolutely raving about the quality of our pizza. They loved the generous toppings, it was so much better than our franchise on the opposite side of Cleveland, and so on. The waitress (I refuse to use the politically correct term "server") was great even though they "drove her crazy."
So when they left, I was curious to see if they had tipped accordingly, so I asked our waitress, Catherine. She was cleaning up the salad bar and said she hadn't checked yet. Now they had been gone for at least 3-4 minutes. If it was me, I'd have been anxious to see how much I had made. But not Catherine. She said I could go get it off the table for her if I wanted, which I did.
Now their check was $57 and they left a very generous $18 tip. I handed it to Catherine and she put it in her apron without even counting. I asked her if she was going to count it and she said no, she thought that was rude.
Now, I understand not wanting to count the money in front of the customer, but after they had already been gone? As I said before, I would have been counting it up and adding it to my running total. Is that rude?
I am not a waiter, I'm a driver. I do have to make sure the customer gives me enough to cover the check and see if they need change, so I do fan through the bills. If there are singles I know they don't need change. So I just do a rough count to make sure they have covered the check and I don't do an exact count in front of them.
But when I get back to the car, I do count it before I add it to my bank.
Also, about 20% of our deliveries are credit-cards. The customer can write a tip on the line. I do glance at them to make sure they are signed. (I actually had a manager once make me go back to a house because the customer had written the tip but then forgot to sign the receipt). But it's just a quick glance to make sure it is filled out properly, I don't focus on reading the tip amount at that time.
But again, once I get back to the car I will definitely check the tip amount before I start back to the store.
In closing, I was happy that Catherine got a nice tip, but I am curious what others may think. Is it rude for a waitress or waiter to count the tip discreetly after the customer had already gone? (In this case it was after 10 and we had no other dine-in customers in the store).
One interesting note, I had 3 consecutive deliveries to a mobile home park. Those 3 deliveries tipped $11, almost $4 each. My other 8 deliveries tipped $17, barely over $2 each. Some of my best tippers live in trailers.
Now to the topic of this post. We had a dine-in customer tonight that was absolutely raving about the quality of our pizza. They loved the generous toppings, it was so much better than our franchise on the opposite side of Cleveland, and so on. The waitress (I refuse to use the politically correct term "server") was great even though they "drove her crazy."
So when they left, I was curious to see if they had tipped accordingly, so I asked our waitress, Catherine. She was cleaning up the salad bar and said she hadn't checked yet. Now they had been gone for at least 3-4 minutes. If it was me, I'd have been anxious to see how much I had made. But not Catherine. She said I could go get it off the table for her if I wanted, which I did.
Now their check was $57 and they left a very generous $18 tip. I handed it to Catherine and she put it in her apron without even counting. I asked her if she was going to count it and she said no, she thought that was rude.
Now, I understand not wanting to count the money in front of the customer, but after they had already been gone? As I said before, I would have been counting it up and adding it to my running total. Is that rude?
I am not a waiter, I'm a driver. I do have to make sure the customer gives me enough to cover the check and see if they need change, so I do fan through the bills. If there are singles I know they don't need change. So I just do a rough count to make sure they have covered the check and I don't do an exact count in front of them.
But when I get back to the car, I do count it before I add it to my bank.
Also, about 20% of our deliveries are credit-cards. The customer can write a tip on the line. I do glance at them to make sure they are signed. (I actually had a manager once make me go back to a house because the customer had written the tip but then forgot to sign the receipt). But it's just a quick glance to make sure it is filled out properly, I don't focus on reading the tip amount at that time.
But again, once I get back to the car I will definitely check the tip amount before I start back to the store.
In closing, I was happy that Catherine got a nice tip, but I am curious what others may think. Is it rude for a waitress or waiter to count the tip discreetly after the customer had already gone? (In this case it was after 10 and we had no other dine-in customers in the store).
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