RANDOM RANTING
Hello again everyone, this column is titled Random Ranting and will be about just whatever is on my mind at the moment or when something is irritating me and I feel the need to write about it.
Right now I currently work as a delivery driver for a pizza company, a job I'm sure a lot of people have had at some point in their lives and also has quite a lot of parallels to someone who works as a server in a restaurant, another job that I know a lot of people have worked.
But there are things that go on everyday in the field of food delivery that quite honestly, should not be happening. And I think a lot of it is because some customers have never had to do this type of job before and have no idea what it's like to be in the shoes of your everyday food delivery person so here are some simple etiqutte rules that I hope are taken to heart.
1. Always be prepared
This rule also extends to when you call in to the store to place your order. Make sure that you already know what you want(or at least have an idea or the questions you want to ask figured out), have your coupons ready, have your credit card at your side if that is your payment method, and it will make the order taking process just that much more efficient and quicker and allows the employees to get back to what they were doing or be able to serve more customers in a timely manner.
Once the order taking process is finished and you're told a total and your ETA, make sure you have everything ready for when the driver arrives. This means if you paid by cash, you have the money counted out and ready to go and that you don't have to do any tasks or errands. There are very few things that are more annoying and irritating to your driver than you not being ready when he or she arrives with your food. Some places have two pay rates for their drivers and they get paid less when they're not in the store so that means the more time that have to spend waiting on you to make the transaction, the less money that shows up on their paychecks.
When it gets close to the estimated time that you are given, you need to make sure that you're paying more attention, listening for the doorbell, the knock at the door, or your driver arriving in your workplace so you can quickly and efficiently be there to greet your driver and make that transaction as quickly as possible. One major pet peeve for drivers is when they arrive and the customer is not there, especially in the bathroom. It's pretty much an unwritten rule that if you have food coming, you DO NOT leave your station until they arrive. It not only wastes the driver's time/money, but also just plain rude.
2. Give all of the neccessary information when ordering
I know I've had this happen to me several times where I'd go to take a delivery and look at the ticket to see that there is no suite number on the order AND the phone number is incorrect which makes the delivery pretty much impossible to make because the information is incomplete as well as incorrect. Which in turn means a wasted delivery, loss of time/money, as well as inconvience for the customer as now they have to call the store after quite a bit of time has passed to find out what is going on.
So essentially when you are giving your order wether it be online or by phone, you have to make sure to give ALL of the neccessary information just in case any situations arise. This includes but is not limited to-Full name, phone number, address(yes I have seen people put the wrong address in before, on online orders no less), suite number, apartment number, department(if you're in a department store), name of business, etc... Having all of this information makes the delivery process so much easier and helps insure faster, more efficient delivery service.
And another note, if the delivery is to a home, please turn your porch light on. It makes locating your house a lot easier.
I can't stress enough how important it is to make sure you give all of your information when placing the order. Because if you can't be found or contacted, YOU WILL NOT RECIEVE YOUR FOOD IN A TIMELY MANNER(IF YOU GET IT AT ALL)!!!!!
3. Keep calm if something goes wrong
Of course not everything will always go to plan. Things happen that are beyond the control of anyone and it's important to keep a cool head about it and not let your emotions get the best of you.
If something is wrong with your order when the driver arrives, it doesn't do anything to keep him or her there when you call the store to let them know of the issue as all you're doing is holding the driver up. Keeping them there will not get the problem fixed any quicker and you're keeping them from doing their job and serving other customers. While you are very important to business, you aren't the only one that they have to serve therefore you are also inconveniencing other customers as well.
Never, under any circumstances immediately blame the driver if something goes wrong. Yes it's possible that they are the ones who made a mistake, but they are human just like you and not perfect so don't act like you're so high and mighty that you couldn't possibly do something like that in the same position which leads right into the next point.
And most importantly, do not talk down to or insult the people providing you service. Remember, they are the ones who are working hard to provide you with the best service possible and in the process, mistakes do happen and being understanding and working together with them to solve the issue, rather than against them in an antagonizing manner, will definitely make them go out of their way to make sure that you're taken extra care of the next time you order.
4. ALWAYS TIP
This is easily the most important part of this column and that is you always should tip your driver or server. It doesn't have to be the standard 20% of your order, but enough to make it worth the time to go out there.
A lot of people don't seem to understand that drivers and servers essentially depend on those tips for their income. Most places pay only the bare minimum server wages to their employees which is about half of the actual mandated minimum wage. And if they have to serve a customer that doesn't tip them, that pretty much means they lose money as that takes them away from a delivery or table that would have tipped them and in my opinion, is the same as stealing.
And honestly, there is no excuse for not tipping, absolutely none and I've heard them all. If you can't afford to tip your driver/server, then you honestly shouldn't be wasting the money you do have on a luxury such as food delivery or wait service. If you just don't want to do it because you don't want to, then you need to learn how to cook or get up off of your backside and get it yourself because driver's can't afford to not make money, especially when they are putting wear and tear on their vehicles because you're too lazy to make it or get it yourself.
Oh and that delivery charge you see on your ticket? Yea the driver never sees a penny of that. That goes toward the cost of running a delivery service such as running background checks, maintaining the mapping system, covering the insurance of running a delivery service, and so on and so forth. So don't ever mistake that for a tip because I promise you, unless they specifically state that, none of that goes to the driver.
So with that I hope that this was an enlightening column that shows you the proper eitqutte for ordering delivery food. A lot of these things can also be applied to servers as well so you can use this information when you go out to eat as well. And remember this, if the things mentioned in here aren't followed, especially when it comes to not tipping, don't be surprised to find some 'surprises' awaiting you the next time you order. I'm not saying I do this or condone this, but there are others out there who have no problem with exacting what they think is a proper vengeance for the poor treatment they get from customers. That's all for now and thanks for reading.
Join The Brand for just $4.95! Click HERE for more info....
