6 Things About Being A Food Delivery Driver That Nobody Knows
These are just a few things that I found out after delivering sandwiches for a local restaurant in town this summer. These are all just little things, but they add up in the end. When I first took a job as a delivery driver, I thought it would suck and that I would hate every second of it. To my surprise this has been my favorite job so far.
1. Free. Food.
Not all places are as generous as my current place of employment, but more often than not, if you work at a place that sells food, you will be able to eat free food (or at least get a discount). But anyway, free food! Nothing is better than free food.
2. You will learn patience.
A few annoyances I have encountered include: sitting in traffic all day; waiting for that little old lady to search her apartment for her wallet; and getting stuck behind a school bus when you’re already late bringing someone their food. Stuff happens on the job that is out of my control, which doesn’t make my life any easier, but the only thing I can do about it is take a deep breathe and relax. I have learned that patience is something that is necessary over the years, but I have never had more time to practice this concept until I got a job delivering sandwiches.
3. Tips!
Yeah, I have to pay for my own gas money, but it doesn’t matter when all the tips I get each day add up. Enough driving shifts in a week and the tips can add up to as much as a second paycheck.
4. There are people out there restoring my faith in humanity.
Obviously there are going to be customers that come in and are just plain rude or complain about the dumbest things, but there are actually more good people out there than I thought. Nobody who works in foods is perfect and mistakes will happen, orders will get screwed up, and there are those outstanding people that still exist out there who understand about imperfections and are very nice about waiting an extra minute to get their food fixed. For those people who throw a fit in front of their kids in the middle of the restaurant because there isn’t extra cheese like you asked, please take note that you are being absurd and people are judging you.
5. Listening to music.
I love music. Having a delivery job means that I am driving around all day listening to music in my car and getting paid for it. That seems like a small and insignificant detail, but trust me — when it is insanely busy in the restaurant and you are getting paid to leave, listen to your favorite songs, and sing to the radio to drive a sandwich someplace, it is a luxury to be the driver.
6. Learning the land.
I have lived in the same town my entire life and I thought that I knew the place pretty well. Oh, I was so wrong. After delivering for a week, I was shocked that my town was so big! I have discovered so many places that I didn’t even know existed until working as a driver. It is amazing how much you can learn about your own town just by driving to every corner of it and back again. To make a side note on that, I have the utmost respect for those who were delivery drivers before the GPS was invented.