The Hell that was Wednesday Part 1 *Long*

[Nemesis44UK]

So, here I was, rocking up at my part time delivery job, fresh from my 10 hour day job. Wednesdays are usually pretty steady, which suits me, to be honest, as I am not really loving the hectic Saturday night shift after a full day at work.

I pull up at the restaurant's back door and go in to grab my first deliveries. Already there are four on the counter and the ticket rail is looking ominously busy. I get to my second delivery and the woman has a catbutt face.

SC1: "About bloody time, did you get lost or something? It better not be cold"
Me: "Err no, won't be cold, I just picked it up. I'm sorry, have you been waiting a long time for your food?"

SC1: "Over AN HOUR!"

WTF? Why is she phoning at 5.00 if deliveries don't start until 6?Me: "Madam, we don't start delivering until 6.00, I assure you, I have only just picked it up."
SC1: "I'm going to check it and make sure it's not cold."

Hell no, I'm not waiting here for ten minutes whilst you open everything up and check. I've got a busy night ahead of me.

Me: "I'm sorry madam, please feel the bottom of the bag, it is very hot. If there is any issue at all with your food, please contact the restaurant and they will take care of it."

I do not carry "spares" in my car, so even if the food was ice cold, I couldn't do sod-all about it, they would need to contact the shop. Also, as any delivery driver would tell you, we are in a heckuva hurry. I don't break the speed limits very often, so I need to make my transactions real quick.

SC1: "Fine, *through gritted teeth,* I think I should just pay you ten pounds for it, as it is so late"

The bill came to around £17.00, so any difference would have to be paid by me. Ummm, let me think about that.....no."

Me: "I'm sorry madam, I cannot offer discount. You would need to contact the shop and speak to the manager to have one authorised. Unfortunately, I have to ask for the money on the ticket, or I cannot leave the food with you."

SC1 goes crimson. Literally crimson. I fear that if it started raining, it would just hit her and vapourise to steam.

SC1: "Give me my FOOD!"
Me: "That's £17.00 please madam."

Her eyes are bulging and I think she may be having a stroke.

She thrusts, actually slaps my hand with hers, a £20 note in the palm, like a high five, down low and rips the bag out of my other hand. I count out £3.00 change and smile as sweetly as I can manage.

"Thank you for your order, good night."

I thought "Wow, tonight has not started off well." Strangely enough, I didn't get a tip.

Oh dear God, did I think it was going to get better? I couldn't have been more wrong.

[Sapphire Silk]

She was looking for an excuse to stiff you. Gah. Scary to think that was just the beginning.

[Nemesis44UK]

The Hell That Was Wednesday Part 2 *Long & Language*

After my rough start, I figured that things would get better. They didn't.

After a few more deliveries, it struck me that almost everybody was unhappy. This is not usual. The law of averages states that some people will be okay.

Nope.

SC2: "Got lost, did we?"
SC3: "Hooray" (Sarcastic)
SC4: "I've been waiting two fucking hours for this!! This better be fucking hot, or I'm going to tip it on your fucking head!"
SC5: "You're late!"

Even my aunt got in on the act and was shouting about her late delivery.
Me: "Errm, you know I'm your nephew, right?"
Her: "Where the pissing hell has this been?"
Me: (Getting steamed) "I've only just picked this up."
Her: "Where has it been?"
Me: "Feel the bottom of the bag"

She does, and I can see how hot it is, by how quickly she pulls her hand off. She's about to carry on and I cannot be bothered with it. She is family, but is treating me like shit. I'm not having it.

Me: "They have just cooked that. There is a queue of meals waiting to be cooked before yours. Last count was around 15. It is a small shop, and they go in order. If someone walks in and orders, they go to the front of the queue. Deliveries are delayed. It takes me around 20 minutes to do 4 deliveries. Therefore, I can do 12 per hour if they are local. Allowing for the fact that walk-ins may interrupt the queue, it is not unfeasible that your food will take around an hour and a half."
Her:

I go back to the shop at the end of my run. There are still loads of tickets to do. I happen to hear the young girl on the phone at the front of the shop.

Counter Girl: "Thank you for your order, it should be with you in 20-30 minutes."

I stare at the 20 or so tickets already on the board and 2 hours is more likely. I tell her this.

Counter Girl: "That's what I've been told to say."

Me:

The first rule of customer service is that if you under-promise and over-deliver, the customer is happy. Do it the other way around and this happens:

I have been doing this job for a few years and the counter girls have always been reasonably sensible. If there is a ton of deliveries, they will tell customers how long it is likely to be.

I had two hours left to go, I had delivered around 20 meals and I had been insulted by around 70% of those people. Could it get worse?

Yes.

[Andara Bledin]

Jeebus crow. The stupid ticket girl is an idiot. Did you have a chat with management about what she's been "told to say"?

^-.-^

[Nemesis44UK]

The Hell that was Wednesday Part 3 *Long & Language*

After being abused for almost 2 hours straight, I was halfway through my shift. If the phone didn't ring once more that night, I might, just might finish on time.

I instructed the girl that she should tell people a more realistic time for deliveries and she said she would tell people.



Of course, the phone kept ringing, albeit at a slower pace. I go as quickly as I can, taking short cuts wherever possible, avoiding traffic lights and maybe fracturing a speed limit or two.

I made my transactions as fast as possible, wouldn't engage any more than I possibly had to. Yes, it cost me tips and no I don't like it, as I feel it is rude, but if I wasn't at lightspeed, people would have to wait even longer.

I get back to the shop at 10.25. At this point, I have done 35 deliveries, (some were right at the limit of our area), my car is complaining and my ear has been bent something rotten by the amount of abuse I have received.

I am 25 minutes over my finish time and I don't get paid overtime. On the bench is two more deliveries and Countergirl has gone home and the boss is there.

On the phone.
Taking another delivery order.
Knowing that the two orders, (one of which is flipping miles away) will take me around 20 minutes to complete already and that is before I get this next one.

I get home just past 11pm. I am furious and have let the boss know. I am normally a placid person, but I had a horrible night and my engine management light has come on, which indicates an expensive fault is imminent. I made almost zero tips and have been abused for nearly five hours straight.

[barainga]

Counter Girl: "Thank you for your order, it should be with you in 20-30 minutes."

I stare at the 20 or so tickets already on the board and 2 hours is more likely. I tell her this.

Counter Girl: "That's what I've been told to say."

Me:

The first rule of customer service is that if you under-promise and over-deliver, the customer is happy. Do it the other way around and this happens:

This is similar to what the girls who took the orders at the mal-Wart TLE were told to do. Always tell the customers 30 mins tops.

Which is of course always bullshit. If we had ever been properly staffed it wouldnt have been a problem. But when you have two guys who still havent had thier lunches or breaks and you have 15-20 oil changes and 10-15 tire orders its not happening.

An oil change with 2 people per oil change would take less than 10 mins. Tires 20 mins with 2 people working on it. Double the time for oil and triple the time for tires with one person on it. And thats only if there are no complications, and with the customers that place got there were ALWAYS issues.

[Andara Bledin]

I am 25 minutes over my finish time and I don't get paid overtime. On the bench is two more deliveries and Countergirl has gone home and the boss is there.

Stop right there. If you work, you get paid, so says the law. If you aren't getting paid, you're working off the clock and are not covered by workman's comp or other work-related insurance.

If you only mean that despite working overtime hours (which it doesn't sound like you do) you don't get paid overtime wages, that's merely illegal and you're still owed that money.

Also, it shocks me how many tipped staff don't know that if you don't make enough in tips to bring your wages up to the minimum for non-tipped staff, then you must be paid to the point where you do make at least minimum. I don't know the time-frame (whether it's per day, per week, per pay period, etc) and I don't know how much trouble it is to claim and collect, but it's worth checking into for those who tend to get less in tips than they should.

^-.-^

[Pagan]

Stop right there. If you work, you get paid, so says the law. If you aren't getting paid, you're working off the clock and are not covered by workman's comp or other work-related insurance.

If you only mean that despite working overtime hours (which it doesn't sound like you do) you don't get paid overtime wages, that's merely illegal and you're still owed that money.

Also, it shocks me how many tipped staff don't know that if you don't make enough in tips to bring your wages up to the minimum for non-tipped staff, then you must be paid to the point where you do make at least minimum. I don't know the time-frame (whether it's per day, per week, per pay period, etc) and I don't know how much trouble it is to claim and collect, but it's worth checking into for those who tend to get less in tips than they should.

^-.-^

That's US law. Nemesis is in the UK, but it looks like a lot of their regulations are the same with regards to OT. As far as I can find, they don't have anything comparable to workman's comp. I know the UK closed a loophole about 2 years ago on how tips were used, but I haven't found anything about bringing the pay up to minimum if it's not made in tips.

SC1: "Fine, *through gritted teeth,* I think I should just pay you ten pounds for it, as it is so late"

The bill came to around £17.00, so any difference would have to be paid by me. Ummm, let me think about that.....no."

[Sparky]

This:

The first rule of customer service is that if you under-promise and over-deliver, the customer is happy. Do it the other way around and this happens:

Yes. Oh yes. Oh a thousand times yes!

Yes.

Yes.

I can only hope your boss gets a clue.

They make promises on the phone and you have to break them in person? Oh you poor, poor baby.

[Andara Bledin]

That's US law. Nemesis is in the UK...

Whoops. Forgot to check that, first.

Actually, the UK has some interesting rules about working. You can opt to volunteer your time to the company, which you cannot in the US. This seems to be a rule that could be abused horribly, which is likely why it's forbidden in the US.

^-.-^

[Peppergirl]

*sigh*

Actually, the posters location is irrelevant. Discussions of insurance and legalities and fair employment issues are off topic and are fratching material.

Please move along.

[Sarlon]

dear ancients I remember delivery...

some nights I made AWSOME money, but this one house us drivers would have to rock paper scissors for since they ALWAYS had likme a $50+ order, ina VERY VERY nice part of town, and ALWAYS paid with exact change and no tip.

but heaven forbid you be 2 seconds late...

now for me if I call in ona friday night the first words out of my mouth are "about how long is your expected delivery time"

anything over an hour I can hear the cringe in their voice, but my responce is "oh thats alright my phone number is blah and I'd like Blah"

now with long deliver my times my tipping policy is as follows 40-50 minutes 20% tip (for faster then I expected) 60 minutes 15%, 90 minutes 10%.

[MoonCat]

As a customer, I can tell you that I would far rather know the actual timeframe I'm faced with, than have the business lie to me about it. It drives me crazy when, for ex., I call for a taxi and I'm told, "15 minutes" and I end up waiting an hour and 45 minutes. This kind of thing has happened to me many times, and not always on days when the weather is bad (which I can understand). If the wait is two hours, tell me it's two hours!

[Racket_Man]

now with long deliver my times my tipping policy is as follows 40-50 minutes 20% tip (for faster then I expected) 60 minutes 15%, 90 minutes 10%.

If I understand the above statement correctly (please correct me if I am interpeting it the wrong way) :

as a delivery driver, PLEASE PLEASE I implore you not to base your tip on the amount of time it takes a driver to get to your home.

If you received a fair ETA of 60 minutes, I belive the tip should be no different than an fair ETA of 40 minutes or 90 minutes. the store may be busy and swamped

IF your order is late inquire of the driver as to the possibility of WHY it is late. please do not assume it is the drivers fault. please do not penalize the driver for the store being busy or something got messed up. most of the time orders that are late are not the drivers fault (unless of course you know that a long 15 minute train has passed your way or know of a road closing accident has happened in which case it is still not really the drivers fault).

[Andara Bledin]

I would never base my tip on the ETA. I might base it on how much past the ETA delivery is, but it would also depend on partly on how hot the food still was. If it was cool or cold, for example, that would make a difference.

^-.-^