Thursday, August 10, 2006
Things to Keep in Mind, Part I
There are a million things that people who take advantage of a food delivery service need to keep in mind. Some of the things I'll list you may have read before if you've dug through my blog a little bit. Many things will be based off my experiences with certain customers, but will apply to all customers. I assure you that you will see many installments in my blog on this topic because I am reminded daily of new things that would make the delivery experience easier on both the customer and the driver.
- Maintain your animals. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely adore animals. In fact, up until about a week ago I did not have a problem with this. However, as soon as the door opened on one of my deliveries last week I was greeted by a blue heeler (and I used to have one of my own, so I know how protective they can be) but was told not to worry and assured that "she's really sweet" by the customer... right before the dog attempted to take a chunk out of my leg. Before the transaction had ended, the dog had bitten my leg a second time. I know, people will advise me to sue, but I understand that the dog was only being territorial and wish no harm on it, and I fear a lawsuit may cause just that. I only ask that the dogs' owners put them outside or in another room (with the door closed) before answering the door.
- Maintain your children. Though not as harmful as some pets can be, children can still cause problems at the door, the biggest of such problems being they can simply get in the way. So as not to sound rude to the customer, I'm always polite to their children, but I don't need kids running around me or darting in and out of the door when I'm holding hot food. Likewise, I don't need children who have not yet learned to speak attempting to have a conversation with me while you stand back and have yourself a good laugh.
- Don't take my ticket. When I show up at the customer's door, I'm holding a little slip of paper with their address, their order, and their price. If I don't hand it to you, don't grab it out of my hand. If you ask, I'll let you have it, but I need those to keep track of all my deliveries.
- DON'T TAKE MY TICKET! On second thought, don't even ask to have it. You don't need it and I do. It doesn't have your price broken down to show the cost of everything you order (if that's what you're looking for, why don't you take a peek at the menu you used to order from us) and it won't show how much tax you were charged. It's handwritten and meant to be kept by ME.
- Know what you want before you call us. If you haven't decided on everything you want to order, then why did you even pick up the phone? When you call, I don't want to have to listen to "Uh... um... hm. Um... let's see..." Hang up the phone, take a further look at your menu, and call back when you're ready. We have other orders to take; time does not stop for you, so please be courteous.
- Don't ask us to read our menu to you. Look. You should know before calling Napoli's that it is not just a pizza joint. It is a restaurant. That means we've got a menu full of meals we sell. Don't ask us to list them for you, especially if you already have an idea of what you'd like to get. Fortunately, Napoli's has a website now so all we have to give customers like that is the address. This applies to all restaurants, though.
- Be at home. Unfortunately, this actually needs an explanation. If you are not at home, don't order delivery until you are. When we quote you an estimation of how long it will take for your delivery to arrive, it is exactly that: an estimation. That means that if we say it'll be there in 45 minutes, it won't necessarily be there in exactly 45 minutes. I've arrived as early as 25-30 minutes before the estimated time. I don't even know why I'm going on about this. Not being home when you're expecting a delivery is just stupid. Plain and simple.
- Have money ready. We don't tell our customers the price of their order over the phone unless they specifically request it. The reason for doing this is that to find the price we need to plug the order into the cash register and, being that we're also a dine-in and take-out restaurant, we constantly have people using the register. This is no reason, however, to not have money ready by the time your order arrives. The first thing you should do after hanging up the phone is find your checkbook or your cash, and set it somewhere (may I suggest NEAR THE DOOR) where you won't forget about it. I shouldn't have to wait for you to run out to the garage to dig your checkbook out of your car.
- Don't run your sprinklers. How rude and inconsiderate is that? Sometimes I feel people run their sprinklers when they're expecting a delivery just to be funny. There's nothing funny about discovering you've just been handed a lot of cold, wet food though, is there? Especially when it's your fault. Exceptions to this rule include the past couple weeks during this insane heat wave. Today, walking through sprinklers was actually a treat. Well, for me. Not for your food.
- Don't ask who it is. Why? Because it's the pizza guy. You ordered food a little while ago, and now it's here. Asking who it is just shows how paranoid you are and suggests you may have something to hide. Asking who it is when you have a peephole in your door or a nearby window is just dumb. I can have fun with this one, though, because "Napoli's" sounds a lot like "the po-leece."
That's it for this installment. As I said, there is definitely more to come.
# posted by D @ 9:30 PM 
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So many of your posts make me wonder where the hell these people are? I hope no one I know would need to be reminded to turn off sprinklers and wrange pets and kids.
Though I admit, I have an inside/outside cat who just loves jetting out the front door the minute Mr. Pizza Driver gets there. But, he's allowed out, and they usually relax when I tell them that.
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Though I admit, I have an inside/outside cat who just loves jetting out the front door the minute Mr. Pizza Driver gets there. But, he's allowed out, and they usually relax when I tell them that.
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