D's Pizza Delivery

Last night I took a delivery to a senior citizens' community. As I was pulling up to "check in" (the gatekeeper never actually makes me check in), it was brought to my attention that my driver-side headlight had gone out (suddenly I remember, all too late, what it was I wanted to do this morning). That was wonderful news (sarcasm), considering I kept hearing on the news of the terrible storms that were coming our way last night. So I'd be stuck taking deliveries in the rain with only one headlight and fog lights that, when I actually need them, don't really amount to much.

I was driving out to the middle of fucking nowhere when the rain started. There were large drops hitting my windshield, but nothing too serious. In fact, by the time I got to my destination the rain had almost stopped, which was good because I had to roll down my window to punch in a gate code. I got up to the house, pulled up in front of the door, grabbed the food, and got out. It was raining again, but still somewhat lightly. The woman invited me in, but I had just walked through a puddle and didn't want to get her floors wet. Besides, there was an awning over the entrance that protected me from the rain.

Until the wind kicked in. I'd been hearing about the wind all night on the radio. Suddenly, as I stood there, the clouds unleashed a deluge of water upon us, with 80 mile-per-hour winds to top it off. I got my check, then dashed out to my car and jumped in. In the time it took me to open the door, jump in, and close the door, my passenger seat had gotten soaked. That's how rough the wind was; the rain was falling horizontally. I got on the road and it only took me a few seconds to realize I couldn't see more than a couple yards in front of me. I called Napoli's and told them I was pulling over for a while and to stop taking delivery orders. They obeyed.

The rain let up a tiny bit (the wind did not) so I took advantage of the slightly better visibility and drove (slowly) back to the store. On my way I noticed uprooted trees and debris blocking roads, as well as traffic lights that were no longer functioning. Overall, a pretty dangerous situation. I realized on my way that the street lights were no longer on, regardless of how dark it had become outside. A power outage; great. I also saw that none of the lights for the stores in the little strip Napoli's is a part of were on, including the lights at Napoli's.

I pulled up behind the store and walked into the kitchen, where cooks were using the lights of their cellphones to see. I made my way up front where two customers were just leaving. Nobody had heard from the other driver. I tried calling him, but my server was down, rendering my phone pretty much useless. I was told that two people had ordered delivery before the outage (and before I had called and told them no more), and both orders were ready, but it was up to me whether or not I would take them. I looked at the two: one woman, apparently, had promised a good tip ($2) for making us go out in the bad weather. The other was a family who had tried to short-change me and another driver three times, but then started tipping $2-$3 after that. Despite the fact that the first delivery was closer, $2 is not a good tip, especially when delivering in that kind of weather. I decided to take my chances with the short-changers.

I took the second delivery. On the way: more debris, more broken branches and trees, more broken traffic lights, more neighborhoods without any power. I got there in good time, though, and the woman gave me $15 for her $12.88 order. Before I could murmur "thanks" and walk away, she told me I deserved more than that for having to go out in the crazy weather. She went inside, then came back with $3 more. We talked a little bit about the weather and I let her know that I had chosen to take her delivery instead of another one (I'm a sly dog, I know). She thanked me, told me to be careful, I told her about the conditions outside (she didn't have a battery-powered TV or radio), she asked about the threat of tornadoes, I told her there's always the possibility, so be alert, but none were expected, then I went on my way.

I got back to Napoli's and the other driver had finally arrived. He told us what we expected: more debris, more power outages, and even some flooding on major roads (I'd been taking side or back roads and hadn't seen any flooding yet). He took the other delivery and, I hope, got more than a cheap $2 tip. We hung out for a while in front of the store (it was way too damn hot inside), calculated our tips with a calculator on my cellphone, then left at 9:00. The lights were out all across this side of the city, but amazingly my apartment lights were still on. The weather died down to a light rain a little before I left Napoli's, but driving home was still rough because of all the debris.

All in all, last night was pretty good tip-wise, and pretty exciting too, but it's business as usual when I go in tonight. We'll see how that goes.

# posted by D @ 10:56 AM