Cravings Are REAL!
- idriveontheside
- Sep 7, 2020
- 4 min read
Crazy story… a global pandemic happened, and I realized a few things about myself.
I like to accomplish, be productive and stay somewhat busy…
As the president of a promotional items agency (we do swag) for large gathering style events such as concerts, festivals, conventions, expos, etc – you can imagine that a global pandemic making those types of gatherings nonexistent would create some issues for my business and income.
The first few weeks of the pandemic I sat around – watching daytime tv (yuck), got out into nature (not my typical thing), walked my dogs until they were begging to stay home, puzzled with my family yelling curse words just for fun when we finished a 1,000 piece puzzle to find that one piece was missing and scoured the internet for new shows/movies to binge watch – oh and ate… way too much!
I work, under normal circumstances, out of a home office so being home was not such a stretch for my day. Being SLOW was. Not having requests to follow up on because so many of my customers were either furloughed or laid off themselves was driving me insane and into a depression and wondering when things would – or if things would – get better again.
My 14 year old was home. My husband was furloughed and home. When we weren’t trying to have fun in the yard or doing any of the above things… we were just… home. Getting on each other’s nerves.
I hate letting time go by without the ability to make some money or do something productive, so I decided to give Uber Eats delivery a try. The first week… omg we had fun!! Maybe I wasn’t supposed to have my family join but we would blast the radio – have dance parties in the car – check out the neighborhoods we didn’t know – look at homes we would dream of living in and comment on the food that people would order. Yes – we took the time to be completely judgey. This was a form of entertainment after all.
It also became somewhat of a competition – how much could one make doing uber eats if they hustled. Every time we got a call for a delivery it was like an adventure. My teenage daughter loved it – especially because I was giving her a cut for something useless she was saving up for.
We masked up, picked up the food at the appropriate restaurant and delivered – most of the time – contactless by just dropping the food at the door and ringing & running.
Sometimes I would deliver for fun just to get out of the house to shake off the cabin fever and in all honesty – sometimes I would do it for the money when things were getting tight. We do have braces on the near horizon after all and to not have to dip into our smallish savings would be fantastic.
I began this journey in May and as of this writing I have delivered a total of 503 meals.
Whenever I had down time creating custom swag for high profile clients like big radio companies, universities and restaurants I would get in my car and drive. With the husband back at work off his furlough and the kid now in HS from her bedroom - it’s just me – sometimes I listen to music and sometimes I listen to books. Sometimes it’s breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner depending on what my day looks like. Sometimes I just stay home and veg!
I have learned a lot about people, restaurants and life.
1. cravings are REAL!! I mean – I know this. I am certainly guilty of ordering insomnia cookies or krispy creme to my door.
a. I have delivered loaded fries – JUST LOADED FRIES – from a restaurant 30 min away from the customer.
b. Many times I have delivered 1 starbucks beverage
c. Creativity at it’s finest – a local Mobil station calls itself ‘The Ice Cream Shop’ and sells Ben & Jerry’s pints for delivery!
2. McDonalds is probably the most popular delivery. We call those orders ‘Mc Parties’.
3. Uber Eats drivers make a very small amount to drive, pick up your meal and deliver it. They rely on tips. I have gotten ZERO tips, 50 cent tips and $15 tips. It’s a crap shoot – you never know. Sometimes the neighborhoods that you would think wouldn’t be able to tip, will tip you the most and sometimes you go through a fancy gate with a security guard to deliver a meal and you get zilch. Never judge a person by the size or location of their home!
4. HOW DO COLLEGE STUDENTS HAVE SO MUCH MONEY? (ok this isn’t something I learned… it’s more like something I ponder!!)
5. Most of the restaurants or fast food places I pick up at are great. They thank me. They wish me a good day. They tell me to stay safe. My opinion is that we are all in this together. Without people to deliver for them – they would have less business. But… not all are created equal. There are those wearing ‘chin guards’ (masks on their chins), those who throw the food at you or are super rude. I often wish I could send a pic to the customer to say ‘um… do you really want this food?’ but I don’t.
I guess I am writing this because the world is so completely upside down. I guess it always is in one way or another.
My regular life is working with large companies supplying them fun and functional custom branded swag to promote their brands and promotions. I have been doing this for almost 20 years. And now… I also deliver food and I’m ok with it. I’m using my time as effectively as I can at a time when the industries I have worked in for so long are just not active.
We are all in this crazy unprecedented time together.
Kindness is key.
Division is the enemy.
Smile (behind your mask),
WEAR a MASK and...
tip your delivery driver.
