(definition further explained in this post if you still aren't satisfied)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Did you order a pizza?

Life has been careening through me lately!

There's a variety of things that have kept me from posting the past busy week, and this coming week isn't looking much better.  Mom has informed me that my brother and I are going to stay with them for a week, and they don't have internet.  Gasp!  This means that I'll see what I can do, and maybe I'll be able to throw in a short post here or there, but we can't really count on anything.

In other news, I now have a job!  You're reading this from the new delivery driver for Pizza Hut!  I know it's not glamorous, but I'm thankful to have a job at all.  I've seen firsthand how hard it is to get employed right now, and you pretty much have to have experience already to get hired anywhere.

My first day was Friday.  It was definitely an experience...
  • I went to a house that had the same street number as the house that I was supposed to be at, but wasn't the right one.  Tempted the poor guy at the door by bringing him a pizza that wasn't his.  At least, I assume he was tempted. I would be!
  • I accidentally forgot a man's cinnamon sticks and left them in the bag thinking they were someone else's order because he had added them on to his ticket after the original order.  Then when I got back in my car and figured it out, I took them back to his door, and when he gave me the extra money and said keep the change I lost my composure and said "really?" in an astounded voice.  I had been accepting tips all day, but for some reason, it surprised me that he gave me a second tip.  And I acted more like an excited kid than a composed delivery girl.  (Is there such thing as a really composed delivery girl...?)
  • I did turnabouts so many times that I'm pretty sure I'm the turnabout expert by now.
  • I tried to use a GPS app for cell phone and it kept taking me to a factory-looking place with absolutely NO houses and told me that I had reached my destination.
  • I was sorely tempted to do an illegal U-turn about three times due directly to the confusion with that GPS thing.
  • I ran into an old friend from high school that I had been in the pit (marching band reference) with, and got to chat with him for a minute or two before heading back.
  • I had so much trouble finding one woman's house that I had to call her and stay on the phone with her until she had guided me there.  I felt so bad about the time it had taken that I apologized as sincerely and deeply as I know how to, and she apologized for her house being hard to find and still gave me a tip.  Guess she wasn't mad, then!  Thank goodness.
  • There was a salad incident that basically made me feel really stupid.  I don't think I'll go into that one, though.  Your imagination should prove to be a lot more interesting than actual events.
  • I opened a gate to drive through, found the end of a road in a tobacco field, and walked through a field with cow poop all on the same delivery and I was actually at the wrong house the whole time.
  • I almost lost money at the end of the day.  And by "lost" money, I mean literally lose it.  I freaked out trying to find it and was basically thinking "shoot me now" the whole time because it was the end of a stressful day of not being capable enough to find anyone's house and now I had to tell the manager that I came up short and couldn't give back all the money I owed him for the deliveries I had made.  Then I found it under the table I had been sitting at a few minutes before when I pulled out the money to count it.  Epic sigh of relief!
I think I'm going to have a lot of fun.



For the commenters: What was your first job like?  Did you have an embarrassing fail of a first day like I did? Do you enjoy what you're doing now? 

image found using Google

12 comments:

Hannah Madeline said...

I loved this post, two of my once good friends in high school were pizza delivery guys for Pizza Hut. They always had hilarious stories to tell.

I hated my first job. I pollinated corn in a corn field. 7 days a week for two months. For five summers. I remember my first day I got lost because standing in the middle of a field you've never been in before, everything looks EXACTLY the same. Just corn and more corn. Not to mention the heat, corn rash, bugs, days you work in the pouring rain and lose your shoes in the mud, etc.

Kaely said...

I'm waitressing at pizza hut (which you already know obviously, but most of your readers don't). it's my first job if you want to get technical, and it's been an interesting experience. i've been there all summer, and the managers knew when i started i was only there for the summer. so at first they didn't really want to work me too many hours. so between little or no tips from the extremely rude customers and the $3 an hour rate, i was lucky if my paycheck broke $30 at the end of two weeks of hard work. and often times left with a much lower self esteem than i arrived with. But after a few weeks i got the hang of the job, and stopped letting the rude citizens of our small town get the best of me. and through a series of events was able to work my way up and have way more hours now.

things i got from this experience:

1~ I will NEVER drop out of school. i absolutely don't want to end up with a job like this. it just isn't for me

2~ more patience with people. i used to make the comment "i hate stupid people" several times a day. they don't bother me so much anymore.

3~ I've learned how to take initiative. i stopped waiting around to be told what to do and just kinda jumped in.

4~ i'm much better at taking criticism now, even when it's said in a horrible way (such as getting called an idiot 3 times in one shift by 3 different customers).

5~ and i've learned not to take stuff like the above personal.

i've learned a lot more, but i'll shut up now.

(but i will say that i can't wait to get out of there) :P

GOOD LUCK!! <3 you'll get the hang of it, i promise :)

Joann Mannix said...

Do NOT worry about having to be directed to someone's house. I live in the country, far off the main road and you cannot visibly see my house from the road. The address markers are hard to see out here in the dark and I often direct the delivery people over the phone. In fact, I always tell them when I'm ordering to have the delivery people call me, because they will have a hard time finding my house. I'm sure that woman encountered that sort of thing all the time.

My first job was in an ice cream parlor. I lasted one week. Not only was the owner a slave driver, he was also a racist and spewed awful hate constantly. I couldn't take it, so I quit.

beth said...

wow....what a day delivering !....you are a strong person...i would have given up probably and gone back to the store crying after all the mix-ups.

Lexy @ QUIRKY EXPLOSION said...

Hahaha. This post is so entertaining. It gives a new perspective to the whole "Pizza delivery experience." Kind of like my friend who works at Tim Horton's. I now know so much about the Timmies' experience. Haha.

And now I feel like a fool because I've never even had a job. So I will just swiftly move on...

Thanks so much for stopping by!
QUIRKYEXPLOSION.blogspot.com

ivy's closet said...

Love your pizza hut adventures! Thanks so much for commenting on my post at Mix Tape.

lucy and sarah said...

aw, great stuff. Very unique blog, too.

AiringMyLaundry said...

That is crazy. Delivering pizza sounds like it can be stressful.

Lexy @ QUIRKY EXPLOSION said...

YOu know what, reading this post again makes me strongly crave for pizza....

Send it to me virtually? OKAY THANKS.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
QUIRKYEXPLOSION.blogspot.com

Natalie said...

Congrats on the new job! :D It sounds like quite an eventful first day, haha. Thank goodness you didn't actually end up loosing the money, or that would have been terrible!

My first day at my first job, at my dad's office (he's a doctor), everyone was really nice to me and pretty much just showed me how to do everything. Nothing too eventful!

The Lucid Dreamer said...

Wow, I really enjoy your blog, It's so cool and creative!

Ethan said...

I'm glad you survived your first day. I haven't heard from you in a while, hope you are still alive. My first real job, other than working with family, was at Amazon. I was a picker and I worked PT2 shift, for those of you that never worked there, that's Saturday and Sunday from 6:30am to 5:00pm with a 30 minuet lunch. the work was very fast paced. I was so stressed out the first day, I got sick after work. the second day was better, I knew my job and I didn't have to talk to anybody to do it (I think if was all the talking the first day that made me stressed out). anyway I worked there 5 weeks until they let everybody on my shift go at the end of the Christmas season. I hope work is going a little smother now that you might have a handle on it now.