I’m a newbie to these boards, but I’m an old school and LONG time pizza guy. Next week, I hit 24 years. I was an Education major at University of Vermont. Dominos Pizza was how I paid my way through school, but the money is better than teaching, and I’m a night owl anyway. Give me a day job, and I’ll probably die…
Gregster is reminiscent of an employee I just took off the schedule. He’s a 14 year veteran who recently began to unravel, so to speak. He was always somewhat annoying, but was reliable and honest. Once he became unreliable and dishonest, and showed neither remorse nor willingness to change, I took him off my shifts. Gregster’s opinions don’t exactly constitute uncharted waters. Maybe JFK’s words (“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”) are wasted and/or ignored.
I’ve given most of the posts by the regulars on this BB a cursory “once-over” and it gave me a rough idea of what each one’s basic personality is. To Gregster, I’d suggest that if I were voluntarily “losing” $7,000.00 a year, I’d have long since moved on. The employer isn’t mandated to pay the maximum allowable mileage, but they ARE mandated to pay at least the minimum allowable mileage. Furthermore, the employer is NOT obligated to give you a job. You are there to fulfill their needs, not vice versa.
Some drivers have a disproportionate sense of entitlement. Personally, I DON’T subscribe to that philosophy. I DON’T bite the hand that feeds me. My franchisee likes me and is favorably disposed towards me. I like working for him. I knew his kids LONG before I’d ever heard of Domino’s Pizza. I am reliable, honest, and hard-working and I expect the same from my crew. My store runs well because my crew is rock solid and we are fiercely protective of our earning opportunity. Many of us are homeowners, many of us are parents, and the old timers carefully teach the newcomers the tricks of the trade. Name any other job where a 19 year old kid with no formal or specialized training can work 40 hours a week and parlay that into a 40K+ job. Most of the newbies NEVER had it so good before.
There is more to being a good driver than simply delivering orders. If you have a deeper understanding of the job, you realize that you are an ambassador for your company. In most cases, you are the only face-to-face exposure a customer will have with your company. You should be courteous, expeditious, and helpful. Your coworkers are like your family. Occasionally, there are bound to be skirmishes, but at the end of the day, you should have reconciled your differences. Workloads should be fairly distributed and you should NOT shirk your fair share. You need to be aware that your actions affect other people, and you need to be mindful of HOW they affect them. I don’t like to have “me-first” people. This creates a situation in which everybody is so concerned about other people trying to take advantage that they lose sight of the need to be expeditious.
The job has some drawbacks. This is an incontrovertible fact, and must be accepted. Bad weather is an occupational hazard. Road and traffic conditions are occupational hazards. One pie runs are an occupational hazard. Rather than squawk about it, or try to scam a second run, take the run and get back! Stiffers are an occupational hazard. There are 4 reasons people don’t tip:
- they don’t realize it’s customary. Some people aren’t aware of the nature of tipping. Also, we live in a global village and in many countries, the concept of tipping simply doesn’t exist.
- They can’t afford to. Years ago, there was a woman with three kids. I don’t know where the father was, but she was a single mom who really didn’t have two nickels to rub together. Each kid got a pizza for their birthday, and this constituted a substantial extravagance for her. The kids were SOOOO excited, and I got a kick out of their joy.
- They’ve received bad service. I realize this is like killing the messenger, but you can’t reasonably expect someone who feels mistreated or unheard to reward the only emissary of the company that angered them.
- Some people just WON’T tip. This is the one category I don’t have much patience for. This is where the real jerks are found, and jerks come in all flavors.
Good drivers know their responsibilities go far beyond simple delivery. They must be timely, accurate, friendly, patient, and understanding. They must navigate traffic, construction, and inclement weather. They must be able to quickly resolve issues. They need to be able to quickly find tricky addresses (How many of us have had the classic “third floor, in the back, no lights on the stairs” run?) They have to have infallible “crap-detectors.” They need to be fair, trustworthy, honest, resilient, and enduring. To boil this down, they need to be PROFESSIONAL. We pay our people well, and this allows us to retain the best. All but one of my driving crew are members of the “1K” club, meaning a thousand dollars in sales on a shift. The one guy who hasn’t? He’s been with us for a week. Give him time.
