One of the jobs I had while in college was a pizza delivery driver for Rico's Pizza. It ended up being a good job, but my first day I wasn't so sure. I arrived to work and was ready to go. I had no idea what I was getting into. This was a very busy pizza place that made a lot of deliveries. Keep in mind this was 30 years ago. No cell phones, no GPS...I was on my own in a big college town.
Rico's delivered large party pizzas. I was able to drive my own car, which was a Honda CRX 2-seater. A party pizza barely fit in the back, that is how big the pizza was, I think 3' x 3'. Wouldn't you know, my first delivery was one of those large pizzas and a couple of others. I was waiting for the last pizzas, when the boss walked in and said, "who put this pizza on it's side?" I looked over, he was talking about the large party pizza inside of the insulated case, stood up on it's side leaning against the table. Oops.....I was the one that did that...I guess I never thought about the pizza sliding! Wow, I thought I was going to lose my job on the first night. I was pretty disappointed in myself, afterall how hard could pizza delivery be?
Quickly one of the other drivers said he did it...I really didn't know what to do, it was my first night! The boss left, I thanked the other employee, he said "no big deal, we get to eat that pizza now. It happens all of the time." I never did that again.
The time came to figure out where I was going. This was accomplished by looking at a large city map on the wall. I had to find the address and basically remember how to get there before the pizza got cold. If I got lost, I didn't have the luxury of using a cell phone to call someone. I got so nervous every time I had to deliver a pizza. I did get lost several times. Eventually I learned my way around.
I did get paid pretty well. I made minimum wage, plus $2 for every pizza I took out to cover gas, plus tips. Some nights I would come home with $40 cash in gas money and tips. Fortunately, I delivered to a lot of families which actually tipped, unlike to college kids. There was one time I had to deliver seven party pizzas to a fraternity house... you guessed, no tip!
I wouldn't say I would want to do that job again. At least I didn't have to put a sign on top of my car. I made money to pay my bills and ate a lot of pizza. It worked out well since my roommate worked at Taco Bell, we survived on Italian and Mexican food in college! My days as a pizza delivery girl are some of those fun memories to refelect on and chalk up to life's learning experiences. Not a time goes by when I am eating a slice of pizza that I don't think about that job...especially wondering why I thought it was okay to set a pizza of it's side!
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