Assessing the Apocalypse — #0
The Night Shift at Pizza Hut
There’s something spendidly feral about college living.
Youth privileged enough to break loose of their familial bonds right after high school strike out on their own to prove how right they’ve been about everything all along.
About a year into solo living in grim and sunny Orlando, FL I got a job a Pizza Hut as a delivery driver which remains among the top three jobs I’ve ever had. The opportunity to dip in and out of the business and enjoy a ride in the car with my music and podcasts was the stuff of dreams. It wasn’t glamourous, but it paid for what it needed to and I met a lot of really great folks I still keep in contact with to this day.
Delivery driver hierarchy was exemplified by the schedule. Andre, the most senior driver, had one of the two coveted 11–7 shifts which was sought after for it’s early out time and good spread of large daytime orders and early dinner rush without getting swept into the madness of the college town’s late night shenanigans. The other slot was traded between two other drivers that had been there for a couple of years.
The night shift comprised of two different start times, 4:30 and 5:30 with an out of 11 and midnight respectively. “Out” being a variable term as the actual time one would be making their way back home was dependent on the amount of cleanup left behind by the day’s business.
Unwritten driver etiquette states that the workers leaving early handle some level of cleanup before they split but given that even earlier exits were subject to extended shift times based on the needs of the business, you’d sometimes only get a stack of pans run through the washer before your comrade leaves you looking down a fridge full of untouched dough prep.
Shift quality also varies depending on the shift manager on duty.
Javier provides solid ground support and good conversation but it can be hard to convince him to let you go early on a slow night, usually citing the potential of an unforeseen rush (which in his defense was totally plausible).
Cat would *not* let you go early BUT sometimes she and her husband, Eddie, would roll you a fat blunt in exchange for a ride home.
Abby, a former driver, knows how to manage a rush. One of the few managers who will jump in a car and start making deliveries themselves if it gets really bad.
Jeff, the GM, is a beast. While rarely assigned to a night shift, most everything will be done by the time you make your last delivery if it’s slow enough. But so help him if he catches you opening the door with your foot again Alex I’ve told you it leaves a mark.
Melanie…is a very nice person.
Another plus to the gig was getting paid out every night. We got our meager wage check every couple of weeks but the estimated $40–60 cash out provided a much needed consistency of income…also cash for the weed man.
The customer base consisted of a pretty wide set of demographics given the store’s central location on Semoran and Colonial Blvd. To the north you had the Winter Park/Aloma area of Orlando which was home to a myriad of affluent houses and apartment complexes for UCF and Full Sail students. The area south of the store was far more working class where airport strip clubs and long-stay hotels reigned supreme. The one thing that brought these disparate populations together was not only their love of pizza, but also their inability to leave a decent tip.
Car maintenance was also a constant factor as my heavy brake foot led to many a visit to the Honda dealership for a new set of pads. To this end there was also the issue of the then (and still) criminally expensive cost of fuel. While Pizza Hut (or rather the franchisee CFL Pizza) “reimbursed” us .80 cents per delivery to account for these expenses, It wasn’t nearly enough. They wound up losing a class action lawsuit after I left. I got $25 :)
For all it’s foibles and conventional trappings of food industry/service jobs, I learned a lot from my time at our little store. There was no gold or glory, but I did get 50% off large pies.
I give the night shift at Pizza Hut 3/5 Big Dinner Boxes.
