In this day and age, we depend on delivery drivers more than ever. We’re getting food, groceries, essentials, clothes, and pretty much everything else from online stores or through apps, which are then delivered to our doors and porches by the men and women who up for the job.
I’m sure you’re not surprised to learn that, like everyone who deals with the public in their work, delivery drivers have some pretty good stories – and these 17 definitely stand out.
17. It wasn’t their dog.
I pulled up to the house and there was a large German shepherd in the yard (which was fenced in) going nuts, barking and snapping at me.
It takes me about 5 to 10 minutes of grappling with this dog to make it to the door, and it runs around the side of the house.
So the folks open the door, pay for the food, and suddenly the dog bursts around the corner of the yard, slams past me and bolts into the house.
He’s sprinting in circles, freaking out and knocking stuff over including a nice looking lamp that broke. The people there start losing their minds trying to stop the dog from turning the whole house into rubble.
The one dude asks me “why the f*ck would you bring your dog with you on a delivery?”
Which was an absolutely bonkers question that let me know this was not their dog. I helped them get it out of the house and they tipped me zero dollars.
16. I hope his sandwich was gross.
In near hurricane conditions I was delivering subs for Jimmy Johns. Took me a little longer than usual to get to a house, I am completely drenched, standing in the rain because the front door didn’t have a stoop.
The guy opens the door and says “took you long enough” grabbed his sandwich and didn’t tip me.
15. He’ll never forget it.
I used to be a Domino’s driver.
Showed up at a woman’s house and her toddler opens the door. Mum is sitting on the toilet, door open, facing me in all her glory taking a sh%t. She’s yelling at her toddler to ‘get mummies wallet from mummies purse’ and this kid can’t be older than like..2? Idk I can’t tell kids ages.
So the kid after like a good excruciating five minutes of yelling manages to get mummies wallet from mummies purse. I feel like I can’t intervene and take the money out myself because the mum will think I’m stealing, so we’re both trying to talk this kid through paying me. Mum is yelling at the poor girl to ‘get the orange note!’ and the kid pulls out her mum’s opal card instead of the $20.
The kid starts crying. Mum is getting really agitated. It got to a point where I snapped and was like ‘look lady, you’re gonna have to do this’ so I got to wait until she finished sh%tting and then gave me the money without washing her d*mn hands.
Pretty memorable experience.
14. Nope. Don’t like that.
Had a delivery for a hotel at 2am on saturday. I went to the front desk and they asked me to come to their room. I went and knocked and a middle aged bald man answered with only his head poking out, I couldn’t see the rest of his body.
He opened the door and asked me to come inside and put the pizza on the table, which i did b.c i’m an idiot. When i walk inside i see another middle aged fat man sitting on the bed and the guy who opened the door closed it behind me.
Then, i turned around and saw the door guy was only in a thong. Nothing happened and i left without saying a word, but it was definitely strange
13. What an absolute nightmare.
I was delivering medical supplies in Portland and the surrounding areas a couple years ago. I thought it was going to be a normal day when I woke up, but I was very much mistaken. I still have flashbacks of what I witnessed.
I start my route by driving to the warehouse and receiving my deliveries. I login to the app on my phone and call dispatch so they can send me my route. Everything’s going swimmingly, no red alarms at all. I wrap everything up there and head out on the road.
The first delivery is out in Seattle so I head on over there as quickly as I’m allowed and listen to my favorite podcast while I’m at it. Time passes by, I’m getting close to my destination and I’m rounding a corner that has a lot of vegetation and is basically one of those hills that you have to break the entire way down. This is where it all goes wrong.
A couple of older people start crossing the road while I’m on this super steep hill that spirals down and I start braking more, but it just wasn’t enough. I hit a spot of ice and my van goes sideways and well.. they didn’t make it. They should not have been walking down across that hill.. but yea..
I call the police and tell them everything that happened. They arrive and start taking witness reports and stuff. By this time I’ve puked probably five times and have no idea what I’m facing here. Time passes.. cops come to me with a look on their faces. I’m literally sure I’m going to jail.
Number one.. they left a suicide note on their table at the residential nursing home they lived at. They walked into my car together on purpose.
Number two.. the delivery was for the lady that passed away… That still bothers me. She planned it because she knew a van was going to be coming down a blind corner. She f*cked my mind up for a solid year and I even moved back to Florida to go to counseling and sh%t. Literally have never told this story but it felt really good to get it out of my head.
12. A twist for the ages.
I used to deliver Edible Arrangements. One time I was at a house in your average northeastern suburban neighborhood and I had gone to the door with the arrangement but didn’t get an answer.
So I go back to my truck, put the arrangement in the back side door, and was standing outside the open passenger door facing the truck, trying to call the customer to see if they’d be home soon and I can leave or if I should try to find one of their neighbors to take it in.
As the phone is ringing, the customers car pulls in the driveway and so I hang up the phone and wave, and as they roll down their window I start to say “Oh, hi! I have a delivery for you-” and the customer who’s house this was just very calmly said “I don’t want to alarm you, but there’s a bear right behind you..”
I turned around and not 3 feet away was a young bear (bigger than a cub, but not yet full grown) just sniffing around their bushes. I didn’t know what to do, my legs just turned to jelly and I froze. So I said to the customer “What do I do??” and she looks at me like I’m crazy and goes “GET IN THE CAR”
Now, the smart thing to do would have been to jump into the passenger seat that I was literally standing right outside with the door open and everything but in my nervous state, I slam the passenger door and run all the way around (the long way around the truck, too smh) and get in the driver’s seat and lock the doors.
The side door to the refrigerated side of my truck was still open, but at least I was separated from the bear. The bear didn’t notice me until I slammed the door shut but all he did was wander up to the side door and sniff the beautiful fruit arrangements in my truck. He hung out for a few minutes until the customer finally had enough and laid down on their horn until he took off running down the street.
There were a few other interesting deliveries from that job but none turned my legs to jelly like that bear.
11. A close call.
When I was about 6 months pregnant with my first son, I delivered for Papa John’s in an area that was mostly not so great. Now, that area has the highest violent crime rate on average or something or other for our state, so that should tell you how bad it was about 10 years ago before it got downright awful.
Well, one neighborhood in particular was the worst of the worst, and usually another driver would take it since I was pregnant, but that Friday night we were short and super busy, so I did it without hesitation. Gotta eat after all, right?
So, I get there, get out of my truck with the pizza, and get a really, REALLY bad feeling. Quickly look around, and see a group of guys watching me. I put on my war face more or less, and as a second thought, stuck my big belly out a bit so it’d be way more obvious in the dark.
One of them approached me and was like, “oh, you pregnant?” I just shrugged and said “yeah… that definitely ain’t a basketball, dude.” He chuckled at that, walked back to his friends, and I heard him say, “naw, yall, come on, she’s pregnant.”
They all walked away and the dude that I’d spoken to gave me a nod and smile, told me to take care. Found out later that one driver had been brutally beaten in that lot less than a couple months before I’d been hired, and if I hadn’t been pregnant, I might’ve suffered the same or worse. Glad that didn’t happen.
10. People like to talk.
I made a delivery and some form of small terrier bolted through the door and bit me hard enough to leave a mark through my winter gear. I let the owner know and he apologized because it wasn’t his dog and he didn’t know to anticipate that.
It was his dad’s dog and his dad’s house and his dad was inside the house dying. The family had been sitting there trying to ease his passing for a day or so and needed that pizza to help sustain them.
He wasn’t overly emotional, but clearly wanted to be able to talk to someone about it. I’m the sort of person that wants to let people get all that out. Unfortunately I was on the clock and really needed to get as many deliveries in as possible. I still feel like I should have stayed a little longer.
9. Of course they didn’t tip.
I worked for as a delivery man for a small cakery. We would make custom cakes for anyone and any and all events. This one time I had to deliver a cake that had a dick on it.
When I came to the house and rang the bell, this lady opened up drunk as hell and just screamed saying “the dicks here”. So it was a bachelorette party. This lady just pulled me in with the cake and told me to bring the cake to the middle of the party. The price was 4500 Rupees or around $40 but they made it rain over me.
So I had to pick it up and they didnt even give a tip. Then I came back to the cakery and got scolded cause I got late.
8. Oh nooooo.
I used to deliver pizzas. This one order was to a nice house in an OK part of town. I ring the doorbell, and wait patiently for the door to open. When it does, I’m greeted by a lady and her young son. She’s clearly been crying, but is doing a good job of holding them back. I don’t acknowledge it, it’s none of my business and she’s clearly not looking for solace from the pizza guy. I remind her what the pizzas cost, and she hands me some cash. Standard stuff.
As I’m digging around in my bag for change, the kid pipes up: “I have to tell you something.”
“What’s that?” I say, half listening as I try to work out how much change to give back.
“My Dad’s not coming home.”
…
Oh Sh%t. “I’m sorry to hear that,” I tell him. I stare at my bag as I pull out the last of the change, trying to avoid looking at either of them as I hand it back with the pizzas. As I leave, habits formed over a thousand deliveries almost make me tell them have a good night, but I catch myself enough to say “enjoy the pizza” instead.
Judging by his Mum, the parents would have broken up some time that day. I’m guessing I’m probably the first person that kid told.
7. A good memory, this time.
I met a nice puppy when i was delivering to a farm.
6. Definitely not his job.
This literally just happened to me 30 minutes ago on a delivery. I’m an Ice delivery driver and some big box stores like for us to not only to deliver the ice- but also to stock the front of the store, which is a large insurance risk for us.
So as my helper and I are dragging a pallet to the front, accompanied by a store employee we all notice a foul smell. Let’s just say it’s a store not exactly known for the most cleanly of people.
Before we can get to the front a second employee runs up to us in a panic yelling, “There’s shit. There’s sh%t everywhere.”
Behind him is a literal trail of smears- someone had pooped down their leg and dragged it probably 50 yards all over the store. They had one employee attempting to clean it with a shop vac. Cleaning poop. With a shop vac.
“Hey ice guy can you help us out here?”
“Yeah no f*cking chance.”
“Then I’m denying the delivery.”
So here I am writing this out 30 minutes later- sitting in the store managers office explaining to him why the receiver denied a delivery.
5. Should have pawned the dog.
I worked at a mom and pop pizza store. I was called up for a delivery, bagged the order, entered the address into my GPS, and set off. After about twelve minutes or so, I arrived. I walked up to the door, knocked, and was greeted by a woman and her daughter (probably around 10). I go through my schpiel: “Hello, how are you? I have $Order, is that correct? Okay, total is $Amount,” and begin handing her the food.
She turns to her daughter and says to her, “Make sure the dog doesn’t…,” and can’t finish the sentence before the Yorkie goes tearing out the door. They start to panic (the street wasn’t busy, but it’s a small dog in a town where animals hit by traffic is a common sight, sadly), and I try to calm them down, saying that I’d be happy to retrieve the dog. They oblige, and after I hand them the rest of their order, I go after the dog.
This…. thing… decides it’s going to go running four houses down. The houses aren’t too spread out, but it’s still me chasing a dog in the middle of summer, wearing a black t-shirt in the dead of the afternoon. Anyway, I finally catch up to the dog, pick it up, and start carrying it back to the owners.
I hand the dog back to them, get back to the business of them paying for the food, and I am rewarded with the princely sum of a $0.16 tip.
4. The kittens were tip enough.
I used to deliver pizza. Favorite experience: The guy opened the front door and is smoking a joint. And then…KITTENS. 4 kittens come round the corner meowing, and start trying to climb my pant legs.
The guy just giggles and giggles, so I put the pizzas down and play with the kittens for a while. He tipped me a 20!
3. Imagine having to deal with that, too.
Use to delivery appliances for a company that had a contract with the city we were based out of. Essentially the contract would allow low income residents a voucher to obtain second hand kitchen appliances. We went to deliver a fridge to a lady and on arrival her mother opened the door.
Not only did she open the door but her almost lifeless body could not stop the weight of the door and she fell on the ground cracking her head open. She was probably on her 3rd 40oz of some off brand malt liquor.
The kicker is though, she was watching her daughters two children. Called 911 to inform them and stayed until help arrived.
Not sure what ever happened to these kids after that, but I hope they were not effected to greatly by this ladies choices. Truly some sad shit in this world.
2. It’s like a horror movie.
My SO was delivering boxes of magazines to a small shop. It was really early like 4am, the shop not yet open but he’d leave them round the back by the door. Rolls up, hops out of the van, grabs box and takes it to the spot.
Walks back to the van and there was now a man sitting in the drivers seat. It was dark and no one else around so he just yells to him to get out of the van but didn’t approach. Next thing he knows the guy is out and running at him with something large and shiny in his hands. SO freaks out and runs, the guy chases him.
SO doubled back around, jumped in the van and took off right as the guy caught up and slammed the object into the windshield. It shattered but stayed in place so he couldn’t see shit but just drove out of there anyway. Eventually pulled over when safe to find an axe was lodged in the window.
A f*cking full sized axe. He was shaking too much to drive after that so flagged someone down to call the cops. They never found the guy.
1. “That’s your finger.” Ha!
Delivered pizza from about the day I got my license all the way through the rest of high school, university, and then as extra income during my first full-time-job. Now I’m back to deliveries (for Uber in Tokyo) as a side job after a 14-year hiatus.
Back in about 1993, guy was trying to punch his wife and missed and got me instead. I GTFOed, kept the pizza for myself, and called the cops once I got back to the store (this was before cell phones)
I was delivering the night I turned 18. 12-year-old kid and his buddies saw me bring a pizza into a building and were waiting for me pointing his jacket at me when I got out. “Give me everything, I have a gun!” “No you don’t; that’s your finger!” (where was a 12-year-old kid in middle-class suburban Canada going to get a handgun?) “Uh.. Yeah… You’re right. It was just a joke!” kid shouts over his shoulder as he and his buddies bolt
It was a snowy day in Canada and some kids were hucking ice chunks at cars on the street and one hit mine. I threw a handbrake turn as I put the window down. “SORRY, SORRY!” they all shouted as they scattered
I’m not sure I could do this job, but I’m sure there are some perks.
I think I’ll leave some treats out for my drivers again soon!
