Be Kind to Your Pizza Delivery Man

Ok, for the sake of the remaining sanity of my husband and myself, I wish to dispel a few apparent mistruths about pizza delivery service:

1. Pizza deliverers are compensated by their respective restaurants for gas money.

2. There is a delivery charge, therefore, tip is included.

3. If my pizza is late it is the delivery personnel's fault and therefore I will not tip.

These are just a few of the reasons people give. Let me assure you that:

1. Gas money comes out of pocket.

2. Delivery personnel only receive part of the delivery charge and in most instances it does not even cover the cost of gas to get to your home. Particularly if you live off the beaten track.

3. Deliver drivers have no control over when pizzas are cooked and orders are filled. If the restaurant is backed up, your pizza might not come when the adorable teenager on the phone promised you it would arrive. People who take the orders many times do not know what they're talking about when giving delivery times.

Overall, please cut your friendly neighborhood pizza man a little slack. They are overworked and underpaid, just like everyone else. Not to mention the fact that, GAS IS FRIGGING EXPENSIVE!

If it's raining and you order pizza because you don't want to go out in the rain, remember that the dripping person at your door is a person getting paid something slightly (ever so slightly) better than minimum wage to drive around in the rain for you. This human being on your doorstep had to dodge the idiots who cause accidents because they don't know how to drive in the rain. They had to find your house in your maze of a subdivision. Trust me, I hear about it all the next day.

So please, consider this a public service announcement on behalf of all the people who have to console the delivery drivers after a shift. Please, for the love of humanity, tip your driver! Thank you.