Autism and Employment (another PennSilverTaco thread)!

And then the Kung Fu order went to this townhouse development, where I encountered this in the culdesac where the customer’s house was located...



I have no idea if there’s a piece of land under there or if the plows just pushed it all to the center out of pure laziness...

 

I only got two orders last night, which amount to just shy of $30 for the whole night; I was hoping for much more, but demand just bottomed out...

 

Just look how much I’ve earn for the entire week though!

 

So, I parked in the parking lot of the AMC 309 movie theater last night and sat there for a good 20 minutes; Initially, no orders came in...

Then, an order came in from a nearby Wawa, but it was for like three bucks; If you read my earlier post, you will see that I figured out this is the result of the customer not leaving a tip. I turned it down...

 

Then, I got two grocery orders in a row from the same Walmart; As I stated before, I refuse to do Walmart grocery pickups anymore because I got two customers in a row who weren’t expecting me...

If Walmart wants to farm out delivery jobs to DoorDash, they really need to notify the customer that a DoorDash driver will be making the delivery; Until then, more Walmart orders!

 

This may have also been while I was sitting in the movie theater parking lot, but it may have been before that; I just know it was last night...

So, I got a request to pick up an order at Walgreen’s; It was for $9.25, but it required me to go into the store and shop for the items myself. Even if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic, I wouldn’t do this because if I get one item wrong then the customer blames me. Since we are in the middle of a pandemic, I turn down all of these orders that require me to shop for the items; CVS has the same arrangement, And I turn down every single order.

 

And on top of the obvious communication issue with Walmart not bothering to notify customers that a freelance
Dasher will be delivering their groceries, one of the orders that came in last night was supposed to have been picked up at 6:19pm; It was approximately 7:33pm when I got the order...

My theory is that one of two things happened, and both are highly likely scenarios; Walmart was running behind (one of my four Walmart deliveries the day the winter storm started had allegedly been ordered the previous day), or every available Dasher was turning down the order for the same reason as me.

As for the $3 Wawa order, if you want your order delivered in a timely manner (or at all), then don’t insult me by not tipping!

To be fair, the misunderstanding with my third Walmart order a couple weeks ago was not Walmart or DoorDash’s fault, but rather the result of a woman who’d ordered Scrubbing Bubbles and not bothered to tell her husband about it.

 

I just purchased these door magnets for my truck...



People like the old man my fourth Walmart delivery went to, who was so behind the times that he had no idea what DoorDash was, cannot be helped; However, most people do know what DoorDash is, and I’m hoping that having these signs on my doors will keep people from mistaking me for a porch pirate or someone who is otherwise up to no good.

I did have a DOORDASH roof light with a magnet that plugged into a USB port, but the cord broke; 99% of the time I never have any problems with people thinking I’m up to no good, as both DoorDash and Uber give a description of my truck complete with license plate number. I’ve never had a neighbor or other third party confront me, but with these signs, I’m hoping that nobody will second guess me.

 

St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching, and I plan on making DoorDash deliveries due to the the likely high demand from drunk people who can’t or won’t be able to go to bars due to COVID; Every year on or around St. Pattie’s day, there is a DUI checkpoint held at the same exact location on Route 611 (Easton Road) in Warrington. If you are heading South, the Porsche dealership will be on your left just before you reach the intersection of 611 and Kelly Road; On the other side of Kelly Road, also on your left, is a restaurant called TJ Smith’s. Just ahead of the restaurant is where they have the DUI checkpoint, and they stop traffic in both directions!



It’s not a random selection or “every third car” deal either; They stop EVERY. FUCKING. CAR!

In addition to being a blatant violation of the fourth and fifth amendments, this inevitably leads to a traffic nightmare; Again...



Seriously; Stopping every vehicle, in both directions, on Route 611, on a Friday or Saturday night?!?!

 

I support the police and don’t blame them in the slightest because they are just doing their jobs, but my uncle has been a cop in New Jersey for nearly 30 years and believes that DUI checkpoints are not only unconstitutional, but also a waste of police resources.

There is an easy shortcut around this particular checkpoint, but on St. Pat’s in 2017, I didn’t realize I was heading into a DUI checkpoint until I’d already crossed the intersection and it was too late to hang a U-turn. I’ve heard stories from people who were totally sober but like most normal people weren’t in the mood to deal with a DUI checkpoint and made a U-turn in the middle of the road, and ended up getting pulled over with two or three cops interrogating them.

Aside from the constitutional issues, there is also the fact that I have a high-functioning form of autism and can be easily susceptible to sensory overload; In this case, the sensory overload is two police officers on either side of my truck, shining bright flashlights through my windows, and one of them questioning me.

For starters, my truck is my safe space; When I’m driving, the cab of my truck is my “bubble”. Obviously, certain encounters (like with police in a traffic stop or sobriety checkpoint) can’t be avoided, but it doesn’t mean the encounter won’t make me incredibly uneasy.

 

The first and only DUI checkpoint I’ve ever encountered as a driver was that one in Warrington on Friday, March 17th, 2017; I used to work as a barback at a bar/music venue called Puck, and I was heading home after working an all-day shift there. The drive from Puck to my house generally takes less than 20 minutes, but the high volume of traffic combined with the checkpoint more than doubled that...

At that point in my life, I hadn’t been pulled over in almost 11 years and had no idea how these checkpoints worked; Expecting that I would be required to show the registration and proof of insurance for the Tacoma, I took it out of of the glovebox and put it on the passenger seat. Making matters worse was the fact that I ended up behind a taxi van with those obnoxious pulsating LED brake lights that flashed half a dozen times each time the brakes were applied. I probably waited in that stupid line for at least thirty minutes, all so a cop could ask where I was coming from, where I was going to, and if I’d been drinking...

I’d been pounding Monsters all day, but I was 100% sober; In fact, as a barback heading home from work, I was probably the only person on the road that night leaving a bar who had any business driving!

I did not have to show my license, registration, or proof of insurance; Even though I remained calm, I was shaking uncontrollably the whole time and was afraid the cop would think I was hiding something. Luckily, nothing happened...

 

If St. Pat’s falls on a Friday, the Route 611 checkpoint is held that Friday; If it falls on a Saturday, then the checkpoint is held on Saturday...

If St. Pat’s falls on a Sunday, then I’m guessing the checkpoint is held on Sunday...

In 2020, St. Pat’s was on Tuesday, so they planned to hold the checkpoint on Saturday, March 14th; This happened to be my 31st birthday, and I was in the complete opposite direction drinking with friends at a bar in Southampton.

This was, of course, right when COVID really ramped up; The planned checkpoint was abruptly cancelled, and to encourage social distancing no checkpoints were held in Pennsylvania until July 2020. By the time St. Pat’s rolled around, the state had pretty much shut down all nonessential businesses and nobody went out drinking...

 

The last DUI checkpoint in Bucks County prior to COVID was held on Friday, November 1st, 2019; There have been plenty in Pennsylvania since July 2020, but none in Bucks County. I have no idea if they’ll be having the one on 611 in Warrington this year, but if they do I’ll use my shortcut...

I’ve obviously got nothing to hide, but in the food delivery business, speed is key! I cannot be wasting 20 to 40 minutes waiting in line to go through a DUI checkpoint when I’ve got food to deliver; It’ll get cold!

 

In July 2015, I took a second job delivering pizzas for an independent pizzeria (as in NOT a Domino’s, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, etc). The pay was five bucks an hour under the table plus tips; This could be quite lucrative on busy nights, but what I had a serious issue with was what doing work around the place for no extra money. The one job I didn’t mind was assembling pizza boxes, which was not only easy but downright therapeutic in my opinion.

The staff, with the exception of the Italian immigrant owner and his wife, and an undocumented immigrant from South America, consisted entirely of teenage girls under the age of 18 who were not the sharpest knives in the drawer.

 

The “counter girls” got paid more per hour than the delivery guys (the owner refused to send women on deliveries, citing their safety as a big concern) and also got a percentage of the tip jar, whereas delivery guys only got the $5/hour base pay.

When the owner (this well-built Italian guy who didn’t take shit from anybody) was around, there wasn’t an issue; People respected him and as a result left me alone. Once he went home, however, the other employees tried to get me to sweep the shop and shit.

I was under the impression that I’d be helping them clean up, but on probably my second night there, one of the aforementioned ditzy teenage girls told me to mop up the floor; She then proceeded to sit on her ass and play around on her phone while I did the mopping. I calmly sat leaned the mop against the wall, walked out, and sat in my truck reading a John Grisham novel until my shift was over. No more delivery orders came in, and as soon 9pm rolled around, I left; The girl ended up doing the mopping

 

I was such a good delivery driver that the owner exempted me from mopping once he got wind of the other employees trying to take advantage of me. The owner was great, as was his wife and the illegal immigrant who worked in the kitchen. However, even the friendly “counter girls” were morons. They sucked at basic math when making change, and on more than one occasion I ended up having to call the customer to get the correct spelling of their street address because the cashier misunderstood the customer over the phone and/or just didn’t know how to spell...

 

A perfect example of the aforementioned scenario would be the time I got an order going to “Strings Drive”...

I thought the name was a little weird, but put it into the Garmin GPS I was using (I use my phone now); Of course, it got no results. I called the customer to confirm the address, and it turns out that it was Springs Drive!



It would be acceptable if it happened once or even twice, but this was a regular occurrence!

 

The illegal immigrant was a genuinely nice guy, and I liked him; However, he spoke very little English. He could make a mean pizza, but he was obviously not so good at dealing with customers due to the language barrier. One day when all of the counter staff called out, he was manning both the oven and the phone. I ended up completing a transaction with a customer because he couldn’t understand what they were saying; That I did not mind doing, because like I said I liked that guy and he was very good at doing things for himself 99% of the time!

 

The pizzeria was located in a very small space, and I am not claustrophobic, but I don’t like spending long periods of time in small places; My large size combined with sensory issues contribute to this...

There was no reserved parking or even any off-street parking; On most nights, finding parking was a nightmare. One time a couple weeks after I got the job, I hit a parked Mini Cooper while parallel parking my truck. There was no damage to my truck, but the Mini had $1,200 in damage so my insurance company had to had to handle it.

I spent most of my time in my truck when I wasn’t making deliveries for two reasons...

Primarily, it was because I didn’t want to get stuck with busy work around the pizzeria that I didn’t get paid any extra for; It was also because, like I said, the pizzeria was very small and I did not like the large crowds.

 

There was never a happy medium with that place; It was either a slow night and there were multiple delivery guys, or it was super busy and I was one of only two guys or the only guy...

Unlike DoorDash, where I generally go to a different restaurant every time and never have to go back to a central location, I’d have to drive back to the pizza place from one customer’s house, get the next order, and then go in the complete opposite direction. There were times when it was just one order after another, and I did not mind these busy in the slightest; My biggest grievance was finding a parking space whenever I came back to the pizzeria, and I almost always parked in the loading zone with the hazards on, and leaving my truck while I went to get the next order.

In the suburbs, finding parking at a restaurant or a customer’s house is pretty much a non-issue; I tend to stay out of the city now...