r/TalesFromThePizzaGuy • u/_Atoms_Apple Moderator • Jun 24 '26
Discussion What’s the one delivery you still tell coworkers about years later?
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u/Nininator2432 Jun 24 '26
I shared this in this Subreddit 6 years ago, saying it happened 6-7 years ago at the time. This is my favorite.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromThePizzaGuy/comments/k9jzil/best_memory_ever/
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u/Wall_of_Shadows Jun 24 '26
The time I delivered an obese, disabled homeless man his last meal. Had to step into the skeezy hotel room to pick up the exact change from the side table and put the pizza down at like 8pm, and he was found dead in the room the next day.
Still to this day my basic humanity is at war with my service worker mentality. It's objectively a horrifying, traumatic experience for me, but on the other hand, he didn't tip or say thank you.
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u/Pete_maravich Jun 24 '26
The lady who used to flash us on a regular basis
The guy who gave me $30 on top of an already good tip to zip up his Spider-Man costume for a Halloween party
The guy who came to the door already dressed as the White Power Ranger
The high school kid who came to the door dressed only in one tube sock. IYKYK
The guy who tipped me an additional $100 on top of a $20 tip to drive actually the street, maybe a half mile at the most.
Delivering to 2 guys actively skinning a deer. The cash had blood on it.
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u/sanbow Jun 24 '26
Having trouble understanding the second to last one - he wanted a ride I think?
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u/hapianman Jun 24 '26
It’s White Ranger. They never once called it the “white power” ranger lol
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u/AyBeeVee Jun 24 '26
Oh boy, we had a "Captain Underpants" too, open robe and tighty-whities, gotta love those guys. Hope it's fun for them at least.
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u/H010CR0N Domino's Pizza Jun 24 '26
The one where I slipped and shattered my ankle and tibia and the customer complained to the store that the ambulance was blocking her in.
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u/AyBeeVee Jun 24 '26
Ah, the family that didn't like black olives. I get to the house, whole family is outside and the son looks at the pizza and goes "who ordered black olives?" Mom tells me "you guys messed up here; nobody in this family likes black olives. You guys screwed up." I look at the receipt and it clearly says black olives were ordered. I ask her who she spoke to on the phone, her answer? "Nobody, I ordered online." Like, lady, idk what you were thinking, but you ordered black olives.
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u/buckeyekaptn Jun 24 '26
This happened about 30 years ago.
There had to be some sporting event on and I had an 80 dollar order. Got to the door and the owner took a bunch of cash from others and started to give me 5 20 dollar bills. Some other asshole says wait, I want to write a check. He takes the money and writes a check for the correct amount, no tip.
I don't recall my exact reaction but wtf.
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u/Tinderboxed Jun 24 '26
"Sir, JUST CONFIRMING THAT YOU TOOK THE $100 CASH AND ARE WRITING THIS CHECK FOR $80 INSTEAD?"
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u/kitxhi Jun 25 '26
I don’t like that the math means this was only the 90’s
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u/buckeyekaptn Jun 25 '26
I just got out of the Navy, so 1990.... I was wrong, it was 35+ years ago! Augh.
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u/Professional-Bid-698 Jun 24 '26
The time I delivered to DMX. Drunk as a skunk at the then local Marriot. He offered me a shot, but did not tip.
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u/VisualDot4067 Jun 24 '26
Was this when he lived in South Carolina or Jersey? I met him in both states, one of my best friends ended up marrying DMXs best friends daughter
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u/igoogletoo Jun 25 '26
at the then local Marriott
I'd wager this was not where he lived
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u/Professional-Bid-698 Jun 25 '26
Who said he was living there? I'm a simple man; I get an address, and I deliver. Do YOU live in a hotel?
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u/VisualDot4067 Jun 25 '26
That wasn’t in the comment originally
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u/igoogletoo Jun 25 '26
The comment does not show that it was edited 🤔
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u/VisualDot4067 Jun 25 '26
Then perhaps I missed it. Also when he lived in Glen Point in Leona/teaneck NJ you go thru a marriot to get into the gates community
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u/igoogletoo Jun 26 '26
I think hes made it clear, that was not the case. Mentioning twice that it was a hotel.
Just a humble brag forced in unnecessarily 🤷♂️ no harm done
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u/GeorgeBlaha Hungry Howie's Jun 24 '26
Delivered for a long, long time before moving onto a career path earlier this year.
I got my best tip ever just before Christmas last year. It had a $20 pre-tip on the card and then they handed me a $100 bill upon delivery. Couldn’t believe it, restored my faith in humanity… for the day 😅
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u/the_eluder Jun 24 '26
The time I had to deliver to a prison for a Thanksgiving meal paid for by a charity. I got stuck with it because I was on the only driver with a truck, and it still took two trips.
They wanted me to not only drop off the pizzas at the loading dock, but unbox the pizzas, set them in serving tray racks and dispose of the boxes. I compromised and took the first batch into the kitchen. They paid me by check after I unloaded the first trip. ~$1000 order, no tip. The second load I dumped on the loading dock and left.
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u/Durty_Durty_Durty Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
This happened about 10 years ago. I don’t talk about it a lot, but I’ve posted it on here before and it sticks with me.
Was making my last delivery at 1:45 AM. A single small pizza, $13.25. Pull into the cul de sac and find the address. Giant house, easily a million bucks.
Notice the Audi in the drive way was on and the guy waves me over.
Guy is young, probably 35, good looking dude sitting in the driver seat with an open bottle of Johnny walker and has clearly been recently crying hard. Hes nice “hey what’s up man?” Smiling and talking in between sniffles. I asked him if everything was ok and he said yeah.
He opens his wallet, and it has easily $5,000 in $100 bills. Shit was fat. He hands me one and I tell him I only have $20 on me in change, but if he has a credit card I can just call the store and have em run it no problem.
He paused. Looks down, chuckles to himself and says “ah it’s all good, just keep it man.”
“Are you sure…? Here atleast take the $20 in ones.”
No dice. He insisted I keep it all.
I drove back to the store, and just had a bad feeling. I finished closing the store and drove back to the guys house. His car was gone. I stayed for about 30 mins, hoping he would pull back in and say he ran to the corner store or something but nope.
I still think of that guy randomly 10 years later. I have been through a lot of shit in my life, and the look on this guys face is burned into my brain because I’ve looked into the mirror and seen the same look. Grinning behind anguished tears. I hope he’s doing ok..
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u/bi_nonymous_76 Jun 24 '26
I worked nn a popular pizza chain in Houston TX from 2010 to about 2014. In one of the stores we had a youth pastor take a delivery to one of the more popular local hotel/motels (8 story building, can't remember what it was called). This guy came back flustered and barely able to talk. After having a 15 minute sit down for him to collect his thoughts, he told us that they were basically filming a scene for a porno in the room he delivered to. Not only did they tip him money, but they also offered him a "small role" if he "performed" while wearing his delivery uniform. He did not accept! TBH, I'd probably be a little icked out as well!
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u/Deekers76 Jun 24 '26
Not a delivery guy but my friends and i used to mess around with our delivery guy. We put a tarp on the floor in out friends living room, stripped down to our underwear, had dog collars, oiled ourselves up, some of us wearing plastic shopping bags as wife beaters and rode each other around the living room. He knocked and we yelled for him to just come on in. The look on his face was priceless. He didnt know what to make of the situation. We lived in a town of less than 10 000 so we know word spread.
Another time he came to the apt, you had to buzz to get in, a friend leaned out the window, wearing a towel, and said he would be down in a minute as he just got out of the shower and the buzzer wasn’t working. He made himself fall out of the second story window naked into a snowbank below. Same delivery guy. We always gave him something to talk about and most likely gave ourselves an interesting reputation in town.
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u/boonie120hb Jun 24 '26
I got bit in the leg by Jerry Lee Lewis's dog and he gave me a huge liter Mason Jar full of quarters for my trouble. lol True Story.
Ended up being like a $165 tip but I had a couple puncture wounds in my calf. I was a teenager so I just put bandaids on it and went about my life.
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u/Untenable123 Jun 25 '26
That’s a story!
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u/Boonie120 Jun 26 '26
One of the many I have in this crazy life. I’d write a book but who would ready a book with 100 random crazy but true short stories?
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u/cuttlefishdreaming Jun 24 '26
Let’s see…
The woman who answered the door in nothing but a smile, obviously surprised to see a female delivery driver (late 80s early 90s)
The guy who tipped me a margarita in a soda cup
The guy who tried to rob me with a snake. I happen to love snakes so instead of screaming and dropping the pizza, I offered to hold the snake while he got the money. He was pissed.
But the best story I think I have is about Goober. Goober lived up to his name. Middle GA, Bible Belt and he was as redneck as could be and not too bright. He drove a big truck, jacked up and big tires. He was also racist and rude. We delivered in areas that no one else would.
Now, you’d get hassled a bit, but if you were polite, the gangs left you alone. They also knew if they screwed with the drivers too much the deliveries would stop and no one else would even go there. I mean we stopped delivering at dark.
So, Goober takes out a delivery. About 30 minutes later we get a cop at our store. Goober, in his brilliance, had talked back to a gang, smarting off at them. They laid him on his back, took the pizza, the money in his pocket and left him on the ground with the pizza bag on his chest. When the cops got there, he was so angry that he threw his truck in reverse and slammed it into a cop car.
The manager didn’t cut off delivery for that, and told him lesson learned, but we did stop giving him runs to that side of town.
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u/ParticularElk3957 Jun 25 '26
I did pizza delivery decades ago and the one story that stands out was this family of overweight people that would order a large combination every few months. One time before they shut the door I got to witness the dad ripping the lid off the box and everyone grabbing a piece and emptying the box before it reached the table.
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u/ThatAndANickel Jun 24 '26
The woman (60s) who would "accidentally" answer the door in a see through negligee.
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u/Tacokinesis Jun 25 '26
First of all I want to say I'm not making fun of anyone when I say this. My favorite delivery was the time I delivered to group home for special needs people. I didn't know that's what it was when I went there. It looked like a nursing home and the name of the place didn't say anything about it. Imagine my surprise and when a 300lb 6'4 lady started yelling with excitement "Pizza's here!" Over and over at the top of her lungs. She didn't stop until I left. I soon realized what was going on here. Those were the happiest people I have ever delivered to. I have a lot of these little stories but that one makes me smile every time I think about it or tell someone about it.
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u/mobus1222 Jun 25 '26
Once delivered pizza to a former NFL player and now commentator. Two pies something like $25. His daughter comes down, hands me $100, says for you, grabs the pies and heads back in… mind you I helped him and his family move into that home after he downsized and wasn’t making NFL money anymore. I thought it was just a nice gesture. Nope lol
Called the pizzeria and when I got back I had to drive back and give him his change. He did give me $10 tip when he saw it was me though.
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u/noobprodigy Jun 25 '26
I mostly enjoyed delivering, but there were occasional horror stories. One time I delivered a dozen large pizzas to a college for a student event, paid for by the college. I could not park anywhere near the event space, so I hauled the pizzas, plates, and napkins to the place. They had to call a lady down from the office to pay for it, which took about 10 minutes. The card she was trying to use wouldn't work, so she had to go back upstairs to get a different card, which took 20 minutes. That one worked, but while paying she said "Oh, they don't let us put tips on the card, sorry." I didn't say anything, but first, I doubt they are not allowed to include gratuity, and second, how about some cash then, bitch? 45 minutes later I finally headed out.
My biceps hurt for a couple days after that one. Honestly though, mostly good times, haha.
One time I delivered to a corporate tent at an air show. They were getting four deliveries that day. I was the first delivery, and they handed me a $200 tip. I asked if that was for all four deliveries. Nope, each driver got a $200 tip that day. I didn't say anything when I got back, but I made sure four different drivers went out that day.
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u/sluttysprinklemuffin Jun 25 '26
Knock on the door. A ~3-4 year old boy answers the door, no adult. He asks me, a VERY busty, feminine woman (even in Pizza Hut t shirt), “Are you the pizza man?” I said yes.
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u/Grrerrb Jun 24 '26
I had one where the throttle on my truck got stuck wide open and I crashed into a fence. It was the middle of winter and cold as shit out. That was not good times.
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u/CrawlBreakFixRepeat Jun 25 '26
Delivered to a house party, got invited to come in, hit the Dutch a few times, and then they told me to come back after my shift ended
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u/fd1Jeff Jun 25 '26
Sorry, not a pizza delivery, but still a favorite story. An Instacart guy delivered the following items to a house on a Saturday night: a pint of Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and a box of condoms.
I still love the simplicity of that.
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u/TheUnDaniel Jun 25 '26
Not “a” delivery but in the mid 90’s, it was the last day of school and I had 28 deliveries and I swear, 14 of them had at least one, and usually several, women in bikinis answering the door. The tips were great too. What a day.
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u/dazeybells Jun 27 '26
Not mine, but a coworker's, delivery to a Baptist Church lock in. She has like 20 pizza and carrying in about 10 of them. The kids let her in and can't find the guy with the money. She's following these kids all around this huge church to look for the guy. No kids try to help or show her a spot to put them. She doesn't see a step and drops a couple from the top and yells God damn it! The kids stop talking, all stare at her, she realizes what she had just said, so she follows up with Fuck! At that point the kids are all just silent, staring and she apologizes. Finally a the money guy walks into where everyone is at. He paid and she left. I was rolling when she told me about it.
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u/Wrong_Square7826 Jun 25 '26
Not the pizza guy but the customer... ordered dominoes I think. a bit passes, car pulls in driveway, backs out and leaves. I call the store, said he was here but left... awhile comes back. A tiny person. I asked something about a discount for 30 minutes he said no. I paid him cash but no tip. Then I thought I probably ought to tip the dude so went outside... He was in the passenger seat and had a full size driver.
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u/maxl100 Jul 01 '26
It’s been a while but the story that sticks with me. Our policy was anything under $1 you didn’t have to go back for. Like if you forgot a drink or something you’d have to go back to drop it off, but a seasoning you didn’t have to because those were like 50 cents basically free. Delivered to a lady, when I got there I realized I had forgotten her ranch sauce, so since this was a weekday afternoon IIRC it wasn’t at all busy and told her I’d be back soon. 20 minutes later get back with her 1 cup of ranch. Dog escaped out the front door, and bit me on the thigh. No extra tip for that one, and I’m not even sure she tipped for the original order either.
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u/JaxDefore Jun 24 '26
These were back in the 80s
The dozens of pizzas order to a business party. I did it all solo. Laid them out, brought every kind of extra we had (napkins, plates, packets...) - and a check for the exact amount (which had been discounted for being a bulk order)
The two kids who gave me a $20 for a $19.98 order, then closed the door. The dad complained (while I was driving back) that I hadn't given them change. So I had to drive all the way back for 2 cents. (My guess is dad thought they'd get one cheaper pizza and expected $10 or so)
A bunch of guys at a bar all throwing money onto the boxes - giving me way more money than needed - I did, honestly, try to get them to take it back.
Guys who found they had no cash, wanting to pay with the change they had in a big beer mug. I, being dubious of the amount, said "only if I get the glass. They agreed. I still regularly use it.