I have mentioned it before ... I am helping out a restaurant delivering food to customers. The Pandemic is tough on the restaurant business and the husband and wife are the nicest two people in the industry ! ! !
Tonight I was doing some rides again for them and well, the roads were not too good ! ! ! Lots of snow has fallen down, ice ice ice ! ! !
That is where this story starts. People are scared to go out of the door, so they order food. That is a good thing of course, and yes, looking at a regular weekend, with good weather, this coldness has brought more work. But the coldness seems to not only interfere with the weather.....
Within a timeframe of two hours 06:00 PM – 08:00 PM the restaurant has peak hours creating the orders and give them to the people coming buy and for me delivering the meals. You have to know the husband is the chef in the kitchen, rules the pans and the amazing cooking in the kitchen and his rules the phone, the planning and the getting everything clear in everybody's minds. A great combination, although its sometimes friendly clashes. Is needed, businesses work very well, when the tension gets a little bit higher ! ! !
I have shared it before, love the driving, the contact with the kitchen, the planning, the clients and to see how the other “road users” are interacting among “US” food delivery people. No names, no type of food, but some food delivery bike dudes and dudettes are the worse. They own the streets and well, in the Netherlands, bikes own the law, they are protected and well, it is hard to win a case against, as they are the “vulnerable” party when I am driving in a car. Is this story going to talk about an accident ..... no, not at all.
So meeting the customers, most of the time happy faces, happy their food is there, the ordered, they wanted, so it is most of the time a lot of fun, unless the time frames are screwed up ! ! !
Well, I wanted the food half an hour ago ....
(“32 minutes” I was thinking)
Does your boss know you are this late ...
(First count to ten and answer ....)
Eh ..... what about a phone call you are late ...
(got a point, but lines are busy and we rather choose being busy getting the orders done, packed and delivered)
Is the food still warm ....
(I opened the food, took a bite from the burger and said I burnt my tongue ...... would LOVE to do that)
Most people though understand it perfectly though. They understand it is busy, they understand the weather and road conditions and they fully understand us being late once in a while. A lot of the food is served on time, but the last lady, she was absolutely amazing. I cannot put names in here, but let's just call her Caroline, makes it easier for the story.
She is a little older lady and she is a regular .... she orders frequently and before the Pandemic, she visited the restaurant like 3 times a month. She loves fish, so tonight I visited her with a nice fish diner and when she opened she surprised me big time. I was 21 minutes late, my final delivery and apologised for not making the time. I had been seriously busy that night and we would have wished we could have been there earlier, the roads did not allow me to be faster, so I hope she still would enjoy it.
Her answer:
“I always like the food, I always order, you have been here a couple times, love you to bring the food, you are a nice man and if I would not have liked it ..... I would have told you so.”
NOW THAT WAS NICE
Thank you “ma'am” those were kind words. I hope you are enjoying it, let me get out of here, because the evening clock (09:00PM) is going to be here earlier than I want it to be ! ! !
Well, I created something and want to give it to you guys. The lady went inside and came back with a card in an envelop. I had to give it to the owners, but it was also a little bit for me.
I wished her a happy meal, good evening and left for the restaurant. Gave the card to the lady and she opened it showing a written card and a picture. The picture was of a set table with ..... a restaurant meal I brought her last week. The lady was holding a glass of wine and was toasting to the person taking the picture, or eh .... US ! ! !
The card showed us words of appreciation. She was aware of the difficult times during the pandemic, the cold weather, bad roads, she just wanted to share her weekly moment of happiness, a diner served by the restaurant.
This was the sweetest the lady was able to do. That's what you are doing it for .....
STAY SAFE ! ! !
