Delivery story 67 Anonymous writes: I deliver for a small pizza chain in Pennsylvania, and though I have a wealth of amazing little stories, this one truly remains the most memorable. It was late February I believe. Horrid weather, as is often the case in Pennsylvania. I have a delivery to a house which was one of those cases where the house is on a little side street, but it's really on the other street because the driveway is on the side street, but the front of the house is on the other street ... you know what I mean. Anyway, the main roads were bad enough to begin with, but this little side street was straight downhill, and, no joke, almost covered by 6-inch thick solid ice except for a small portion of gravel driveway at the top. I assumed that the first house on the side street was the right house and I was right. Unfortunately, while trying to aim my car from the small ice-less portion of the side street, to the equally ice-less customer's driveway, I hit a small patch of ice and slid down just enough to end up on the solid ice and proceeded to slide the ENTIRE way down the side street hill to the very bottom. I got out of my car at this point and looked around. Seemed like a pretty desolate area. The house at the top was one of two houses on the whole street. I called the number on the slip and the woman confirmed that her house was the right one, and asked if I could bring it up, but when I told her I was stuck, she felt bad and sent her kids down to get it. I grinded my wheels for a while and tried to get some leverage in snow covered grass while waiting for the kids. Finally they arrive and I give them their food, to receive a whopping $1.00 and change tip. Understandably, the tip was the last thing on my mind, as my car was most definitely stuck at the bottom of this street. I burned rubber for a little while, which did nothing. I called my manager at the store and told her the issue at hand, to which I received only a frantic, "Well, what do you want me to do!?" How about DON'T SEND US TO CRAPPY ROADS IN CRAPPY WEATHER, YOU RETARD!? After hanging up with (on) her, I called the customer again. "Oh, you still didn't get out?" No ... I'm just admiring the scenery. At this point, I did what every self-respecting pizza delivery driver would do. Time to explore! I get out, light a cigarette, and start looking around. I traverse the mighty ocean of ice to the only other house on the street, where, of course, nobody is home. Keep in mind I slipped and fell on my behind about 12 times during this part alone. Behind some trees back behind where my car has slid to a stop, I found what looks like an old abandoned log cabin. I wanted to get a closer look. I headed down to the bottom of the street to where it became grass, and looked over what was down there. Seemed like an electrical plant setup for a small maintenance area for the surrounding community. There were tons of "DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE" signs, and with the weather considerably cold and moist, I decided against going up to it and frolicking around it. At this point, I'm cold, I'm pissed and I just want to get back to the store and cash out. So I call the police. The guy who answered was very very nice, asking me through a checklist of things to do when you get stuck. Fortunately, he knows where this street is and he understands there's very little chance of me getting up it. So he says he'll send a tow truck for me, but with all the other accidents and getting stuck issues going on that night, it could be up to a 2-hour wait. Reluctantly I agreed, since I really had no choice. I sat around, blasted some music, and smoked. After about 40 minutes, I thought to myself, "You know what? F**K THIS!" I put my car in overdrive, and backed up until I whacked into a little hill of grass. I slammed that pedal almost through the floor and squealed like nobody's business. I got one small jerk forward, then another, and then I lurched forward into a small grass and mud embankment on the other side of the street. Finally some traction! I gunned it like there was no tomorrow. Inch by inch, I crept up the street flinging gravel from under the snow, melting ice, completely saturating the air with the smell of burning rubber until I hit a storm drain cover that was clean and it launched me off with enough momentum to fly up the hill and catch the clean part of the top of the street and swing out onto the road with just enough time to see the family who ordered the pizza to begin with standing in their front yard cheering and clapping. A couple of days later, they came down to the pizza shop and gave me a couple more bucks for the tip. They have always tipped me better since that incident. The cop gave me a call back to see how I was, and was surprised that I got out, but said the tow truck driver was laughing about it. He wished more people would show that kind of effort and maybe his job would be easier. The moral of this story? Never underestimate the power of a 1996 Chevy Cavalier with bald summer tires. return to top