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Wednesday, March 1, 2000
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8A
Drivers encounter kisses, parking tickets on route
O one night last December, Matt Abbick had to deliver more than sandwiches. When Abbick said, "I am busy."
When Abbick, a Jimmy John's Sandwich Shop delivery driver, was called to a house with mistletoe in the doorway, he compiled with tradition and kissed the customer.
"She was pretty good-looking," said Abbick, a Junction City freshman. "It was a pretty good kiss."
Not every delivery driver is so lucky — many others are left to deal with the unique occupational hazards of quirky customers, speeding tickets, pizza thieves and bare butts.
Sometimes customers offer more than tips, Abbick said.
Abbick didn't accept either offer.
"I usually get two of three deliveries a night where the place just reeks of weed," he said. "People have offered to let me smoke and stuff. One time I had to deliver to the guy running the keg at a house party on Tennessee Street. He offered me beer."
Risky business
With "30-minutes-or-less" promises, drivers commonly have problems with speeding
While episodes like that are rare. Lawrence police Sgt. George Wheeler said pizza delivery drivers had their share of problems.
Delivery drivers are an easy target for robberies, he said, and Lawrence police typically see one or two dozen reports from delivery drivers each year.
or parking tickets, Abbick said he's been lucky — and ticktless — so far.
Police said Winter did not stop at a stop sign and collided with a patrol car. Neither driver was injured, but Winter was cited for failure to yield right-of-way at a stop sign.
"People will call up and order a pizza delivery to a residence, then hide outside the residence and rob them," he said. "We had a rash of those about a year ago."
"Sometimes I'm delivering at dorms, and the dude who gives out parking tickets is standing next to my truck, but they usually let me go," he said. "I try to put a sign on my truck. If they see you've got food, cops are less likely to pull you over."
Last semester, one delivery driver had a different kind of clash with law enforcement. Brandon Winter, Tonganoxie sophomore, was making a delivery for Papa John's, 2233 Louisiana St., when he got into a wreck with an on-duty cop.
Wheeler said those pizza thieves were not apprehended.
it's kind of easy pickings, because the pizza guys don't generally call back and check on the number or cross-reference the telephone number to the address," Wheeler said. "In those robbery cases, we'll always get
the call-back number and check it, and it's a pay phone or wrong number."
Wheeler said the suspects targeted men as well as women.
"They'll take what they can get," he said.
Delivery drivers should carry small amounts of money and be aware of their surroundings, Wheeler said.
Co-ed naked deliverv
Jodi Oldfather, a Jimmy John's delivery driver, said sometimes she was a little too aware of her surroundings.
"Sunday I was working and delivering to this guy," said Oldfather, a Hino Hawaii, sophomore. "I went into his little apartment building, and he was completely buck naked."
The unclothed customer tried to shelter himself behind the door, Oldfather said, and he quickly snatched his food.
"But as he was turning away I saw his butt," she said. "It was really hairy and disgusting."
Oldfather has delivered for Jimmy John's, 1447 W. 23rd St., since September. She said she took the job so she could drive around and listen to music.
"it's fun," she said. "If I get sick of the store, I get a change of scenery."
Other than last weekend's naked man and the occasional scary dog, Oldfather's delivery-driver career has been relatively tame, she said.
And being a female in the profession isn't a problem for her.
"Lawrence is a pretty safe little town," she said.
Walker Phillips, Norfolk, Va., junior and former Bambino's Italian Cafe delivery man, agreed. He said his scariest moment delivering didn't involve threats or customers,but his own absentmindedness.
Strange davs
"I put some drinks and stuff on top of my car while I was loading stuff up," he said. "I drove to the person's house, and I realized I didn't have my money bag. The customers were real nice and wrote me a check, but I was dying to get out of there."
Phillips sped back to Bambino's, 1801 Massachusetts St., then proceeded to jog along the route he had driven.
"I found it in the middle of the road at the corner of 19th and Massachusetts," he said. "There was over $100 in cash in there. I didn't share that story with my boss."
Phillips said being a food deliverer put him in contact with some of the more colorful Lawrence locals.
"I delivered to one guy who came to the door in some kind of karate outfit and started talking to me in Italian," he said. "He thought it was really funny. He left the door kind of cracked, and there were porn mags all over the floor."
Another Bambino's regular called herself "The Drug Queen of Lawrence." The Bambino's employees just called her the Soup Lady, Phillips said.
"The first time I delivered to her, I could see her on the couch but she wasn't coming to the door. I was pounding, but she was just out," he said. "Other times, she'd just call and talk about how good the soup of the day on Monday was, or whatever."
The interesting customers weren't enough to keep Phillips in the delivery business. After a year and a half at Bambino's, he quit in May.
"I don't plan to do it again," he said.
But as he was turning away I saw his butt," said Jodi Oldfather, Hino, Hawaii, sophomore. "It was really hairy and disgusting.
Illustrations by Kyle Ramsey/KANSAN