I only thought about writing about this subject because of a memory I recently had. Years ago, when I first started dashing, I made a horrible mistake and could have easily gotten hurt. I shouldn't have put myself in the situation but I did. It was my first month of dashing so I guess I was just a bit careless.
I have to complete all of my Doordash deliveries
like most new dashers, I came in wanting to do a good job. I had to make sure that I completed all deliveries that I accepted. At this time, I didn't know that I could unassigned an order. I didn't even know that I could put on my timer and say that the customer was not available. All I knew is that I had to make all of my deliveries. This seemed like a pretty cool part time side job, and I didn't want to mess anything up.
My Doordash delivery to the house with the gate
One day as I was dashing, I received a call just like any other. I picked up the food and arrived at the drop off location which was a nice older home on a residential street. The house had a very long driveway, but I couldn't pull into the driveway because the house had a big giant gate around it.
So I parked on the street and walked up to the house. The gate was open, and I let myself in. I was probably strolling for about 10 seconds when all of a sudden I see a dog about 25 yards in front of me. We make eye contact, and I try to stay calm even though my heart starts speeding up. This is no Chiwawa dog. I am making eye contact with a Rottweiler. I avoid eye contact, but I notice a couple of more Rottweilers come also from the side of the house.
I'm in a no win situation here as all the dogs start barking and running toward me. I turned and started running as fast as I could. I'm not sure if I did the right thing there because when I ran I became prey, but I sure in the hell was not going to just stand there and try to be friendly with them.
To give you all an idea of who is running here just know that I am no young pup. I mean I am not an old man or anything, but put it this way; If I was a Major League Baseball Player, I would have already retired. I'm of average height and weight and in normal shape. When I say this you need to know that I am not in shape. I do not work out at all, but I am also not out of shape. Well, maybe I am and just don't know it.
I'll tell you this though. When I made that run from those dogs, I would have out ran any in shape athlete there is and that includes professional runners. I ran like I was 16 years old again; it was really amazing. When your adrenaline is going you can really do what seems impossible. Those dogs were of course gaining ground on me, and they got close, but I was able to run fast enough to get away from them and throw myself over the gate. Yes, I jumped the gate also like I was 16 again. There was no sitting on top of the gate as I made my way over it.
Unbelievably, I held the customer's food in my hand the whole time. It was just a Wendy's cheeseburger. May have been a Baconater. When I got back in my car, I didn't care anymore about making this delivery. I put my timer on, let it run out and marked the order as deliverable. Of course I never heard from the customer.
Don't ever walk into a gate to make a Doordash delivery
The lesson here is for Dashers to know that they should never walk into a gate to make a Doordash delivery. If there is a gate, text the customer. Although most people with dogs would put them in when they are expecting a delivery, you just cannot trust people. Maybe they will forget or something.
Yes, this incident was entirely my fault as I didn't use my brain. My legs and thighs were in sever pain for the whole next week. I think I shocked the hell out of them by running that fast. The most important thing though was that I made it out of their safely. Oh the Baconater? You know I had to enjoy that.
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