As if somehow The Man sensed my big day, AT&T had a big cell-service outage in the greater-Austin area. It wasn't just a loss of 3G coverage (which I could tolerate); it was a complete loss of all coverage, I couldn't text or make calls.
Which brought me to the realization that I get pretty freaked out without my cellphone, especially when delivering. Which brings us to another fun fact: when I'm a little freaked out I imagine horrible scenarios for myself and then calm myself down by reassuring myself of the statistical improbability of those scenarios. Every time I have to deliver down a country road at night I imagine that they are going to kill me. And then I remind myself that if they halfway thought it through killing me would be dumb because the store has the adress where I went and at the very least the police will have a solid starting point in the search for my body. And then I remember that that means nothing, they could shove me in a car and drive 50 miles away. And then...
Well, you get the point. This goes on in my head EVERY time I make an after-dark delivery on a country road. All of which is exacerbated when I don't have my cellphone because the half of me calming the other half down doesn't have the argument (valid or not) that "at least you have your cellphone and could call for help."
Besides that I had a fantastic night. I took 10 deliveries which broke down nicely like this:
- 40% were $5 tips
- 40% were $2 tips
- 0% were stiffs
Came home with $44.
Damn straight this came from my iPhone
2 comments:
And this, my friend, is why I keep a c.b. radio hooked up and ready to turn on at a moment's notice in my car AT ALL TIMES. And I've made sure the Locals know who I am and that I am not a nutjob, should I ever have to jangle their coax for a 911.
When I did this job a few years ago, I would get on the c.b. every time I got in the car for a delivery. If I had to go to a bad neighborhood, I would tell someone the address I was getting out of the car at. They knew if I didn't check back in within 8 minutes they needed to call the cops and my store, in that order. It made me feel tons safer.
Also, talking on the c.b. is fun. And really useful on long trips, too. Truck drivers give the BEST directions! There is no monthly bill for using a c.b., either. Very nice backup system. :)
Thanks! That is a great idea. We don't have any terribly dangerous areas. I'm just overly aware of the vulnerable position I am in when delivering out in the country.
While I probably won't be investing in a CB, I may do the check-ins by text messages with a friend. I think it would make me feel a lot better that someone out there would know I wasn't ok much before the store would (I don't imagine they'd realize I was missing for at least an hour, possibly several if we were busy).
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