Here’s Why DoorDash Is Evil, Especially During Quarantine

Whelp, here I am.

Jobless.

As of last night, I worked my final shift at the restaurant until further notice. With the theme parks closed and the hotels closing tomorrow, there are just no people. As a result, hours have been drastically cut for everyone. Some of us were just a little less lucky than others.

It’s me. I’m less lucky.

Thankfully, the parent company has set up some relief for team members. The set up a fund for us that will pay us based on our normal schedules for the next two weeks. But it’s only two weeks. After that, who knows. It’s looking like a good number of us will have to file for unemployment for the time being.

This is stressful as hell now.

But not why I’m here.

My restaurant, like many other is making it’s way toward the take-out only model of doing things which is part of the reason why so many cuts were made. Once this happens each shift will only have three people on it- manager, cook, to-go employee.

Can I let you all in on a big not-so-secret when it comes to your DoorDash, Postmates, Ubereats orders? The server at the restaurant, doing all the work to ensure your meal is together and correct, isn’t making any money off of your order. When you tip on your order that money is only going to your driver, we don’t see any of it.

So imagine you’re me last night, putting together an order for a family of five that totaled around $100. I meticulously check every aspect of the order to make sure it’s how you want it, and is cooked to perfection. You might have tipped $10 or even the full 20%. I’m not going to see any of it.

I will see your DoorDash driver walk in and shove his phone in my face and scream “DOORDASH!” at me.

Serious side-note, DoorDash drivers are rude as hell. They are in a hurry to get things done and don’t care about anyone else, just picking up that next delivery. And you know what, more power to them, they wanna make money. But they will be rude as hell about it.

I was helping a guest and a DoorDash driver shoved her phone between us, into my face and yelled “DoorDash!”

I was telling that story to another guest one time and they didn’t believe that this happened… until a DoorDash walked in and shoved their phone in my face. They don’t even tell you the name on the order, they just assume you’ll know which of the 20 DoorDash orders in the back are theirs.

We don’t.

Worse is when they show up too early for the order and get angry when you tell them it’s not ready and then get pissed with every passing minute. Especially when I’m on the bar, I’m going to go back to taking care of my tipping guests and I’ll check on the order when I have a minute. I still have a job to do and dropping everything to stand in the back staring at the cooks making your order isn’t going to help anyone.

So the reason I’m bringing this up is because I want you to think long and hard about your restaurant employee when you’re making your order. Now, McDonalds and other Fast Food places are one thing- places where you don’t normally tip, they are making a wage. The average McDonalds employee make around $10. Please note that I said average, if you make less than that please don’t come for me.

Anyway, think about really any of us that are still on the front lines. I’ve spent the last three days working directly with the public. I’ve had to wash my hands so much that they are raw and no amount of moisturizer is working on them. I’ve had to touch used silverware, napkins, plates and money. I’ve done all this to survive.

Once a restaurant goes to take-out only, only a select few are getting those hours. I am not one of them, sadly. But please take care of those who are there. Understandably, some people can’t leave the house right now. This threat we are facing is a serious one for some more than others.

But please consider picking up your own food. You can still order curbside from us and when you pay online you are able to tip the employee working.

So think about this before you go for DoorDash or all these other delivery services. I don’t want to take money away from them, but I think it’s also important to realize that we are the restaurant make nothing from this when we are really doing the heavy lifting.

This is honestly something that’s bothered me for a long time and it’s a big part of the reason why I never personally use these services. Sure it’s convenient but at what cost really. I’ve brought this up before when it comes to to-go food because when they bar is in charge of running take out, we’re only making server wage which is currently around $5.50 an hour.

I had one night recently where I was inundated with take-out orders and spent a solid hour doing only that. Each and every one of them was a DoorDash order which means for a full hour I was busting my butt while trying to take care of my few guests and the service well (making drinks for other servers) and I made nothing off of it. An hour of insane work with orders that all together totaled around $300 and I made nothing but server wage from it.

So please think about all that before you place that order. Not just not but for when things go back to normal as well.

Okay. Rant over.