We can all agree food apps like Grubhub and Seamless are great: They put hundreds of food options at your fingertips, you get to create a meal from your comfy, comfy couch, and the only human interaction you have to have is with the person who delivers your food. But how many of us ever consider that person on the other end? What's a day in the life of a food delivery guy like?
Meet Gabriel Rios. He's a delivery man for S'mac, a mac anc cheese restaurant in New York City, and Huffington Post recently asked him to attach a GoPro camera to his helmet so we could, quite literally, spend a day in his shoes. The video follows Rios, who at 38 years old lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter, as he bikes through traffic, up elevators and around buses, all in that early spring sludge that seems to coat New York at this time of year. He does this seven days a week, taking on additional deliveries for a grocery store on weekends.
Over the course of the video, we get a taste of the additional expenses that come with food delivery jobs, including transportation and communication fees. There are also a few takeaway lessons for those of us who need a reminder every now and then that ordering takeout is not an all-around leisurely activity.
1. You're not the only person in the world who ordered food.
It's super easy to become irritated when food delivery takes a while, but keep in mind that your delivery person is probably juggling several other orders as well.
2. Tipping is really, really important.
Like, really important. 20 percent gratuity is pretty much required unless something goes horribly wrong.
Please tip responsibly, guys. It directly affects another human's livelihood.
3. New York is apparently a bike thief's paradise, but that especially sucks for delivery people.
Uggggghhh.
4. He pays for all the cellphone minutes it costs to call you five times before you pick up.
That image of (I'm assuming) his daughter really pulls at the heartstrings. Gah!
Watch the full video here:
Images: Mark Turnauckus/Flickr; Huffington Post/YouTube (6)
