Job #1 Takeaway Delivery Driver

Woo hoo, so job #1 is officially complete!

Here are a few stats from the evening to kick us off:

Company: New Ash Green Tandoori
Shift: 5.30pm – 9.45pm
Number of Deliveries: 8
Pay: £25 - £30 per shift + tips
Money Raised: £75.40 (Thank you so much Lindsay & Ali for your super generous donations)

I have to say I couldn’t think of a better job to start my challenge…I absolutely loved it!

So a typical shift – wrapping up warm is essential in the winter, you can be walking around in the cold for a while if you can’t find the house! I love how sociable this job is, whilst waiting for the brilliant chefs to cook the meals for us to deliver (each meal is cooked from scratch by the way!) we can all have a chat, which is great fun! The orders are always delegated by which driver is in the door first, it works that way for the whole night. Once your turn comes around, you are given directions to where you are going, and the exact change to give the customer if they don’t have the exact money (I thought this was amazing, as maths really isn’t my forte!). You then pop your bag in the cool box and you’re off! Sometimes you’re given more than one order at once if they are in the same area, which is slightly more tricky remembering which ones which! Ring on the doorbell, ‘New Ash Green Tandoori’, get the money, hand over the curry and you’re done! It really is so fun having the challenge of using your navigation skills plus the buzz of knowing you have to do it as quickly as possible!

I thought it would be quite a sociable job, getting to speak to loads of different people – but it turns out all people really want is for you to give them their dinner and go!. Understandable I guess as it would defeat the purpose of me delivering it as quickly as possible if they then stood there chatting and let it get cold! The banter and laughs in the shop more than make up for that, there’s such an amazing team atmosphere! I think it could also suit those of us that don’t like talking to people, as you can be as sociable or unsociable as you choose! If you don’t have a car, this probably isn’t the job for you…unless perhaps you have a racing push bike with a trailer!

It’s great for getting fit whilst working (I took 4,136 steps), and being in the great outdoors. It’s also quite cool to get to know the local area, those of you that know New Ash Green will understand that’s quite a feat! One driver even takes his wife with him, how many jobs can you say that you can do that…some may not see that as a positive of course!

The main thing that I learned from the evening is how many people don’t have door numbers/names. As much as it adds an element of mystery to the evening, I urge people to please spare a thought for their local delivery drivers and display your door number with pride! This certainly adds an extra element of stress to the precedings.

Overall it is definitely a job that I thoroughly enjoyed and would do again. With regards to my condition, it isn’t ideal as you are thinking about a lot of things as once, with the added difficulty of doing it all in the dark. I found it really interesting that something you would consider a fairly laid back job, actually made me feel pretty rough!

So I asked Lindsay a few questions, as she knows the job far better than I do - here’s what she had to say…(Lindsay incredibly donated her wages for the evening to the charity fund, Thank you so much - it never ceases to amaze me how kind people can be)
 

How long have you worked at New Ash Green Tandoori?

‘I started October 2014, although it’s a job that I have done before I had my children’

How did you get into the job?

‘I wanted something to boost my income, but also a job that I look forward to going to. Driving gives you a sense of freedom, and thinking time, but also job satisfaction knowing you are delivering good food.’

What is the best thing about the job?

‘The best part is regular customers and happy staff so that 1. I know where I am going and 2. If staff are happy, then customers are happy which = a stress-free job.’

What is the worst part about the job?

‘When it gets really busy, and orders come in late, as it becomes stressful trying to meet deadlines and apologise to not so happy customers’

What stress rating would you give this job out of 5? (1 being relaxed and 5 being super stressful)

 

Thank you soooooo much for having me New Ash Green Tandoori, I loved every second! If you would like to try one of their super duper curry's order online and you get a 20% discount! ;-)
http://nagtandoori.co.uk/