From 1983 until 1986, I was employed as a pizza delivery driver in Dekalb, Illinois; home of Northern Illinois University. At times, this town was oversaturated with competing pizza establishments. During my years living there, I saw many places come and go. The particular place where I worked; however had arguably the best pizza in town. The owners were immigrants from Sicily, and quite simply, these guys knew how to make pizza. In addition, and unlike the local competition, many other traditional Italian dishes were made available for delivery.

As for the pros and cons, I will concur with another author on this subject; there were more cons to the job. I, too, will list the pros first (since there were fewer.)

It was easy work. No hard labor; i.e., heavy lifting. The only way one could get tired in this occupation would be to experience sleep deprivation, which brings me to the second advantage.

You didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn and dress up in conservative work attire as in most occupations. If you so chose, you could sleep into the middle of the afternoon and then come into work with shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops if you were so inclined.

The tips from customers could add up quickly; and more often than not exceeded the actual hourly earnings.

Well, that's about it for the Pros of this esteemed job title. Now we will proceed to the Cons:

We had to drive our own vehicles, and therefore we were responsible for fuel costs and upkeep. Any delivery job such as this is pure torture on a vehicle. The wear and tear on vital engine parts as well as brakes and starters was substantially accelerated. It was not uncommon to put 40,000-50,000 miles a year on a vehicle.

During peak demand times, such as weekends or just about any night from 10:00 PM onward, when students got "the munchies," it was difficult to keep up. When I was carrying two or three pizzas at a time to be delivered, there were no problems, but when it so busy that eight or ten were carried as a result of everybody ordering all at once, somebody had to be last. Ultimately, that unfortunate person would get a rather cold; or at best, tepid pizza. And don't think he or she didn't let me know about it, either.

In college towns, one will find many jerks; especially if alcohol is involved. I had to suffer the wrath of many students (usually guys in frat houses) who were rather hostile and downright insulting. The fact that I was already well into my twenties didn't help, either. "Dude! Why don't you get a real job?"

While it was nice to sleep in, the downside was no social life of my own. At an age where I could have been partying and meeting women, I was stuck delivering pizzas to those who were enjoying this very lifestyle.

This type of occupation can also leave one vulnerable to bad situations. On one occasion I was knocked down to the ground while my attacker not only stole the pizza, but also the bag of money sitting atop it. The money was never recovered. From that night on, I stopped carrying the bag with me.

Eventually, I met the woman who would become my wife. While we were dating, she more or less gave me an ultimatum, and that was to get out of the pizza business and learn a skilled trade. I did just that and spent the next several years in the optical field.

Still, I'll never forget my days as a pizza delivery person. To this day, when I order a pizza, I tip generously. I know what it's like; for I've been there.

Learn more about this author, Patrick Sills.
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