Some jobs really do require dealing with some of the most questionable people you’ll ever meet. But you know it’s gotten serious when companies would rather lose money than deliver their food.
It’s not even that uncommon for chains and restaurants to blacklist certain addresses for safety reasons, or just because the people there are true weirdos. So today, we have delivery drivers sharing their experiences with these kinds of situations and what actually led to their bans in the first place, and here’s what they had to say.
More info: Reddit
#1
Ran a pizza to a house. Guy answered the door with an arm load of laundry and said come put it in the kitchen please. I followed him through the house. Walking past the living room where there was a projector playing a gay male o**y on the entire wall, surround sound putting in work. I set the pizza down on the counter and he asked if I wanted to stay and have a slice. I declined.
Image source: cut_you_so_bad, DC Studio
#2
Not delivery driver but I worked at pizza place for while and we had this guy who would order large pizzas then claim they were wrong every single time to get free replacement. He did this maybe 15 times before manager finally caught on and banned him from ordering
The audacity of some people really amazes me sometimes – like did he think nobody would notice the pattern.
Image source: No-Molasses-7025, freepik
#3
Not me but a friend worked at a Dominos.
Craziest story she had was when she was delivering to a customer and the customer refused the pizza because she wasn’t “the usual delivery guy”.
Now, the “usual” delivery guy quit his job about a week prior, and she was basically his replacement.
Anyways, the customer threw a tantrum, didn’t tip, and eventually called the store and ranted about the whole thing being a conspiracy led by J. Patrick Doyle himself (the CEO at the time) to ruin his life, and demanded they rehire the previous guy who he genuinely considered to be his “best friend”. He then went on about how the pizza was made with “tears of sadness” and “alligator bile”.
Pretty sure they blocked the guy. Poor dude sounded like he was having a breakdown.
Image source: mjohnsimon, ArtPhoto_studio
Blacklisting customers has always been a safety precaution used by companies to help keep their employees safe, but nowadays, with services like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, it has almost become the norm for these types of companies. After all, everything is digital now, and it’s much easier to track problematic customers.
In fact, several studies involving delivery drivers indicate that, in the U.S. alone, 77% of grocery and food delivery drivers reported being actively targeted by customers on the job within a single year. This usually comes in the form of verbal altercations or even physical harassment, and it doesn’t always get reported, since isolated incidents don’t always lead to a ban.
#4
He would ask the delivery driver to bring the food into the kitchen and set in on the kitchen island. Once there, he would have a conversation with the driver about how hot his daughter looked in her bikini. Would say that he would be ordering pizza later that evening again and if the driver was interested in coming back with that order, he could have s*x with the daughter while he watched from a distance. The first driver that dealt with this ignore it. The second one told the general manager, called the dad and told him that he is banned from ordering from us because of what he was offering to the delivery drivers.
Image source: The_Erlenmeyer_Flask, Drazen Zigic
#5
Almost shot me. His wife ordered and he didn’t know so he thought I was a solicitor. Fun times in a small town.
Image source: Acrobatic_Warning423, koldunova_anna
#6
Robbed me at gunpoint. Got the $27 in my pocket, a prison sentence, and his entire apartment complex put on our no delivery list.
Image source: plasma2002, freepik
The fact that some isolated cases often go unnoticed has even led to a rise in drivers’ self-blacklisting. According to a survey, 26% of drivers have refused to complete a delivery or go near a certain address after feeling unsafe while doing their job. Most of the stories here show the kind of danger they often face.
Situations like robberies and physical altercations are fairly common, and companies may even ban an entire neighborhood because of these incidents. Some stories also mention that it’s not uncommon for people to set up fake orders to steal from delivery drivers who are simply trying to do their jobs. Yikes.
#7
They asked nicely haha.
when I showed up the woman who answered the door was briefly surprised before explaining her young son was autistic and had a habit of ordering pizza without permission. She said she’d tried putting locks on every device they own but he’d even figured out how to order from the tv. I offered to take the order back and cancel the charge, she asked to be blacklisted from online ordering, and said she will do carryout if she ever wants to place an order.
My managers didn’t know how to do that, but we did make note of the address and to call about the order before making it in the future. Idk how long that lasted after I left the location.
Image source: Saraisnotreal, p-ponomareva
#8
I once had some kids order a large, eat most of it and stick a d**d spider in one of the remaining slices. The boss asked me to drive over and look at it and it was obvious what they did. The spider looked uncooked and how did they not notice it when they opened the box. They started to argue and I just drove off. The next weekend, their parents tried to order and we told them why they were on the no delivery list. Hopefully these weren’t lenient parents.
Image source: Prune-These, angelika-mostova
#9
Worked at a pizza place that served a pretty ghetto neighborhood. Drivers kept getting robbed when going there so they blacklisted the whole neighborhood.
One day a gangster comes into the shop and he says he’s the big man around there and he told the GM that his driver’s would be safe if they came back and he wanted pizza.
We started going back and never had another robbery out there again.
Image source: AnUnusuallyLargeApe
It’s not always a safety issue, though. While companies may create no-go zones, it isn’t always fear for employee safety that leads them to do so — sometimes, it’s just because of scammers. Experts have referred to this as “friendly fraud,” a common type of delivery scam that has become increasingly widespread.
Nowadays, some people falsely claim that an item or order never arrived. It has become a “victimless” way to dine and dash, similar to what many people used to do in the past, and around 30 out of every 1,000 orders end up with a refund request. Unfortunately, delivery drivers are often blamed for these claims, even when the reports are fake.
#10
Family member worked for Pizza Hut way back in the day. There was an address that was banned because the drivers would get robbed when they went to that address. Happened 3 times before they were banned.
The drivers would deliver to surrounding homes & nothing happened, it was only when they delivered to that one specific address.
Image source: evlblueyes1369, dmytro_sidelnikov
#11
Delivered for Domino’s about 20ish years ago. There was this regular customer who was an a*****e for no apparent reason. This would happen to every driver, every time.
Guy would come to the door, and as soon as you start taking the pizza out of the bag, he’d say “Hold on! How long was that in your car? Did you take a bunch of other deliveries before bringing this one?” Then he’d “allow” you to take the pizza from the hot bag, he would open the box in front of you and inspect it. He was never happy with it. Not enough toppings, too many toppings. “Are you sure I ordered it with Olives??” Then he would hover his hand over the pizza a couple of inches and move it around the entire pie, checking if it was hot enough. It never was.
He would refuse every order and demand a remake. He would always laugh about the fact he wasn’t tipping. Literally rub it in the driver’s face. He would always make sure you could see he had a few dollars in his hand too. He’d hold it up and say things like “Let’s see if you’ve done enough to earn this.” No driver ever received a tip.
He would hold the driver hostage at his front door for a good 5 minutes, just to talk down to them and humiliate them over and over. Swearing every time he’d never order from us again.
Eventually, I got promoted to a management position. The first time his order came in after that. I made his pizza from start to finish. Cut it myself. Bagged it myself. And then took his delivery myself. I was at his door under 20 minutes from the time he ordered it.
Despite how quick it was, same routine. I just let him do all his stupid s**t. Then he declared it wasn’t good enough and wanted a remake. I told him I was the manager on duty, and we would not be remaking his pizza. He then said he will refuse to pay for it. I accepted his offer. Told him to enjoy the free pizza. He said he’d never order from us again. I told him that is 100% true as we would no longer accept his business. He just laughed and said he’d call “corporate”. I encouraged him to do so and left.
When I got back to the store, I noted his address. The next day our owner called (franchise, not a corporate location) to ask what happened. Explained everything, told him we weren’t going to take his business anymore.
The owner said “Oh, he’s gonna be pissed when he gets those coupons I sent him then.”
Dude tried to order a few more times from us but we never took his order. Feel bad for the drivers from other places.
Image source: Mattock79, dikushin
#12
Not a driver but spouse worked at a pizza place. The house wasn’t on the ban list but apparently the wife would always answer the door n***d and the more surprised the driver looked the higher their tip would be. Pizza workers would warn the new drivers to look as shocked as possible to increase their gratuity.
Image source: verminiusrex, bschmidt-keller
Usually, these situations can lead to pretty serious consequences. From being placed in dangerous or potentially traumatic situations to nearly losing their livelihood because of rising scam rates, delivery drivers are among the most mentally strained workers in the modern gig economy.
Psychologists have studied the mental health of food delivery drivers and found that many show signs of high stress, chronic anxiety, and severe burnout. Not only is their job at the mercy of customer ratings, but it can also take just a single 1-star review to put their work at risk. On top of that, it’s a financially precarious job, which only adds to the pressure.
#13
Not a driver but me and my ex ordered Chinese delivery, after paying the Chinese lady, my small dog ran after her to her car and I said in a stern angry voice for him to get back inside, the lady says, “oooh no, no, I have to get going.”
Took me a minute to realize what she said and that she thought I was ordering her to get inside.
I never ordered from there again.
Image source: professorlavahott, freepik
#14
I worked at pizza hut in college. There was an entire neighborhood on the no delivery list because pretty much every time a delivery driver went there, someone would try to rob them.
Image source: dafunkmunk, wirestock
#15
When I was a driver over 20 years ago, there was a Motel 6 that we flat out wouldn’t deliver to despite being less than a mile away. Three different drivers got robbed at gun/knifepoint in the span of a year before I got there, and that was enough to blacklist it.
Only have a couple stories from my time as a driver – one guy offered me weed as payment (fortunately he also had cash), and one lady’s order I had to return to the store because she was busy getting arrested in the front yard.
Image source: ta2dsailor, fanjianhua
If you look at it from a social perspective, it’s also quite an isolating job. You spend hours upon hours driving or sitting in traffic, and the only interactions you usually have are while delivering food. And judging by these testimonies, it’s not hard to imagine that those interactions are often unpleasant, and sometimes even dangerous.
It’s truly one of those jobs where you have to accept that there are occupational hazards, do your best to protect yourself, and hope the company does the same. But what about you, dear reader? Do you have any food delivery stories you’d like to share? Let us know!
#16
Not a delivery driver, but about 10 years ago, the guy who lived in my apartment before me got himself black listed from d**n near every delivery service in town. It’s a frigging pain in the a**e trying to convince places that he moved out.
Image source: ImpossiblyGoodPotato, lookstudio
#17
Took a delivery to a party, drunk guy signed the receipt and then used the pen to trace the outline of my breast while I still held the food. I was in shock, I never expected something like that to happen. I was embarrassed. On the drive back to the store I cried and debated keeping it to myself. F**k that s**t. Told my manager, he told the district manager, and that address was permanently banned. My coworkers wanted to go beat his a*s. I haven’t worked in delivery for a few years but I cringe when I drive within blocks of that house.
Image source: Nancy_TheTavernWench, The Yuri Arcurs Collection
#18
When they can’t figure out that their vicious dog can easily break through a screen door and rush you in 2 seconds. ESPECIALLY if they have their small kid running around the living room by the front door. That dog goes into protect and attack mode in the blink of an eye. F**k those people.
Image source: UDPviper, freepik
#19
Delivering pizza in Rochester, NY, middle of january, snow storm, about 20F with windchill. He took the pie, said wait a sec, closed the door, hear it lock. Lights off, pound on the door freezing my a*s off, nothing. Called and called, finally determined the $20 wasn’t worth it, had other delivers. Boss all irate I took so long, told him, called him from the payphone and told the a*****e off, phone number and name by every phone, do not serve. Never let go of the box until I saw the cash from then on. I’ll wait here while your pizza gets cold.
Image source: mjm1374, prostooleh
#20
Not a driver but I worked at a pizza place. A guy put in an online order, meaning he put it in himself and confirmed it was correct. When it was delivered he called the store angrily complaining about how his order was wrong. I read him back his order and he said “I meant to order wings instead!” I told him there was literally nothing we could do since we correctly made the order that was sent to us. He called me a c**t then told me he was tempted to come up and beat my a*s.
That was a fun one.
Image source: smaktacular, freepik
#21
I worked for Domino’s right after HS. Guy ordered the wrong pizza, flipped out when it was delivered and threw it down right in front of me. Told my manager what happened and he immediately black flagged him. Dude called a week later to order and was told to f**k off.
Image source: pBhOiSlTlOyN, kues1
#22
Worked as a delivery driver for about 2 years in a small town. Had a customer that lived over 30 minutes away, and would order eight when we were closing (would do it online to skate the delivery cut off time) never tipped. But we were the only place that delivered to them. I went there about 3 times, everytime end of night. Their kid answered the door everytime, would hand me the money and run away with the pizzas never tipping more than a dollar. One night they pulled that and their kid answered as always and gave me the money. It came out to a staggering 36 cent tip. When I got back and told my boss this he told them he was sending me back for the 20$ they owe me if they ever want us to deliver to them again. I drove there, they gave me 10$. My boss immediately called them and told them they’re banned and any order they place will not go through. I hated those people, it felt so good. It was obvious they were doing it intentionally. They still tried to order a couple times after that (always 10 mins before close still).
Image source: NoahsMcDonalds, freepik
#23
One of our drivers unknowingly delivered to a hells angels hideout. The dude held the driver at gun point, took the food and didn’t pay. Driver told the boss who then called George Christie(yes he knew Christie)asking him w*f are you guys doing? Christie drove over to the store and paid the balance and then some to the driver. Never delivered there again.
Image source: pizzachief_, lucasliquinph
#24
Hey I can do this one
This guy put his name down as K
he would only answer the door in his underwear. Tighty whites. He was probably 60-70 years old.
He also would never tip.
We didnt totally cut him off, but it was pretty quick that we stopped letting girls deliver to his apartment. He stopped ordering when it stopped being women. Good times.
Image source: papag00s, rawpixel.com
#25
This fifteen years old kid would only order late night after eleven PM, and he did so for about a year. Eventually, a woman showed up with the same last name (and ID to prove it), and asked to see a list of deliveries with her address on it. She then asked to be put on a no delivery list because her son had somehow taken a credit out in her name and had racked up thousands of dollars in charges.
Image source: Cerulean__Dream, Guzov Ruslan
#26
My little brother drove delivery for a cash-on-delivery Chinese place when he was in high school. This was in Palm Bay, FL. Idk how it is now but at the time it was pretty low income and had some roughhh parts. He was sick one night and I needed the money home from college on summer break so I took his shift. Pulled up to a sketchy single-story apartment building to deliver a pretty small order. As I was driving slow looking for the #, I noticed 3 guys staring down the car all spread out from the back of the lot. I got immediate BAD vibes, but decided to call them out. I rolled down my window and yelled “Hey, did y’all order this?!”
One guy came closer and into the light, saw me, and said “No one here ordered that. You should go.”
Kind of chilling to be honest. I’m a 5’3” woman and was around 20 at the time. Think the guys were 100% looking to rob someone with cash on them and I often wonder how things would have gone if my high schooler younger brother had been the one that pulled up.
Told the owners of the Chinese spot and they took the whole apartment building off their delivery list.
Image source: ProudCatLady, Boris Ivas
#27
On a busy night this lady who was fairly regular ordered salad and pasta, we told her specifically it would be a minimum of 1 hour, possibly longer for her delivery. She said yes that’s fine, no problem see you when you get here. After 45 minutes, ( on busy nights we write what time people call and how long we told them on their order paper ) she calls up furious asking where her food was. We told her it was about to leave, i had it in my hand and was walking out the door when she called. Then she apparently got a*****e and wanted to cancel, the boss got on the phone and told he it was 15 minutes earlier then we said it would be, ( the amount of people who try and b******t us about when they called is astoundingly high )and then she claimed it was half an hour later, which was something she did all the time. he called her a liar and recounted when she called and how long we told her, she got even angrier and the boss told her if she rejected the order, she would be permanently banned. She got offended and he just said ,ok that’s it You’re banned find yourself another pizza shop. She has never called back so happy days. She was always a pain in the a**e, ordering one thing and claiming she ordered something else. So when i answered the phone and it was her i would repeat the order 4 times out loud so everyone could hear me, and ahe still claimed we got it wrong.
Image source: DonkeyESQ, Alex Green
#28
“There’s hair on my pizza!” Pizza was replaced, hairy pizza was retrieved for inspection.
Six of eight slices had been eaten. The remaining slices clearly had had a dog brushed onto them. Welcome to the blacklist.
Image source: ermghoti, Kevin Malik
#29
They wrote a review saying they were gonna fight our GM and that they were pissed that we never sent girl drivers to their house. “It ain’t a fraternity bro. Get some girls in there.” All of the girls that worked at our store demanded they be banned.
Image source: Gsai, Chris F
#30
We had a guy order some pizzas and ask for ‘our cutest delivery girl’ and I (burly 24 yr old man) went instead. He opened the door in an open bathrobe and nothing else. Wasn’t happy to see me and didnt leave a tip. Banned from ever ordering from us again and our manager called other pizza joints and got him banned from them too.
Image source: GodsEepiestSoldiers
#31
Not a pizza delivery driver, but a sandwich delivery driver! My store is extremely short staffed, like less than half the amount of drivers we need to cover our area. There was one day where we were super slammed, had dozens of orders going out up to two hours after they had been placed. We were calling customers left and right and had multiple people cancel, which we were fine with under the circumstances.
We had this one woman who worked at a local hotel order from us. We tried calling her multiple times to let her know how late her order would be, but she never answered. Two hours after she orders, the driver finally gets to her, and she is waiting outside the hotel with a male coworker. As soon as the driver got out of the car, this woman started screaming at them about how long she has been waiting and how this is unacceptable. The driver tried apologizing and offering to call the store to get the order comped, but the woman just kept screaming about how it was useless to her now and to just give it to the coworker. This woman screamed at this driver until the driver was absolutely sobbing.
We recognize that being two hours late for an order is horrible, but we had done everything we could at that point to rectify the situation. Regardless of the reasoning, treating our drivers like that results in an immediate black listing.
Image source: umnothnku
#32
Oh I have one for this! I was the only female delivery driver at a family owned pizza place when I was 17. I delivered to this house and the guy walked outside (to grab his pizza, I thought) and he kept walking past me into the walkway directly behind me. He was asking me random questions and I remember trying to get him to take his pizza, which he eventually did, but then he tried to physically block me from leaving. I managed to quickly step beside him and get back to my car.
I get back to the store and the owner and manager said the man called and said his pizza was made incorrectly (the manager knew it was not), but they said he demanded I be the one to bring the corrected pizza back. After I told the owner what happened, he and the other male manager personally went back to his house, brought the “corrected” pizza, and blacklisted him from ever ordering again. Scary to think what could’ve happened. I was young and timid, I didn’t even say anything to the guy at the time.
Image source: amanduhpanduh
#33
DoorDash hid this no-tipper behind a different trip. Dropped it in front of his apartment door, took pictures that made it obvious I dropped it off in front of his door. A minute later he sent me a pic with his empty doormat, asking for his Pizza. I answered “Nice try. I uploaded a pic with the pizza in front of the door” and even described all the stupid stuff that was hanging on his door. He then answered “now you dropped it off” or something like that, pretending I delivered it after his scam attempt.
I usually don’t take no-tip deliveries anyway. But I made sure to have this guy blocked, and reported him.
Image source: BhaltairX
#34
Delivered to a hotel known for having by the hour rates. Shirtless guy with top button of jeans undone with a scantily clad woman standing behind him. I was young and a bit shocked and it must have shown. He scowled at me while his companion smirked and looked like she about to break out in laughter. Told my boss when I got back. The hotel was banned and some of the delivery drivers were disappointed they didn’t get to take that order.
Image source: interactivedish
#35
Order on rainy nights, let the driver stand on the porch in the rain till the driver is soaked. Driver leaves then customer calls and complains. Original food gets there, customer calls complains gets food remade redelivered and does exact same thing….
Image source: chubbyluvr78
#36
Lured a driver into a robbery. There’s a certain district in Norwalk, California that no Domino’s delivers to. That’s why.
Image source: Global_Adagio_25
#37
The dominos I worked at let people get away with so much s**t as long as it wasn’t costing the owner more money. Old guy who only answers the door in his underwear when he sees a woman’s name on the delivery tracker? Allowed. Guy with neonazi tattoos? Np. But if you complained we made your pizza wrong and asked for a remake more than 3-4 times (across different orders), immediately banned.
Image source: PSR-B1919-21
#38
Lived with a pizza driver for a while. She told me a lot of what went on in a mild-mannered, middle class suburbia.
Most of the usual bans were people who ordered, then reversed charges saying their card had been stolen.
There were a few businesses they no longer delivered to because people would order to that address, and then someone would pick up in the lobby, and then someone would call back saying, “where’s my pizza?” Then always demand a refund.
They refused to deliver to the nearby mall because the mall security wouldn’t let them in or let them loiter. So someone would call because they were working alone in a store and couldn’t leave to do an outside pickup, and couldn’t get the pizza because mall security wouldn’t let the driver in for the last mile delivery. This happened with a few hotels, and if the driver didn’t have the room number, the order was s**t out of luck. Most lobby guards wouldn’t let them in past certain hours. Even if the customer said they’d meet them in the lobby.
There was also a scam where an office would order 10 pizzas for a “late night emergency meeting.” Driver would show up to some dark office building, get robbed in the parking lot, and it turned out the offices were closed and this was a scam to rob the driver and get ten free pizzas by an unknown third party.
I also found out the local fire and police stations only tipped $3 no matter how many pizzas they ordered. They weren’t banned, but that really s***s, dude.
Image source: punkwalrus
#39
So you know that movie The Whale? I delivered pizzas for a summer and there was a guy who was straight up the character from the movie. He would order multiple times a week, and the people at the store would warn the new drivers. He was so large he was physically incapable of getting up from his couch, so he would make you walk into his house (which smelled awful) and give him the food. And he always tipped like s**t. Anyway, he would get absolutely pissed at anyone who would ring his doorbell, and I guess a driver one day forgot about that, because he blew up at him. At that point I think they just banned him because they were sick of his s**t.
Image source: JeffreyClose
#40
A little different here.
I ended up being a no delivery pizza driver. I’d sometimes do delivery if the regular drivers weren’t available. We had a store Ford Festiva.
I was delivering pizza to my college dorm. Dude came out, I open up the hatchback to grab his pizza. He punched me in the face and took six deliveries. Which were 12 pizzas, because we were the pizza pizza place. He knocked out my right contact lens.
I drove back to the student union and reported it to my boss. I didn’t press charges, I did not want the bother.
Anyways a few weeks later, I’m doing my laundry in the dorm laundromat and guess who comes in to do his laundry? Dude turned around, and noped right out.
Image source: lazygerm
#41
This was a few decades ago, but a frat trapped a female delivery driver in a closet for several hours.
You’d think that would get them banned completely. But this was a few decades ago. So we just didn’t deliver to them on nights we didn’t have a male driver.
Image source: SoonerRed
