One of the small and tidy comforts in life is the knowledge that when the latest winter storm sweeps through, trapping you inside your home for days on end, you can at least hunker down with some delivery and ride out the worst of it. And the pizza delivery drivers...they're fine, right? They've got those special pizza cars, or something. They wouldn't be out driving in weather like this if they couldn't handle it. Just ask this nice lady who owns a pizza place in Iowa:
She says the second the snow start[s] falling, the pizza orders [go] through the roof.
On a normal night she has 5 drivers, on the night of the storm she had to add an extra and call all the drivers in early.
Hull holds down the fort at the store answering the phones and making the pizzas, but on some nights she has to leave the kitchen and get behind the wheel herself.
Okay, the driving part is tough. But once you get there, the hard part's over, right?
"If they live on a hill or down a hill… you have to park your car where you can and then walk up to their house, and that kind of adds more of a different strain. You hope you got your snow boots on, and you hope you got your scarf and gloves, and you hope the wind does not take the pizza out of your hand."
Surely there's some kind of policy about when road conditions are too dangerous to send employees out, though. Let's ask these Domino's employees.
One employee says staying off the roads nearly got her fired.
This employee, who spoke with FOX2 anonymously, was scheduled to work Thursday night. Before her shift she called in, saying she was too scared to drive in the treacherous conditions.
She explains, "I didn't want to worry about crashing on the way there, and we close at midnight and I didn't want to worry about crashing on the way back home."
She was shocked to hear her employer's response: "I was told I was being written up for not coming in…I just didn't believe I'm being written up over Mother Nature. It's not right." Get written up three times, and get fired.
But maybe it only happened the one time, and the managers have learned from it, and things will get better.
This worker says she's not alone. Throughout Metro East, several employees who declined talking on camera had similar experiences.
She says at least one driver even got into a weather-related wreck while making a delivery: "He was driving down a country road and he lost control and crashed into an embankment," this worker explains.
Safety is important for pizza delivery drivers. Several have gotten robbed, and even killed on the job, within the past few months.
Could you sum up your problem in a way that really brings home how little value your employers place on human life?
"No pizza should ever be worth the endangerment of an employee."
[Image via AP]