#also i was doing it in a different town than i usually do and doordash decided

[star-crossed-lizards]

stairs i had to climb last night for doordash at least they gave a good tip 👍

[thegeminisage]

the south is like another country

i have an entire essay on how the current radicalism and steep political divide in this country can be traced directly back to the civil war - rural white southerners here playing the part pre-ww2 germany, the part of a resentful, conquered nation assimilated into the nation that conquered them, because if you think about it the south/the confederacy WAS its own nation for a time, that lost a very bloody war, and paid very steeply for it (not that slavers didn’t deserve every bit of misery the “carpetbaggers” threw at them), and the bitterness from that loss/the lost capital from having their slaves freed has been handed down through the generations, to people who now live in abject poverty while their livelihoods are destroyed by late stage capitalism, and their schools are so broke a lot of people here don’t even know how to read, and their towns are eaten alive with meth, and they’re still looked down upon by most of the country for being racist uneducated backwater hicks (to be clear, we should always look down on racism and racists, but it’s not making them any less bitter/ripe for being drawn into the cult of tr*mp’s america and f*cism).

but anyway this post isn’t about that! this post is about how when i go up north and i say “y’all it really is like i’m living in a different country” NOBODY BELIEVES ME. we speak the same language, we’re all americans, right? PFFFFFT. this amazon van thing just drives it home (pun intended). here’s a list of differences from the deep south* to the rest of the country*:

*the deep south here meaning the RURAL deep south. sorry to everyone who lives in cities/the suburbs and/or in border states like maryland and virginia. i’ve been to maryland and virginia and they are technically southern and some of this applies to them but it is not quite as extreme as it is here. the rest of the country includes the other states i’ve been to (california, washington state, new york, etc), which are in mostly every area except the midwest. i cannot personally vouch for the midwest. sorry, midwesterners! rural midwest probably has a lot of things in common with the deep south because rural life is different and also how easily people move around this country, but whatever

this is a long-ass post get ready

difference #1: DRIVING. driving & pedestrians are entirely different un rural areas vs urban areas. for starters, southern towns often do not even have sidewalks. this is because of 1. budget and 2. racism.

budget: rural towns are very spread out, and it costs major $$$ to put sidewalks in. it’s just not worth the trouble, financially, to put a sidewalk where only 12 people are ever going to use it, AND spend the money to maintain it. never gonna happen. racism: initially, suburbs especially in the south were seen as safe havens where people could get away from the stress of living in “urban” (re: integrated) areas. that the neighborhoods were only accessible by car and NOT by people who were too poor (black) to afford automobiles were just an added bonus. 

as such, the first time i left the southeast, i was SHOCKED to see people walking and biking WITH (or indifferent to) the flow of traffic. down here we are taught that if you are walking along the road (or biking, because bikers get lumped in with pedestrians down here), it is very very very crucial that you walk against the flow of traffic, because you cannot expect drivers to see you and not mow you down. the onus is on YOU to get out of THEIR way. additionally, walking in knee-high grass along the side of the road sucks, and because there aren’t many people here, the roads are usually totally empty. so oftentimes pedestrians just straight up walk ON the road. and if you do that you absolutely have to be able to see a car coming from a long way away, because rural drivers on completely empty roads tend to take them at extremely high speeds just for fun. the people who live diagonally across from me have had to replace their mailbox four times because folks take that blind curve at 90mph. i had a cat get hit by a car on that road. (they all live indoors now.) i even witnessed a car accident happen there when i was just outside minding my own business. ever see a tire fly 12 feet into the air and come down into someone’s windshield? that’s what happens when you hit power line pole driving like that.

the first time i ever encountered one of those pedestrian crossing buttons was in california in the early 2010s. i had literally never seen one before because we simply don’t have them here. they’re not very self-explanatory if you have been jaywalking your whole entire life because all you’re taught to do is look both ways and make sure the street is empty before you cross. northern/urban roadways are made so that pedestrians and drivers can both get to where they’re going. in rural/southern areas pedestrians might as well not bother.

interestingly, while not an entirely southern problem, there’s a loose correlation between rural areas and more problems with drunk drivers.

on the driving side, driving in a city is batshit insane. it’s both faster and slower. there is NO space and you’re expected to go whenever you have so much as an inch to worm your way in. there’s more traffic, and the traffic totally dictates your speed. in the south you can change lanes if you want to drive faster or slower and weave around traffic or let it weave around you, but in a city there’s no other lane to change to and if you don’t drive at the speed of the people ahead of and behind you you will die. you turn fast, you brake fast, etc. whenever i come back from driving in a city the people who ride with me think i’m insane. you don’t PULL ONTO A ROAD if you can SEE ANOTHER CAR THERE, what the fuck? meanwhile i’m like “lol that is six miles of space i have plenty of time” and give everyone in my vicinity heart palpitations until i readjust. 

tailgating in a rural area is something only assholes do (done by people on a two-lane road to encourage the person in front of them to go faster because the only other lane is for oncoming traffic), and if someone gets within one car length of me on a two-lane road i can very passively aggressively slow my vehicle to a crawl until they back the fuck off. in a city you’re lucky if you have a twelve inches between your bumper and the next car’s hood ornament.

difference #2: LANGUAGE. this is a small one, but the southern dialect combined with the lack of literacy means i am learning certain things late in life. phrases i have heard verbally with my ears but had never seen written out include: “chest of drawers” which i thought was “chester drawers” - “seven year itch” which i thought was “seven year each” - “albeit” which i thought was “i’ll be it.” i’ve made a deliberate effort to unlearn mine own accent/dialect but i run into weird shit all the time. remotes are mashers, shopping carts are buggies, you put stuff up instead of putting it away, i fix you a drink instead of pouring you one, we shoot the game instead of play it. my mom LITERALLY can’t understand me if i speak too quickly - she has to remind me all the time to slow down and put on my southern.

difference #3: TECHNOLOGY. issue of whether or not you personally have the creepy amazon vans aside, the rural south is behind the rest of the country on technology. things in cities are AUTOMATED. things like the little button you press to cross the street, tickets you take at parking garages, even the parking meters you find in cities, that’s just the beginning of it. one time i came across a little computer touch screen in a MCDONALDS where you put your order in. you didn’t even go up to the counter. you just put your order on the screen and swiped your card and then they got it ready for you and you never had to speak to a human person. self-checkouts, gas pumps where you can swipe your card and not go in and pay at first...the south got those YEARS behind everybody else. in the mid-2010s i went to DC and visited a target for maybe the 5th time ever and i was BAFFLED by the self-checkout. i had no idea how to use it! it was like less than ten years ago and i was IN MY TWENTIES and i had never seen one before! when we send a package we have to talk to a human person. when we order food we usually have to talk to a human person. apps for places like dominos and subway have not been in use here for very long. my county just got doordash LAST YEAR. 

because i am 31, and because the south is so technologically behind, i am actually old enough to remember how when you used to go to a gas station an attendant would not only pump your gas but wash your windshield for you while you just SAT IN THE CAR. that seems like something from the 50s but it actually was a thing here in my childhood IN the 90s. i wish i was making this up.

difference #4: INFRASTRUCTURE. this sort of goes hand-in-hand w/ the last point because so much of our infrastructure is made of technology, and it’s also more of a rural/urban thing than a south/north thing. but just for fun here’s a non-exhaustive list of things i don’t have in my town:

starbucks* - the first time i went to a starbucks i was in my 20s

a public pool - we used to, but now the only pool here requires a YMCA membership. the only baseball diamond in this county is also at the Y.

walmart

in fact, ANYWHERE to buy clothes that is not a goodwill or other secondhand store. i cannot buy clothing unless i order it online or LEAVE MY TOWN. almost all of the clothing i own is from walmart because it’s one of the only places in my entire county where you can actually PURCHASE clothing.

grocery store chains? pffft. my town has two entire stores and both are small southern chains. i didn’t go into a publix for the first time until two years ago when i went to florida. i’ve NEVER entered a whole foods.

food delivery? yeah, no. like i said, we got doordash last year, but before that the only place you could get delivery from was a pizza chain. we only have two pizza places in my town that deliver, and one is a local place, not attached to any chain, so i can’t spend my loyalty points there. (it’s very expensive there too.) last year it was CLOSED for six months because the manager got caught dealing meth. every last one of the delivery drivers was trafficking it for him. they all got fired and had to restart from the ground up. for that short time, it was not possible to get any food delivered to your house whatsoever.

a hospital/ambulance services - if someone is sick, we have to take them to the hospital in laurens, the town next door (about 15-20 minutes by car). the town i live in lucky - we have our own police and fire departments. (acab but you know what i mean.) joanna is a smaller town next to mine that isn’t a real town - it’s been demoted to a census designated area because only 2000 people live there. if they have an emergency, they have to use OUR fire and police departments, and LAURENS’s ambulance/hospital system

after-school places kids can go to keep from getting into trouble. we have the Y, if you have money (no one here has money), and we have churches, but mostly schools can’t afford to run too many extracurriculars. there’s nothing to do here but church and meth.

food banks: zero. we have food DRIVES sometimes where people will come from further away and bring free food, but if you’re hungry, there’s nowhere you can go for help - you have to wait for help to come to you.

libraries: we don’t have our own library. we have a branch of the county library that’s physically located in our town. but we share books with the rest of the entire county, so everything is always checked out or at the other branch. 

*we technically have a starbucks that’s in the local college campus, but only college students are allowed to be there. they’ll still serve people without a college ID because no one gives a fuck, but you can’t linger and loiter and hang out like you do in a normal starbucks. we also have one in the barnes and noble in greenville, which is about an hour away by car, but again, it’s a mini starbucks that serves a limited menu and none of that weird Starbucks Culture™

here’s a few things i don’t have in my ENTIRE COUNTY:

movie theaters - technically. we have a Historial™ one-screen theater in laurens that shows one movie for two weeks a month after it hits regular theaters and then switches to another, and if you miss it, too bad. this is a VERY recent addition - it wasn’t restores until i was in my 20s as a kid and a teenager i had to ride in a car an hour or more to go to the movies.

target. only commies and yankees have target. down here we do walmart.

malls

arcades

skate parks/skating rinks

bowling

museums

zoos/aquariums

campgrounds

fairs. our county fairground got razed a decade ago because there just werent enough people showing up to justify the expense. so no more fairs. you have to have people to fund things and down here there just aren’t enough people anywhere.

you get the idea. we don’t have entertainment. like i said, nothing to do but church and meth.

CLASSES FOR STUFF: knitting classes, dancing classes, driving classes? nope. gymnastics, karate dojos, golf, knitting groups, books clubs, cooking classes? [GAMESHOW BUZZER]. you can’t even hire a clown for a birthday party out here. we do have a shooting range. ONE. in the entire county. and a race track. and a rather infamous former kkk memorabilia store. they made a movie about that (serious tw for this trailer - they’ve got white hoods, burning crosses, pepper spray, the whole nine), which, yes, takes place in laurens, aka right next door to me. i used to walk by that place all the time when i was playing pokemon go. haven’t seen the movie but the shooting locations in the trailer make laurens look a lot bigger and prettier than it really is in real life - especially the racetrack, which, in the trailer, is actually PAVED. (this is inaccurate to real life.)

EDUCATION: lots of people can’t read. we have two schools for illiterate adults, one religious college, and one branch of one of the state colleges that has a skeleton staff and a fuck ton of computers (you basically just go there to distance learn/e-learn - if you want to take real classes from this college, you have to drive at least an hour.)

support groups/group therapy: almost none. we have al-anon and weight watchers, but that’s about it. there’s only half a dozen therapists in my entire county, and none that operate from my town. mental healthcare down here is bullshit.

on food: we don’t have many sit-down restaurants, where servers bring you your menu and your food. if you don’t count waffle houses, my town has 4. my county has 9. in and out, 5 guys, applebees, ruby tuesday, red lobster, olive garden, panda epxress? forget it. those places were and still are rare treats. i’ve only been to an olive garden twice. red lobster once. whenever i leave my county i BEG for chinese because there’s only two chinese restaurants in our entire county and one of them is crazy expensive and the other one sucks. 

we also don’t have the more important stores you need to like, live. if we need to exchange our router at a charter store? yeah, we don’t have one. need to visit the sprint store to get your phone repaired? nuh-uh, we don’t have any phone stores either. my family recently switched to at&t because it was the only company that had a physical location in our county. before that, we had to drive an hour for even the smallest repair.

on a grimer note: we don’t have homeless shelters! homeless in laurens county? too bad for you. we do have homeless PEOPLE. they just have nowhere to go except the churches

hospitals? only kind of. like i said, our county has one, but it’s not equipped to take seriously sick people. when my mom had a heart attack she had to be driven straight to greenwood, which is 45 minutes away if you’re not in an ambulance. they obviously made it faster than that, but still. that was scary. it took them a long time to get here. i had a distant relative of mine die before the ambulance made it because they were SO far out in the sticks, even further than me.

we also don’t have any specialty stores. sporting goods, gamestops, shoe stores, florists, craft stores, bookstores, best buys...forget it. if you can’t buy it at walmart, you just can’t buy it. the exceptions: my TOWN has one jewelry store, two hardware stores, and two auto repair stores. my COUNTY has three clothing stores, none of which are in my town, one place that sells used TVs, and one movie rental place. thrilling, right? i can rent a movie if i drive out of town. (i know streaming killed the rental business, but we also only had two places when i was a kid, if you counted the rental section in the grocery store.)

so, yeah. i know the term “shithole” is really loaded these days, but rural areas are just plain less developed, and often in seriously poor repair because nobody fucking uses them. there USED to be more stuff here - my mom was on a bowling league, and as a kid i had a birthday party at a skating rink - but late stage capitalism and drugs destroyed it all. people ran out of money to do things like skate and bowl and so those places closed. the south is full of empty store fronts and deserted strip malls slowly being eaten by kudzu. my brother got out of this town and whenever he winds up back here (not often) he remarks on how completely and utterly dead everything feels. “my friends who live in greenwood now think they’re all rural,” he said once. “they complain constantly about how remote it is. but they have no idea. they wouldn’t make it five minutes out here.” greenwood has its own movie theater, mall, starbucks, homeless shelter, food bank, and hospital.

so, yeah! if you were wondering what rural white southerners are so fucking mad about, that’s part of it. propaganda and xenophobia and racism has their anger directed ENTIRELY at the wrong people, but it’s hard to argue that the anger itself isn’t just a little bit justified.

difference #5: CULTURE. specifically culture around food, and the culture around the civil war. i could write an entire other essay about the culture of the church being everything because the church IS the only semblance of infrastructure we have and this is why the south is so homophobic, but we’ll skip that for now.

food: this is a quickie, because i sort of touched on it already, but there are like, almost NO vegetarian options here. there’s very limited choices of cuisine. it’s ALL waffle house and soul food. we have a lot of mexican places because we’re physically close to the mexican border, but aside from that, forget finding like indian or thai or japanese or anything like that. no sushi. forget finding a menu that has meals that are halal or kosher. there’s just. no culture here. no variety. you know? like i said, our entire county doesn’t even hit double-digits for proper sit-down restaurants.

civil war: i’m not going to go into the big stuff since i sort of covered it at the top and also this post is getting way too long, but to other white rural southerners there is legitimate baggage around the fact that my mom married a yankee and that i am half-yankee. and he’s not even a real yankee! he was born up north but raised in southern florida. (florida is weird. the further south you go geographically, the less southern you are culturally.) yet: my family makes jokes that are sometimes not jokes about this. when i drop this information in casual conversation people get that look on their faces like: ah, that explains it. it being that i am not religious and don’t laugh at racist jokes and maybe i am queer?? (strangers tend to be unsure about this last part, even when i’m wearing rainbows.) it’s because i’m half-yank! that explains everything! the xenophobia is SO strong here that white people are even xenophobic at OTHER WHITE PEOPLE. 

so in conclusion when i say the north is like another country, it’s because the people who raised me think of it like another country. and culturally! it is buck wild! the differences that there are! when i leave this town i feel like i step into fucking star trek! if you are not from the rural south, and you have never been to the rural south, please do not come here! i’ve been to a few different places now and this is definitely my least favorite one. 

[mom-shame]

The Supermarket

I’ve never been more terrified of grocery shopping in my life.  Usually I think of it as a routine chore that either my wife or I fit in on our way home from work (and let’s be honest here, nine times out of ten it’s my wife).  And usually it’s one of those things that we do because we’re out of things that one would use to create a meal and we can’t, as far as our budget is concerned, use DoorDash for dinner one more time.  

But in December, five weeks earlier than anticipated, we had a baby.  Our first: a son.

For the first few weeks my mom was in town, and she made sure that we didn’t starve amidst the chaos of getting our preemie to the doctor every other day and feeding him every two hours, round the clock, whether he was awake or asleep, hungry or not.  During those weeks, she made what seemed to be routine runs to the super market - no big deal.  

After she left, Lauren (my sainted wife), made the grocery runs while I bottle-fed the hungry monster and then pumped so that we could feed him again later in a never-ending-cycle that was definitely not breastfeeding as I’d expected (who knew that preemies could be too little to latch onto a boob properly).  Her going to the supermarket was so similar to our normal routine that it didn’t occur to me that things might feel different the next time I went to the store.  

But all too soon, Lauren had to go back to work.

So there I was, sitting in the parking lot of the local Giant completely terrified of this mundane chore that I’d done a thousand times before - all because of the tiny human sleeping like an angel in his carseat behind me.  A million questions ran through my head: what if he falls out of the wrap I have him in, and he hits his head and dies?  What if he puts his head the wrong way in the wrap, and I don’t notice, and he suffocates and dies?  What if someone coughs on him and gets him sick, and he gets pneumonia and dies?  What if someone yanks him away from me and kidnaps hims, and we can’t pay the ransom, and he dies?  And the worst of them all: What if I’m doing this all wrong and someone gets judge-y about my parenting?

Okay, so I might actually have been a little bit less crazy than that, except for that last part...I’m always incredibly insecure when it comes to the thought of other people’s judgments.  But I was definitely nervous about him waking up and crying - and what if I couldn’t get him to stop?  And I was nervous about where I’d change him if he needed it (yes, during a 30-minute shopping trip), and where I’d feed him if he needed it, and if I had brought everything I needed to keep him alive for the hour we were out of the house.  Because this tiny human was completely dependent on me - ME! - for life.  It was (and is still) a mind-boggling thought.  It’s the kind of thought that makes normal, everyday things like the supermarket absolutely terrifying.

But there was no food in the house.  Everything that my mom had left us, everything given to us by neighbors and congregants and friends, all of it had been consumed.  We officially needed to be responsible adults again.  Let the internal screams of horror begin.

I put our son into the wrap.  He was still asleep.  Heading into the store, I looked around, self-conscious because of the baby protruding from my chest and because of the bump on my belly that hadn’t quite disappeared and because I hadn’t managed to brush my teeth that morning (which was becoming a disturbingly regular reality).  

Most people didn’t give me a passing glance.  I found myself bizarrely offended.  Couldn’t they see how adorable my son was?  Not even a smile?  Really?

In the dairy aisle, however, that changed.  And in the dairy aisle I also realized that I was officially crazy.  

As I was approaching the eggs, your typical sweet-looking on-the-younger-side grandmother peered into the wrap and said, “Aw, I thought there was a little baby in there.  How adorable!  How old?  And is it a boy or a girl?”  Immediately, an insane person took over my brain, and this insane person convinced me that this woman was a threat.  She was too close to my tiny human.  After all, there was no way for me to know if she had updated shots or not; there was no way for me to know if she had the flu or a cold or ebola.  Putting a protective hand on my son’s head I said, “Thanks - he’s a boy and he’s just a couple of weeks old.”  She must have heard something in my tone because she stepped away, saying again how cute he was and congratulations before walking away.  Briskly.

In that moment, I realized it.  I’m crazy.  I’m crazy because I want people to admire my son but I don’t want them to get too close.  I’m crazy because I now see people as a threat - likely dangerous.  I’m crazy because of this tiny human person.  Weird.  Weird especially because I’m a pastor so, introverted though I am, those dairy-aisle conversations are usually my jam.  I love hearing how someone’s day is going or what their story is or that thing that they’ve been dying to tell someone but didn’t have anyone to tell.  I’m usually the one initiating the conversations - and I’d definitely be the one peering at a newborn in a wrap and asking how old he or she was.  Not so on that day.  On that day, with my son’s head resting on my chest, all I could think about was protecting him, even from perfectly normal looking women.  I was crazy.

After that, I was a little bit more circumspect with my smiles and eye contact.  And I made it almost all the way through the store without incident.  And then I hit the beverage aisle.

To be fair, the catastrophe in the beverage aisle had nothing to do with other people - just me and my son.

I had just found the soda that sainted wife prefers - on the bottom shelf.  So far shopping had gone pretty normally, and I was feeling a bit like my pre-baby self, so I didn’t think twice before leaning down to grab the carton.  I should have thought twice.  

I watched in horror as my son’s head snapped backwards from my chest towards the floor.  I had forgotten about his weak little neck muscles, and I had forgotten that his head wasn’t secured inside the wrap.  Backwards his head lurched until his chin was pointed awkwardly at the ceiling - like someone trying to sleep in the middle seat of an airplane without a neck-pillow.  I was rooted to the spot in dread.

Now you might be thinking, Why?  Did he fall out of the wrap when his head went back?  Did he severely hurt his neck?  Did he give himself a concussion?  

The answer to all of these is ‘no.’  No, his head simply fell backwards because his neck muscles were new and underdeveloped.  Not a big deal, right?  Well, it felt like a big deal.  It felt like the kind of thing I should have anticipated - the kind of thing I should have thought about and planned for and protected him from.  But I didn’t.  It felt like I had failed in that moment.

Except, when I looked down, he was still fast asleep.  He hadn’t even noticed what I’d done.  Or cared.  Or thought it was worth crying over.

In fact, he slept through the rest of the time I spent in the store.  He slept through the transfer back into the car and the time we spent waiting in the drive-though line at CVS.  He slept through the car ride home and part of the next hour.  He was content.

And I had done it.  I had conquered the supermarket.  It felt like winning.  It felt like winning because I’d managed to keep my tiny human alive outside of the comfortable walls of our house, on my own, for at least an hour.  It felt like winning because I’d managed to do something terrifying, which was - at the same time - a completely mundane chore.  And it felt like winning because the crazy person inside of me would have liked  to stay home where it’s predictable and safe, and I managed not only to go out (with the baby!) but also to have an almost-normal almost-conversation with another human being in spite of my fear.  This was definitely winning.

[neonsugar]

My Door Dash Delivery Driving Experience

One day when I was feeling very disgruntled about my day job situation, I was digging deep in the job postings online. I stumbled upon a listing on Craigslist for DoorDash [pictured above]. I’m not into Uber or Lyft because I am kind of bad at technology and social interactions so I’m not sure why this particular day I was lured into the gig economy. After a little bit of research, I learned that I could make an extra $100 for completing 10 deliveries and that most deliveries averaged $7-10. Years ago I worked as a delivery driver for a local pizza place and didn’t make that much PLUS I had to do a lot of side work [dishes, prepping toppings, making dough and sauce], so I figured what the hey, let’s give it a try.

I signed up through their website, entered my info for taxes and a background check, then waited for my welcome package to arrive. I watched videos on YouTube to get an idea of what I was getting myself into. I was expecting to receive a DoorDash t-shirt, space blanket [the silver blankets that come in first aid kits], a debit card, and delivery bag and information for orientation. What actually came in the mail was the delivery bag and debit card. I am a little bit bummed that I didn’t get a t-shirt that I would never ever wear and eventually donate to the thrift store. Apparently, DoorDash is so new to my area that there was no one nearby to do orientation so it was a figure it out for yourself situation - I don’t like to read rules and instructions anyway so not a real problem, it was very intuitive once I had completed a couple of deliveries.

I decided to jump right in and give it a try once I had activated my debit card. I clicked “Dash Now” and started my shift. There are two ways to work a shift on DoorDash, the first option is to schedule yourself for a specific time period which is a good option if you want first dibs on the shifts that work with your schedule or that you feel like will be the most lucrative. I am a fly by the seat of my pants kind of person when it comes to this supplemental income [one of my favorite parts about it actually] so I’ve opted to open up the app and click “Dash Now” so I could get started whenever I have extra time and feel like getting out of the house to bring in some bonus income. At peak times when they are super busy and low on delivery drivers, DoorDash will send you a text message and let you know: “It’s super busy in VA: Blacksburg/Christiansburg/Radford and you can now earn an extra $7.50 per delivery!” I always want to pick up those shifts because hello, that’s going to be about $15-18 per delivery which is quite a bit more per hour than I make at my full-time position.

An order pops up on your screen with the name of the restaurant with the guaranteed amount that you will make, you have about a minute to decide and swipe to accept the order. Thus far I have accepted all of my orders, if you want that bonus peak time pay, you must accept at least 80% of the orders for your shift and since I never know how long I’m going to be out there I accept everything because I’m out there to make money moves.

Once you drive to that restaurant, you swipe the app to let them know you have arrived. Some restaurants will have the orders placed and prepared already, at other places [partuclarly fast food restaurants] you will have to place the order yourself. I wasn’t expecting when I had my first delivery for McDonald's, but thankfully there was another DoorDash driver in there ordering as well and he helped show me the way. I place the order, swipe on the app to confirm, then I will be able to use the DoorDash debit card they sent me to pay for the order [it only works for that period of time and at that specific location, you can’t choose a different McDonald’s to place an order, it has to match the address]. As I wait I like to gather up the extra items folks grab at restaurants - napkins, eating utensils, ketchup, mints, etc which could help seal the deal on you getting a good rating from that customer.

When the food is ready, you swipe to confirm on the app and you are now provided with the delivery location and with a click of a button you are on your way to the customer. Hand over the goods with a smile on your face, and wait for your next order to come through.

Day 1: Smooth Sailing

My first day delivering with DoorDash was made up of 3 deliveries [I worked until I ran out of gas and my phone battery died]. I worked for 90 minutes with peak time bonus of $5 per delivery and in that time I made a little over $40. Everything ran smoothly and I was so in love I thought I could probably just never return to work again and live the rest of my life just working on a whim [in addition to my business, of course].

Day 2: A Bit of a Shit Show

Day two, I had received a text saying that it was busier than usual and they needed extra drivers, bonus pay would be $5 per delivery. I drove to the downtown area so I would be closer to where my first order would probably be from, but it took nearly 30 minutes for my first order to come through. It wasn’t even in that area so I should have just waited on my couch until the first order came through, day one had given me very unrealistic expectations. Order one went off without a hitch and I quickly received my next order of the night to Starbucks in the neighboring town. When I arrived at Starbucks, they had closed early because someone called in. I didn’t really know what to do in this situation so I panicked a little, they ask that you provide a photo of their operating hours when this happens, but they were closed when they were scheduled to be open so I called to get it canceled so I could be assigned another order. Taking care of that whole situation killed another 20 minutes for me, but at least I ended up being compensated $4 for making the trip out there and my next order happened to be less than a mile away. This order was for a nicer restaurant where I would still have to order in person. DoorDash gave me 20 minutes from the time I went in to the time I should leave the restaurant to go on my delivery, but it took the restaurant nearly 40 minutes to make the food, this brought my score down on the app for having a late delivery so my rotten mood from the wasted time was getting worse. “Fine, I will do one more delivery tonight so it won’t be a huge bust,” thankfully that next order was a home run, quick, easy, and good pay. I was so excited I figured what’s one more delivery? It was to Jamba Juice on Virginia Tech’s campus, but it was Spring Break so they were closed also. I was a little salty and again made $4 for the inconvenience and gave up and went home. It turns out I still made about $55 that night so even though it wasn’t smooth, I still made good money.

I feel like I saw the two extremes on my first two shifts and even after the shift that annoyed the crap out of me, I still plan on doing more. I have no social life so I’m game for making bonus money I wasn’t expecting - the perfect way to help fund my trip to Las Vegas, more art supplies, and to squirrel away in my fund to start my next big business venture - a wedding and event venue.

I’m a bit hooked on DoorDash, I’m even tempted to sign in on my lunch break for my day job, but I’m trying to restrain myself. I have 90 days to make 100 deliveries so I can make that $100 bonus cash and I love me some bonus monies. You can also become a DoorDash driver [except near me because I call dibs on all my local deliveries]! Earn up to $25/hour and get a $100 bonus after 100 deliveries in 90 days for signing up here.

[digitalmark18-blog]

Need extra money for Christmas? Here are some part-time gigs that bring in big bucks.

New Post has been published on https://britishdigitalmarketingnews.com/need-extra-money-for-christmas-here-are-some-part-time-gigs-that-bring-in-big-bucks/

Need extra money for Christmas? Here are some part-time gigs that bring in big bucks.

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time of family and celebration, though anyone who says the season is not at least a little bit stressful is probably lying.

Never mind having to coordinate with family and friends who are either in town or who you will be seeing while you travel, but there are oh-so-many other things that need to be worried about.

Only adding to the drama is making sure you can snag enough gifts for everyone who deserves them. It’s tough enough figuring out what everyone wants or needs, but even once that’s done, there’s that simple matter of figuring out how to pay for it all.

Maybe your current gig pays enough to take care of that, or it’s possible you wouldn’t mind having a little extra cash lying around to help. If you fall in the second group, there are some part-time jobs out there that will ensure you have the money to take care of everyone this Christmas.

Caregiver

Dreamstime.com

Do you enjoy being around children? Do you like helping older folks get around? If so, being a caregiver, nanny or companion would be a great way to earn some extra money this holiday season.

In a lot of ways, this is great work if you can get it. It’s fulfilling to be responsible for the life and well-being of someone else’s precious child or parent.

Sites like Care.com and Sitter City can help you register and start getting jobs. You can also sign up to take care of pets for vacationers.

Drive around

Dreamstime.com

You’ve probably taken a ride in an Uber or Lyft, but have you thought about driving for either company? Both are always hiring, and you could be on the road ready for passengers in a short amount of time.

There is no set number for how much drivers make, with the amount predicated on the number of fares snagged, how far they took you and, of course, tips. The great thing is you set your own hours, working when you want and for as long as you’d like.

A recent study showed Uber drivers make an average of $15.68 per hour, while Lyft drivers earn roughly $17.50.

If you do not want to bring people in your car, you could always deliver food with a service such as Uber Eats, DoorDash or Postmates. You will not make as much money as you would if you were driving people around, but some money is better than none.

Whatever you prefer, if you have a solid, reliable car, then these could be the avenues with which you earn that extra spending money.

Rent your home out

Dreamstime.com

Do you have an extra room that is out of the way? Maybe you are going to be out of town for a long stretch? Either way, signing up to rent for Airbnb or VRBO might be a good way to go.

Especially during the holidays people are looking for places to stay, and your home could be the perfect fit. No matter what kind of home or room you have to offer, a renter may be out there waiting for it.

Best of all, you control the availability, prices, house rules and what kind of interaction you will have with guests. The bigger the place and the more amenities you have to offer, the more you will be able to charge.

Work for Amazon

Dreamstime.com

You’ve probably purchased a good many things from Amazon, but have you ever thought about working for the company? There are various roles all across the country — the world, really — and some of them offer incredibly flexible hours.

Whether you are a Prime Now Shopper, Warehouse Fulfillment Associate or in some other area of the company, no matter where you live there is a good chance Amazon will have an opportunity for you.

The salaries vary by job, but given the right hours and stability, it’s not a bad direction to take for anyone who needs a quick buck over the next few months.

Do small tasks and odd jobs

Dreamstime.com

Are you a whiz at cleaning, basic home repair, grocery shopping, building Ikea furniture, helping people move or being a personal assistant? You can do all of these, and more, as short-term jobs, meaning a few hours here and there.

You just need a way to connect with people and businesses that need the tasks done. TaskRabbit is one of the most popular sites for this kind of short-term work.

You sign up and go through the verification process. Then when people request little jobs in your area, TaskRabbit notifies you so you can go help out and get paid. The site handles payments, so you don’t have to waste time messing with invoices or chasing down clients who don’t pay.

Another service to check out is Gigwalk. It lets businesses hire you for short-term tasks. You might go to a store to verify changes in product prices on the shelves, or to make sure that a new marketing campaign has been put up at a local chain. Usually you just snap and send a picture to get paid.

If you’ve got a talent, you can put it to good use. If you do voice-over work, edit websites, write music, or you’re an expert in search engine optimization (SEO), Fiverr may be the place for you. (That “Five” in Fiverr refers to your initial price for your work; $5 may be for your first task, then more after that.)

Take surveys

You love giving your opinion, why not get paid for it?

Businesses are always looking for input from customers on how they can improve products and services. Now, you can get paid for offering up your thoughts. 

Sites like i-Say, Swagbucks and iPoll offer cash, gift cars or even airline points. You’ll have to sign in and get approved, but there’s a lot of opportunity to sit and take surveys at home with minimal effort.

Other possibilities include…

You could earn some money by working from home. Tap or click here for some legitimate possibilities. There are also jobs you can do online. Tap or click here for some ideas.

Kim talks about how much money you can make in the gig economy. Tap or click below to listen to a Consumer Tech Update.

Don’t want your spending to get out of hand? Track it on your home computer

We all spend money on products or services that we don’t need. Drawing attention to these impulse purchases can make a world of difference in changing your daily spending habits. Tap or click here for an app that will help. 

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Source: http://www.komando.com/tips/494520/need-extra-money-for-christmas-here-are-some-part-time-gigs-that-bring-in-big-bucks