Nicholas T.
They were Rude Disrespectful, Racist, and Insensitive
I am a DoorDash delivery driver. Today, I traveled to Empanada Lady Cafe IN Verona, NJ to pick up two orders. One of the orders had ten items on it, the other had three. There were two people in front of me when I first arrived. I patiently waited for them to received their orders and leave before giving the names on my orders. The lady in the front told me it would take another ten minutes for the food to be ready. I said ok, no problem and went to wait outside. Ten minutes later I came back in the store to check the status of the orders. Again, I was told I would need to continue waiting. By this time, I had been waiting well over 20 minutes. I continued waiting outside until 30 minutes had passed since I had first arrived at the restaurant. I went back in the store and waited until a different lady at the front acknowledged me. Bear in mind, I have a mask on because of Covid-19. So when the lady looks at me, I say the names of the orders I have so she knows who I'm there for. She responds by snapping at me saying, "just say Door Dash you the only one in here for Door Dash" then she walks off calling me "nasty and disrespectful" and mutters something in Spanish that I couldn't quite make out. So I take down my mask and tell her that the only person being disrespectful is her. All I said was the names of the orders. She then starts yelling to the people in the back to come out and call the police. I tell them I am going to cancel the orders and leave and I walk out the door. Then one of the cooks from the back comes out and starts yelling and cursing at me calls me a racial slur (N-word) and threatens to take my small arm (I have a disability) and shove it up my ass. I curse back at him and tell him let me see you do it. He continues to curse at me and gets in my face. While this is going on, the lady whom first disrespected me is continuing to yell and call me names. I walk off again as the police begin to surround the building and block my car in. The police take a statement from me, and my contact information and they let me go. I do not understand why this woman decided to be so disrespectful toward me when all I did was give her the names on the orders. I completely understood that they were busy. I had not complained about waiting, all I did was ask about the food. A delivery driver should not have to encounter disrespect from a merchant when they are trying to pick up food from their establishment. I understand that some merchants complain that delivery drivers are rude when they have to wait, that is not me. I do not see what's wrong with inquiring about the status or the order I'm trying to pick up, especially when I've already been waiting for 30 minutes. None of this had to happen. This woman snapped at me because I gave her the names of the orders I was picking up and the cook, who apparently is her husband, is racist, insensitive, and extremely rude. He was trying to get me to put my hands on him, but I will not be his fool. I WILL NOT tolerate any kind of disrespect when I'm just out trying to earn an honest income during the most difficult times in this country. This was not appropriate and this message will be placed in as many platforms as possible.