I've been driving for a food delivery app for a little over two years now.

Nothing glamorous. Just one of those apps where you tap a few buttons, grab a paper bag,

and drop it off at someone's doorstep. Quick money, if you don't mind the gas prices,

and the occasional stress-induced ulcer.

I treated it like a side hustle.

Deliver a few burritos, maybe a bobertie or two, and be home by midnight.

But after I got laid off from my last real job. It became my main gig.

The shift never technically ends.

You just drive until your body gives out or your tank hits empty.

Most of it's what you'd expect.

Fighting for decent tips, cursing at building numbers that don't exist, or walking up five flights

of stairs for an order that says, leave at the door, do not knock in all caps. Some instructions

get stranger than others. I once had a guy asked me to leave his sushi, quote, in the shadow of the

mailbox. Someone else left a sushi, quote, in the shadow of the mailbox.

Someone else left a note that said,

if the front door opens by itself, just leave the food and walk away.

Do not acknowledge her.

I left that one on the welcome mat and didn't even look back.

I wasn't about to find out if it was a prank or not.

A lot of us drivers talk. There's an unofficial group chat we use. Nothing huge, just a few hundred regulars who post about traffic, bad restaurants, and weirder stuff the app doesn't

warn you about. Loose dogs, fake addresses, customers who try to pay cash and then grab

the food and bolt. Some drivers even swap screenshots of creepy houses or instructions that

...