On The Need For Hazard Pay, Part 33

 I work for one of many self-employable delivery apps that deliver food for various restaurants.

On this particular day, I have gotten assigned two orders that are relatively close to each other. I pick up the first order and get the second, too. The first order, of course, gets dropped off first. It takes me about ten minutes to get to the first address and drop off the order, but I can’t drop it off immediately since I have to hand it to the customer. This takes an additional five minutes since it takes them forever to answer the door. Once that has been completed, I am on the way to the next address.

I get to the next house to drop off this order, and this one also requests that I hand it directly to the customer. I knock on the door and a lady answers. She has this look on her face like I just kicked a puppy or something. She crosses her arms.

Lady: “Took you long enough! We saw you go all over the place except here to drop our food off. Care to explain?”

I am kind of shocked, but using my best customer service voice, I reply:

Me: “Sorry, ma’am. I was assigned two orders, and I was instructed to take the first order first since it was closer, I assume. If there is an issue, you can contact [Delivery App] support and they can try to work with you.”

She is not happy about this.

Lady: “I want my order remade, and I want it for free, or I’ll call the restaurant and have you fired!”

She has been very rude to this point and I really don’t want to help her further.

Me: “Ma’am, I don’t work for the restaurant. I am an independent contractor. I am so sorry, but there is nothing I can do.”

After that statement, she becomes irate. She starts to clap her hands.

Lady: “Okay. You wait right here. I got something for you.”

I decide it’s time to leave. Before I can completely get off the front porch, her husband comes out! He is at least six feet tall, and he starts to scream at me to hold it right there.

Now, for further context, I have trained in multiple martial arts and self-defense for years. I hear this man come out and yell, and I immediately turn to face him because you never want someone who is potentially aggressive to have your back. I am still backing up, but now I have turned to face him, only feet away.

He starts advancing toward me, screaming.

Man: “You are going get us our f****** refund or else!”

I reply with the same statement I told the lady, but in a softer tone to attempt to de-escalate this man. As I am in mid-sentence, he pushes me back hard. As soon as he pushes me, my instincts and training kick in. As I regain my footing (I didn’t get knocked down), I square my stance and put my hands up to my face in case he tries to swing at me. I start to yell back at the guy and order him not to get any closer or put his hands on me. (This is my warning.)

He then throws a wild punch which I slip back with a lean, and then I counter with a front kick to his stomach. This lands flush, confirmed by a notable “Oof” sound. He folds slightly, exposing his face, so I followed up with a one-two as trained. After eating a one-two, he falls to one knee. I move back slightly to disengage and tell him to stay down so I can leave. (Once again, you never just turn your back on an aggressor.)

He gets up, red in the face. He screams at me again.

Man: “F*** YOU! I’LL KILL YOU!”

And he attempts to charge me. He throws another wild punch and another. I eat one but slip and duck under the second to get around to his back. From here, I attempt to wrestle him down. He keeps trying to punch me and even elbows me once in the face before I am able to trip him and take him down. I do my best to pin him, but I’m not successful until he rolls toward me and I mount him. He is mad!

Man: “I will f****** kill you! Get the f*** off me!”

He tries to bench-press me off of him and almost gets up a couple of times. He is strong!

Me: “I’m not getting off of you until you calm down!”

Now, he starts to punch, scratch, and bite me. In response, I give a good couple of hammer fists to get him to cover up, and once he does, I get higher on his chest to pin his arms above his head. We remain there until the cops come.

Once they arrive, they order me off him and PUT ME IN CUFFS! I am put in a squad car until a cop comes to get my statement and asks me what happened.

Me: “They wanted a refund, and I couldn’t give it to them since I’m just a [Delivery App] driver.”

Cop: “The lady here called and said you threatened her and that you were assaulting her husband on their front lawn. Do you have any way to prove your side?”

Lucky for me, I have a dash cam in my car, and I left the windows down. The cam caught some of the action from the front door on video and the rest caught audio of the man demanding a refund and threatening me, me telling him to back off, some audio of the struggle, him telling me he was going to kill me, and even me telling him to calm down.

Apparently, a neighbor across the street had a doorbell camera, and it also captured the incident with video and some audio.

The cops then let me go. They got my information and told me that my story seemed straight. I pressed charges against the man and was told by the cops they would call me if they had more questions.

I also reported them to [Delivery App] and included a copy of the police case number from the record in my county. That should be sufficient to get them banned.

Related:
On The Need For Hazard Pay, Part 32
On The Need For Hazard Pay, Part 31
On The Need For Hazard Pay, Part 30
On The Need For Hazard Pay, Part 29
On The Need For Hazard Pay, Part 28