I got a package I was expecting this past Wednesday. I never really order stuff for delivery, so I was kind of surprised I remembered to look for it. My building’s parcel area is just a table in our entry hall, so I walk by it often, but rarely have a use for it myself – outside of judging my neighbors’s conspicuous consumption proclivities.

Don’t ask me why I looked at the FedEx envelope the next day when I walked by. There was absolutely no reason to, aside from basic nosiness.

It was for me.

Immediately, I wondered who would be sending me money with no signature required.

Alas.

It was the last thing I “ordered” and had reported missing after it missed its two day delivery window by 100%.

It wasn’t really something I’d ordered so much as needed. It was my DoorDash debit card – which is the only way to get paid after each shift versus once weekly. Something I was having trouble adjusting to after Lyft making it so easy to get paid whenever I wanted.

Now look at me, getting paid every two weeks like a regular person.

Still, I’d been debating offsetting my salary with occasional Dashing or possibly going back to Lyft in January. I’m not gonna lie, going from what averaged out to six figure earnings the last couple years back to a paltry five digit salary took some wind out of my sails.

To that end, I’d given myself a chunk of fun money from grandpa’s estate and put the rest in my savings. As that fun fund has dwindled over the past couple of months, the mental exercise has become slightly more pressing – either I need to go back to Dashing or I need to start curbing expenses.

I hadn’t made any decisions – but found myself leaning toward waiting until January when my Lyft restriction…lifts.

Then this happened.

Conundrum!

I just…hate this company. Gig work had been pretty fun with Lyft, I really loved it. The bar was admittedly high, despite the unpleasant surprise that resulted in not being able to drive for them for almost a year.

DoorDash just sucks. Their cavalier attitude about my direct pay debit card not arriving is just one example of their suckery. But a pretty big one since I wasn’t delivering out of the kindness of my heart and without passengers to play with, it was a fairly boring grind.

So after calling and making sure the card was still good to use, I decided to go out and get people fed. Surprisingly, it was a pretty fun couple of hours. I think I logged two hours and 15 minutes on the road after a full day at “the office” and didn’t hate it.

And then I took myself out for a few drinks and ran into friends and then ended up making a night of it with them. It’s about rewards, right?

The weirdest thing about this to me was that I seemed to be the only one who was surprised about any of these mysterious goings on.

Yet, there I was. Shocked back in April that the card was showing as delivered by FedEx but had clearly not arrived at my home. Absolutely gobsmacked that the people at DoorDash were utterly unconcerned about this either – even after stating that it looked like the card had been activated.

Then on the even more surprising backend when I called to report the card had been delivered 22 weeks late…nothing. Not even an “Oh, how nice!” or “We didn’t see that coming”. Just…an “Anything else I can help you with?” that practically made me crack a molar. Like they had done anything helpful.

What is wrong with people? Are these examples of apathy or idiocy? I truly don’t know.

And I’m leaning toward curbing expenses until January, for anyone still wondering. Lord knows what would motivate that decision. On the flip side, though…I’ve definitely been bit by the live entertainment bug. It might just be worth gritting my teeth and sucking it up in the short term so I can keep rewarding myself.