Please bear with me. Punctuation and grammar probably won’t be the best. I’m all over the place right now mentally.
I genuinely don’t know where else to post this. I’m also not entirely sure what to think about it. I guess I’m hoping one of you will put me at ease. Feel free to do so please. It will only make me feel better. I’ll just get into it… The short story is that the same Door Dasher, Andrew, delivers to me every single time I order. That may not sound too shocking, but please keep reading.
I [36f] just took a new position in my profession and I work pretty much every day. I wake up extremely early and work pretty late into the day. I travel between two offices and they are no where near close to one another. I live almost exactly between them and it’s a good 30 to 50 minute drive on all interstate to get to either one depending on traffic. They are in opposite directions as well. Let’s call them north and south. It works for me, because it’s the same drive time no matter what and I really don’t mind the drive. It gives me time to clear my head before a busy day.
I wake up so early that I seldom have the time or energy to bring food with me. I order Door Dash nearly every day. I order it to my house from time to time as well. Usually on the occasional Sunday when I don’t want to cook breakfast. It’s safe to say I’m a creature of habit (not that ordering Door Dash every day is a good one. I do eat healthy though). Not proud of it, but I’m tired, pressed for time and I am lucky to be able to afford it so here we are. It’s the same thing every time. I order my food, tip well, get my food and get back to work. Let’s rewind to last week, so I can get to the point.
I was working at my south office when I noticed that every day the same Dasher accepted and delivered. His name is Andrew. I meet him in the lobby each time. He’s about 5’9, thin brown hair, glasses, nicely dressed and always wears a mask. I assume nothing of this as he’s obviously a local Dasher and perhaps I’ve become his frequent. I want to add that I live in a huge city, but the offices are in the outlying areas, so yes… local to that area he would be. He’s nice, always smiles with his eyes peering above his mask and tells me to have a great day. He speaks softly. I state the same and we move along.
Fast forward now to Sunday. I’m tired. I don’t want to cook. Let’s remember I live 30 mins from the south office. I order. Andrew accepts almost immediately. I thought for sure it would be a coincidence in the name. It wasn’t. He delivered to my front door. Same guy, same soft voice and smile. I give him the ‘hey I recognize you’ look and we exchange our good days. I really did find it peculiar, but in no way worrisome. I thought he must be a hard working person who appreciates an above average tip.
Today… I’m at my north office which is a solid hour from the south office. I order my food. It’s a busy day and I didn’t even have time to pull out my phone and check on my order much less meet them for the handoff. Some time goes by and I walk to the lobby to see if the Dasher left it off at the front desk. Honestly, my heart dropped and then jumped into my throat when I opened that door. There he was. Sitting there smiling with my food in his lap. It was Andrew. No mask this time. His face reminds me of someone I know, but I cant remember who. Very familiar looking. He was waiting for me. He smiled a little wider when he saw me and stood up. He handed me my food, gently cupped my shoulder with his hand and with a sheepish, yet ominous smirk on his face he softly said, “Have a good day, **.” …. My nickname. I don’t use it on my app. Few people call me by my nickname. How tf did he know that? I was speechless. I watched him walk out with a feeling of dread overcoming me.
I sat down and just let the chaos of work ensue behind me as I gathered my thoughts. Was I being judgemental? Presumptuous? Why do I feel like something is off? Just wtf in general really. My intuition was screaming at this point. Why would he be up here and at my house and at my south office? I’m a pretty level headed and logical person, but… How??? There are so many Dashers where I live, so why would it be him every time? I decided to look at my phone and I saw that he’d text me a heart faced smiley and said he was on his way about 10 minutes before the encounter. That didn’t help things. I looked further by opening my order history. He’s delivered to me before. Many, many times before and to various locations over the last several months. I have no idea how I’ve never noticed. I’m honestly not sure what to think. If he is being stalkerish then he knows where I live, work and handles my food. He knows me by the name only those closest to me call me. He even knows which office I’m at and when. I wish I were lying about this. It actually makes sense as I’ve felt like I’ve been being watched and followed for some time now.
I fully respect what these people do for a living. This is no poor reflection of that, but I suppose the moral of the story is… sometimes you should pack your lunch.