Discussion board FAQ Purpose   /   Posting   /   Reading   /   Other   /   Pizza delivery lexicon A word to the wise As a note of caution, be warned that some of the posts on this board contain shop talk and brutal honesty. The delivery drivers are off-the-clock. They may voice themselves much differently than if they spoke to a customer at work. The views expressed on this board do not represent every driver in every store, but they should. :) If you have a question or comment, please check to see if it was covered elsewhere in this website. Do a site-wide search or visit a section that might be relevant. Search the board to see if it was discussed earlier. Donations Some people have asked if they can send a donation without buying something from the online store. If you would like to send a one-time donation to the makers of this website, please see the donations page. PURPOSE 1. What is the purpose of the discussion board? Simply put, to discuss pizza delivery. To let drivers talk about their jobs, share stories, vent frustrations, offer improvements, and help and support each other. To let people see the truth about pizza delivery. We can't tell the truth when we deliver. Store rules prohibit that. We don't have time, on a delivery, to explain some issues even if we were allowed. Here, the drivers are off the clock. To let people ask questions about pizza delivery. To let drivers ask questions to those who might order delivery. To have discussion and debate about the many aspects of pizza delivery with drivers, customers, and others participating. Just relax and have fun! 2. What is considered inappropriate? Things that disrupt conversations: a. Ads, spam. If you want to post a link to your site, please put it in your sig. b. "Pizza is cool" or "Get a real job" or similar idiotic comments. c. Highly insulting posts or obnoxious posts that try to start a flame war. Something highly inflammatory about a volatile issue for the sole purpose of evoking a response and perhaps then stating, "I was kidding," and assuming false superiority over those who were annoyed by the post. A response totally lacking in actual facts or content, dedicated solely to personally insulting the heritage, mentality, and capabilities of the poster. d. Babbling within a topic. Ignoring that your point was soundly defeated only to reassert it later, to needlessly continue conversation. Deliberate illogical or otherwise absurd twists within a topic meant to perturb posters. This means you have nothing to say and usually want the last word just to infuriate posters. e. Cascades, floods, duplicate posts, and junk character posts. f. Excessive flaming. It's okay to rant and debate but let's not abuse one another. g. Attacking the poster instead of the content of the post. Debate is fine but let's not get ugly. This typically means you are defeated and have nothing real to say. h. Mocking someone's user name by posting with one that looks very similar to the victim's user name. This typically involves ridicule by imitation and perhaps also to create confusion. If you think someone is doing this, please it. Offensive user names in general are not appropriate. i. Excessive quoting, such as quoting an entire post only to make a brief response at the end. (Please see the quoting guidelines.) j. Very off-topic subjects unless they develop within a topic. Users with more seniority have more leeway in this matter. There is so much under the umbrella of pizza delivery, we expect conversations to wander everywhere under the sun. However, a topic shouldn't really begin that way (i.e. starting a topic about underwater basket weaving with no connection to pizza delivery.) k. Off-color, disgusting, or pornographic pictures. l. Posting a customer's address, phone number, or other personal information. Try to be vague. If you must allude to the address, use pseudo-street names like 2326 CheapPrick Ln. Be creative. m. Inside trade information that your company deems confidential. This generally refers to secret plans or a new item about to be released to the public. n. Responding to a rant with, "If you don't like your job, then quit." Sometimes people come to this board to vent so they can get frustrations out of their system. It's a lot better than storing it up inside. Don't respond with a serious ultimatum. If someone hates one particular thing, it doesn't mean they hate the entire job in general. If the rant was really serious, the person would quit. o. Forming an opinion about a company, store, franchise, or individual based on rants from this board. They should not be taken too seriously and should not be the sole basis to form an opinion. This forum is used to blow off steam. p. Rants that are too specific by including proper names or exact locations. Keep it vague or obscured. It's best to omit these kinds of details altogether. If you see a post that is inappropriate, please do not respond to it. Instead, it to a moderator. If you believe someone is trolling this board, do not respond to any of the offending posts. It's best to ignore it so the troll won't have any satisfaction. The moderator will notice and remove it. 3. Why is the board moderated? A cursory look at alt.pizza.delivery.drivers and its history around 2001 will show that moderation is necessary. It's sad that there are people who make fun of others just because they deliver pizza. They think it's fun to troll, flood a newsgroup, and disrupt conversation so that discussion is impossible. They think we're a target for mockery because they heard a false stereotype about pizza delivery drivers. There is nothing wrong with debate. Trolling or luring people with dishonest obnoxious posts is unacceptable and a waste of time. Pizza delivery drivers are hard-working individuals who do not deserve to be heckled. 4. How is the board moderated? Posts are reviewed by a moderator before and after they appear on the board. New members are moderated until they reach a certain number of approved posts. Once posted, the moderator can delete a message, edit, and erase a topic. It might take a day or two before a post becomes noticed. return to top POSTING 5. How do I get a username? At the top of the main page or topic page, click near the center where it says "New username." The name you choose can not have an underscore "_" character. It will be replaced with a space. Two or more consecutive spaces will turn into a single space. Any leading and trailing spaces will be removed. Any HTML code will appear as text. This was done to conform to page design and web appearance. If you enter your email address, you will receive an instant automated message and be able to receive password confirmation messages. Once you choose a unique username and a password, you can login immediately on the next page. 6. How do I reply to a post? Click the reply button    at the top of the post after the time stamp. The button to reply with quote    appears next. After that, the button to reply with itemized quote    appears. 7. How do I start a new topic? Log in, go to the left navigation bar, and click where it says "New topic." If you are inside a topic, click "New topic" whether you are logged in or not. You can login from there. 8. Can I edit my post? Click the edit button    at the top of your post. You must login before you can edit. 9. How do I delete my post? Click the delete button    at the top of your post. If your post starts a topic, it will delete the topic if there were no replies. You must login before you can delete. 10. Why was my post sent to a moderator? If you are a new member, your posts will be moderated until you reach a certain number of approved posts. You will no longer be moderated after that point unless you make too many inappropriate posts. It's possible that everyone is moderated, but that would be done only in a temporary emergency. 11. How soon will the moderator see my post? If approved, your post should appear in less than 24 hours. The exact delay depends on when you and the moderators are online. 12. Why do my posts appear immediately? a. As a relatively new member, you posted enough to skip the moderation initiation. It's possible the moderator might have deactivated any moderation. The board can still be moderated after new posts appear. b. The moderator has decided that you are a familiar user. This is a privilege that can still be revoked. 13. Is HTML allowed in my post? HTML code is not allowed, but there are several built-in codes for text enhancement (see 13-17.) When you post, click the "text formatting tips" and a reminder of more involved codes will appear. If you have any doubts about how your post will look, see the preview page. It shows you exactly how it will appear. 14. How do I enhance the text in my post? Highlight the words you want to enhance and press the boldface, italic, or underline button      .  Type (or drag) the words you want between the starting code and the ending code. You can combine two or more buttons. You can enter the following codes manually between the words you want to enhance. [b] your text [/b] your text in bold face [i] your text [/i] your text in italics [u] your text [/u] your text underlined Hitting the enter/return key twice forms a paragraph break. If for some reason this doesn't work, you can type [p] to insert a paragraph break manually. 15. How do I put a link in my post? Two ways a. Type http:// and a URL. Make sure this is one word with no spaces. Put a space at the end unless it's the last word in your post. b. Press the link button    and type (or drag) a URL followed by a description between the [link] and [/link] codes This creates a link with clickable description text. You don't need the "http://" in the URL and the description can be one or more words. For example, if you type: [link] tipthepizzaguy.com pizza site [/link] it will display: pizza site Links appear underlined in blue and will open in a new window 16. How do I put a picture in my post? Press the picture button    and type (or drag) the picture's URL between the [pic] and [/pic] codes. The "http://" in front of the URL is not required. If you want, you can type [img] and [/img]. You have the option to specify width and height attributes measured in pixels. After the image's URL, add "w=<width> h=<height>" before the closing [/pic] code. If you want to type "width=" and "height=" that will work, also. The parameter you specify first won't matter. You can use just one parameter if you want. Pictures are displayed at a maximum width or height of 400 pixels. Larger pictures will be reduced but will retain their aspect ratio. 17. How do I put a thumbnail in my post? If the picture is much larger than 400 pixels and you want people to see it at full size, use the link button    followed by the picture button    and insert the picture information inside the link. Typed manually, the code will be [link][pic] imageURL [/pic][/link]. You can type [thumb] and [/thumb] instead. The thumbnail will have a border and the image will load in a new window. 18. How do I embed a YouTube video in my post? Type [youtube] and [/youtube] between the URL of the video. This is not the embed code found on Youtube. You can copy and paste the URL from the address bar in your web browser. From inside Youtube, click "About This Video" and the URL will appear. If the video does not allow embed, there will be an error message inside the video window. Please check the window in preview before posting. 19. How do I quote from another post? Press the quote button    and type (or drag) the words you want to quote between the [quote] and [/quote] codes. This is done automatically for you if you decide to reply with quote. Otherwise, it's best to copy and paste from the post you are responding to. Please see the guidelines about quoting. 20. How do I put an emoticon in my post? Use the drop down menu. It will show the names in order as seen graphically above the drop down. If you want to repeat the same emoticon, you will have to reset the menu first. Manually, you can type [emoticon] with the name of the emoticon between brackets. For example, [smiley] displays a . The list of emoticon names can be seen by hovering the mouse over the group of emoticons above the text area. Also, the drop down menu contains the list of names. 21. What are the guidelines for quoting? Quoting is not necessary, in general, because there are ways to trace the parent post. Quoting is necessary if (1) you wish to respond to only part of a post and it has other points you don't wish to address or (2) you wish to itemize a list of responses to several parts. If you don't quote, people will not know which part you were responding to. Please attribute the quote by having the name of the user followed by "writes:" in front of the quote. It will look like, "username writes: [quote] blah blah blah [/quote]." Please remove irrelevant parts by replacing it with [...] or <snip> inside the quote. With a snip, it becomes, "username writes: [quote] <snip> blah blah blah [/quote]." If you are the first poster to make a response in a new topic, don't quote the starting post in its entirety. When people view the topic, the starting post will appear directly above your response. Your quote will create a useless repetition and a waste of vertical space. This rule does not apply to partial quotes and itemized quotes. 22. When I respond, why do I see only the post I was responding to? Scroll down and you will see the place to respond. The original post reappears on the response page. This helps you remember it and makes it easy to copy and paste for quoting. If the post was long, you won't see the response area until you scroll down a tad. 23. How do I respond in a new topic? Reply and then click the "new" button     in the topic line on the far right. Do this before typing your response. Please do not follow the new topic with "(was: old topic)" because this is done for you. 24. Why was my session terminated when I moved to another page? Your browser is not accepting cookies. In Internet Explorer, set the Privacy rating to Medium High. Then try to log in. If you choose not to allow cookies, the board will still function but you will have to login each time before you post. You won't be able to mark posts read, change viewing options, have a personal profile, or respond in "look back." To start a new topic, you will have to login again. return to top READING 25. Why does it say "new" after a topic name? The     tag means the topic started after your last logout. All the posts inside the topic are new. The tag can be turned off in "My options." 26. Why does it say "update" after a topic name? The     tag means there was a reply after your last logout. The topic was not new but there was recent activity. The tag can be turned off in "My options." 27. Why is there a yellow dot in place of the topic emoticon? The yellow dot    indicates that you posted inside the topic at an earlier time. This lets you keep track of your active topics. 28. Why does it say "new" above a post? The post was made after your last logout. The tag can be turned off in "My options." 29. What is a sticky topic? A topic of great importance or urgency can be flagged by the moderator. It will appear in the topic list at the top of the first page. The ignore function does not work in a sticky topic. Every post in the topic will show, even if you decide to show new posts only and even if you ignore someone. Sticky topics have a unique emoticon    in the topic list. The rest of the topics will appear below the list of sticky topics. 30. What does the up button do? It takes you to the top of the page. This is a shortcut to save you from having to scroll all the way to the top. 31. How do I mark posts read? When you logout, every post on the board will be marked read. If a post was made after you logged out, it will be considered new the next time you login. This is done automatically. However, you can manually mark posts read after a point in time. Go to the post you want and click the "go out the door" button that looks like this:   It will log you out. Every post that was made after that post will be considered new the next time you login. This is useful for people who want to logout in mid-session. 32. How do I jump to the most recent post in a topic? On the main board, click the number of posts in the topic. This works if you view posts "by date" and works most of the time with "threaded" view. It works even if you have people in your ignore list. 33. Why are some posts indented? In thread view, responses are indented so you can tell the difference between a post and its response. A post (parent) is followed by a list of indented responses (children.) If any of the responses have children, they appear under it and are indented again. To read a post in thread view, click the post and it will expand. If you click another post, it will collapse the earlier one and expand the newly clicked post. 34. How can I ignore a person I don't like? Login, go into a topic and find the username you want to ignore. Toward the left and below the username, click the ignore button    and select "yes" at the next screen. Go back to the topic or back to the main board. Posts made by an ignored member won't appear on your screen. If the ignored person started a topic, the entire topic will be ignored. If you return back to the topic, none of the posts will appear. The topic will no longer appear in the topic list on the main page and will be skipped by the arrows inside the topics. The 10 most recent posts will skip the ignored person. Ignored posts will still appear in "look back" and in the search results. The main page will continue to display new topics in their normal order, so it might be best to use the "new" and "update" topic tags. Your newest topic might not be the first one. Ignored users will still appear in sticky topics. 35. How can I stop ignoring a person? Go into "My options" and select "Ignore list." You can select a name to remove from your ignore list or you can delete the entire list. 36. How do I turn the "new" and "update" tags on or off? Go into "My options" and look under "Tags." You can activate or deactivate the tags for new topic, updated topic, and new post. The three tags can be selected independently. 37. Can I use "look back" inside "look back?" The "look back" feature displays the post that was responded to, otherwise known as the parent, in a pop-up window. If the little eyes    appear in the pop-up, you can click on that and another "look back" pop-up will appear on top of that. It will display the grandparent. You can continue to trace the post's lineage all the way back to the first post in the topic. The original post does not have the little eyes. You can respond inside "look back" if you are logged in. It will open a new window. You will have to close this window after you send your reply. return to top OTHER 38. How do I see someone's profile? Click the author's name. The profile will appear in a small pop-up window. 39. How do I update my profile and sig? Login and click "My Profile" in the top left navigation bar. A pop-up window will appear. Fill in the fields you want. Everything is optional. After that, click the "update" button. The window will reload and display the update. Your sig appears at the bottom of "My Profile." Click the "update" button after you enter a new sig. 40. How can I receive an email notification if someone responds to my post? Login, visit the topic and look at the upper right corner where it says "email notification off." Click the message to toggle it. The message will change to "email notification on." Click the message again to turn it off. This will send you a brief email notice if someone responds. Notifications are not limited to a response to your post. It covers all replies in the topic. You will need to provide an email address in your lost password retrieval. This is not the email address that appears in your profile. This one is private. See "My Options" and click "Change name/pass" and see where it says "Email for lost password." Email notifications are not sent if a person in your ignore list responds. They are not sent if someone edits a post. Deletions are not notified. 41. Why do stars appear under someone's user name? They represent seniority. The number of stars corresponds to the number of posts. Stars Number of posts Rank (none) 1-99 Board Newbie 100-499 Apprentice Poster 500-999 Loyal Driver 1000-2499 Veteran Driver 2500-4999 Delivery Specialist 5000-9999 Delivery Tycoon 10000+ Delivery God 42. How long will posts stay before they are deleted? There are no plans to delete old posts but it will have to happen eventually. They will be deleted by topic and not by date. There could be an archive on another site but no plans have been made at this time. 43. What's the difference between the discussion board and the guestbook? The guestbook was designed for one-time messages without feedback. It's for evaluating the website instead of holding a conversation. The guestbook will no longer be used for questions or conversations. It was the board's predecessor. If you have any more questions or notice any bugs, please the board master. return to top Pizza delivery lexicon Here are some terms you might see on the board (not meant to be exhaustive) AM:  assistant manager, a rank below general manager and above shift manager area manager:  the general manager's boss, a manager responsible for a group of stores in a city or covering several towns, roughly 12 stores bank:  money for making change; an amount the driver receives at the beginning of a shift and gives back to the store at the end, usually $20 big 3:  the three largest national pizza chains, Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Papa Johns, who tend to think alike and operate the same way. cartopper:  1) a magnetic sign on the roof of the driver's car that advertises for the store; 2) any advertisement placed on the driver's car (see also: window wing) commission:  Pizza Hut terminology for mileage reimbursement (see: mileage) CSR:  customer service representative, an in-store employee who's job is to answer the phones, basically cut (cut table):  location in the kitchen where pizzas are cut into slices immediately after they leave the oven DC (delivery charge):  a surcharge imposed on delivery customers to increase company revenue, a price increase for the store, corporate tip-stealing, gouging customers with a hidden fee delivery time:  an estimate of how long it might take to make a pizza and get it to your location, cook time + cut time + in-store lag time + actual drive to location dispatch:  the assigning of deliveries to drivers in an orderly fashion DP:  Domino's drive time:  the time it takes a driver to leave the store and return drone:  a customer who always tips one dollar no matter how big the order, how awful the weather is, or how far away they are from the store; named after the Borg drones on Star Trek: The Next Generation, they are pre-programmed by the media not to think for themselves about what a proper tip should be; someone stuck in the 80's who still thinks a dollar is the tip double:  two deliveries to two different locations in one trip, a double run GM:  general manager, the head manager of a store, also known as RGM IC:  idiot customer, a customer who gives us a hard time or doesn't understand how things work indie:  independent store, not part of the big 3 or regional chains, a mom-and-pop store make table:  a long table in the kitchen with an array of toppings and tools useful for making pizza manager:  the driver's boss mileage:  the store's attempt at reimbursement for vehicular expenses incurred on the job, an attempt to bring the driver back up to minimum wage OTD:  out the door time, the time it takes to get an order dispatched; cook time + cut time + in-store lag time PH:  Pizza Hut PJ:  Papa John's prep:  the process of preparing dough for the next day promise time:  a defunct term, hopefully, that Pizza Hut had for a delivery time estimate (see: delivery time) RGM:  restaurant general manager, or simply GM for general manager of a store run:  (1) another name for a delivery; (2) a single trip that could include any number of delivery destinations (rare usage) rush ("the rush"):  a sudden, unpredictable increase in simultaneous orders over a short time resulting in more business than the store can handle; this often happens at dinner hours, sports events, or in bad weather scammer:  someone who tries to get free pizza on false pretense single:  one delivery taken by itself, a single run, solo run slammed:  far too busy for employees to handle over a long period of time or the entire night SM:  shift manager, a manager under the AM who works part-time snake:  a driver who snakes (see: snaking) snaking:  stealing a delivery that should have gone to another driver stiff:  (1) no tip, no payment for the service; (2) a customer who is a stiffer (rare usage) (see: stiffer) stiffer:  a customer who doesn't tip, a customer known for a history of not tipping triple:  three deliveries to three different locations in one trip, a triple run walk-in:  a walk-in refrigerator in the back of the store window wing:  a removable sign above the driver's car door that advertises for the store (see also: cartopper) Last updated: February 25, 2008 return to top