Let me begin by saying that there are many, many good Door Dash drivers out there. I know several personally and they are really nice people who provide good service, so this rant is definitely NOT about all Door Dash drivers. With that said, let me begin my rant.

What is the purpose of the painted lines in a parking lot? They indicate where we are to park our cars. Even children know that. What is the purpose of the large blue painted space with a picture of a wheelchair in it? Those are for people who aren't quite able to walk or get around as well as the general population and therefore need to park closer to their destination. Finally, what is the purpose of the sloped part of a sidewalk, with striped lines in front of it? The purpose of that is for those afore mentioned people to get up on the sidewalk easily either by foot or by wheelchair. These things are taught in driver's education, they are on the driver's license exam, and they are taught in general life. Unfortunately, there are quite a few people that don't seem to understand these things, and many of them are Door Dash drivers.

There are many times when I have gone out or come in to my apartment conplex parking lot to find cars parked incorrectly. Sadly, the majority of these are Door Dash drivers. The general thought seems to be that it is okay because they are “just making a delivery” and won't be long. They will park in the handicap spaces, in the striped area in front of the ramp, and straight across the parking lot to the point that they are blocking in several other vehicles.

The other night, we had our D&D group, which meets at my house. As our guests were leaving, we were walking them out, and one of them was blocked in by a Door Dash driver. Our guest knew that it was a Door Dash driver because the driver pulled up as he was getting into his car, parked long ways in the parking lot, and got out to make his delivery. We came out a few minutes later with another guest. By the time we arrived in the parking lot, the driver had left. As our roommate was telling us that the driver and our guest had already gone, the Door Dash driver pulled up again.

Once more, he parked long ways in the driveway, but this time he rolled down his passenger window and yelled at us, asking “Do you have something to say to me?”. I responded by saying, “You were blocking people in”. He repeated his question. I responded with, “You need to learn how to park”.

My son was standing in the handicap space, which was empty. The Door Dash driver suddenly gassed his car and pulled crookedly into the handicap space, nearly hitting my son and the car parked in the space next to the handicap space in the process. At that point, I told him that he couldn't park there, either, as he didn't have the proper tags to do so. Upon hearing this, the driver got out of his car, came around to where my son and I were standing, and got as close to our faces as he could. He began raising his voice and stating that we couldn't talk to him like that because he was being polite. So far, my son hadn't said anything, and I hadn't cursed or raised my voice.

As he proceeded to get louder while repeating his previous statement, my son pointed out that we were also being polite, especially considering that he had almost hit him with his car. The driver again repeated himself. He was raising his voice with each repitition and he was in my son's face. In order to get his attention, I ended up having to stick my hand between them and snapping my fingers several times. I verified that he indeed worked for Door Dash, and I asked his name. Once he gave me the requested information, I told my son that we had what we needed, and to come with me into the house. We began walking towards our apartment, and the driver followed us onto the sidewalk.

The driver became even more irrate, yelling, “Fuck you, fuck you” at us repeatedly. He then began threatening my son, telling him, “Bring it. I will beat your ass!” over and over, accompanied by his previous “Fuck you, fuck you”.

I had enough of this, and since I had been the one talking to him in the first place, I told my son to stay where he was and I returned to the driver. I told him “I'm bringing it, now what?”. He said he wanted my son, not me. I asked him why, since I was the one talking to him. He stated that it was because, “I don't hit women”. I said something along the lines of, “No, but you certainly curse at them”, at which he responded, “Fuck you”. I told him he had made my point. He repeated himself, and I then shot a few “F-bombs” back at him because I had reached my limit at this point.

I became even more frustrated when I got in the house and attempted to call Door Dash's customer support line. I reached someone, but I had to explain the entire situation to her twice, as she kept asking for my customer number, even though I started out telling her that I wasn't the customer. She finally stated that she had to switch me to another department. Of course, I was placed on hold. After about five minutes, I was disconnected. I then decided that I would email them instead. I looked up their email, sat down, and wrote out the entire situation in detail, then sent off the email. I received an auto response a few minutes later that told me Door Dash no longer monitors that email address and that if I need assistance I can click on the link provided. There were two, so I clicked on the first one.

The first link took me straight to an order page – nothing else.

I went back and clicked on the second link.

It also took me straight to an order page, but this one also had a section that stated I could contact them for help, so I clicked on that.

It refreshed the order page.

The only thing I was able to do was to go to the “chat with an agent” section. I copied my email, and clicked on the “chat with an agent” button. Of course, it wouldn't allow me to paste the entire email at once, so I had to copy, paste, and send approximately seven times to get the entire message sent.

I received a message from what I guess was an agent a short time later. The message stated that a reprimand would be placed on file for the driver and that steps would be taken to correct the problem for future orders. I really feel like this was a generated message.

I also emailed my apartment manager, just in case anything should come of the altercation with the driver. The next day, she responded to my email. She stated that she had had almost the same exact issue with a Door Dash driver earlier in the day. I wonder if it was the same one. Regardless, she actually looked into banning them from the property, but was told by law enforcement that she can't do anything of that nature. She then told me that she is contacting her boss to see what can be done because this situation with these drivers is “out of control”.

I just don't understand why it is such an issue for them to park correctly. I need to park in the handicap space, and I have had many times where I have had to sit and wait due to a Door Dash driver having parked there.

As I informed Door Dash in my message, I am a 53 year old disabled female and my son is 32 and autistic. The type of autism he has can cause violent outbursts, so this driver was quite lucky that he was in control of himself and that I was out there with him.

I just feel that these drivers need to follow the parking rules and need to realize that they represent the company and deal with the public. It would save everyone lots of trouble and aggravation.

Now I feel better.