[Elspode]

My fourth night as PizzaBoy was last night. I had anticipated it would be a busy one, and it was. Even with a woeful football team, Monday Night Football in KC is a big deal, and the pizza consuming public did not disappoint. I ran from the moment I walked in the door at 6:00 until the moment I left at 10:30. In my pockets I carried the highest total of tips earned so far, as well as the largest number of route fees.

Last night was the first time I had seen a bona-fide pizza frenzy. The Captain was slinging dough like a demon with its tail ablaze. Stacey seems unflappably cheerful, even when covered head to foot with flour, a phone on her shoulder and pizza toppings flying from her fingers. Everyone else was just a blur, ebbing and flowing with the tsunamis of phone orders.

There are so many nooks and crannies in the city of Lee's Summit. I have good, close friends who have lived there all their lives, and I have spent innumerable days and nights there, but I have driven to places I had no idea even existed. Entire shopping districts have sprung up, complete with theaters and giant box stores, and I was utterly clueless until now.

The absolute worst is delivering to apartment complexes. Most are posessed of a numbering scheme that has no discernable rhyme or reason. Even numbered apartments are sometimes on one side of the building and odd on the other; sometimes even is upstairs and odd down, and so forth. Nothing for it but to look for them, sometimes on foot.

The most interesting event last night was when a woman zoomed up the street and stopped right next to me.

"Are you looking for someone?", she asked.

"Just trying to find an address. I'm delivering a pizza."

"Oh...I see. We were all just wondering who was spotlighting our houses."

I had been told people would get miffed about it, but hey...I have to see the address to deliver the pie. Even with the megalight, there are some address plates/numbers that simply don't show up. Sometimes it is because they are embossed, and the shadowing renders it unviewable. Sometimes, the letters are so reflective, that I can't read them due to glare. Always, I am trying to pick an address from an apparently unoccupied house so as to not disturb people, but I suppose I can understand people's concern about the entire concept.

There is another Patrick working there. He goes by "Rufus", which is a nickname derived from his last name (which I will omit). Rufus is the most upbeat, totally consumed by the pizza biz guy I've ever seen...or can ever imagine. He zips back and forth, doing all jobs possible, even delivery, all the while spouting statements of support and encouragement, singing oddball tunes, patting people on the shoulder. It is inconceivable that anyone could dislike him. So truly does he seem to enjoy what he does, so completely in his element is he, that it is like watching a fish swim or a bird fly. Whether sweeping the floor, tossing dough or taking an order, he is a gem to work with. I hope they pay him better than they do me.