UberShane: Tips and a Review

Shane Walker
5 days ago
3 min read

You may remember that I stand outside Laurel Elementary and wave at passing cars in the morning. My primary job is a school librarian, but I wanted to write about my second job: UberEats. This is not an opinion piece on the food. I actually haven’t eaten from most of the places I have picked up from, but as an Uber driver I have had some interesting insights around Laurel eateries (a few honorable mentions outside Laurel), and I’d like to pass them on to you.

The first thing is a flex: I park in parking spots. How often have I seen fellow deliverers parking in the fire lanes and blocking roads so they could save themselves the one minute it takes to follow the law? If you deliver in Baltimore, DC, or downtown Silver Spring, there is some justification for this since there isn’t reasonable parking close to the popular pickup sites, but Laurel is an excellent city for parking near restaurants. The worst I’ve had to do is park in the garage next to the Buffalo Wild Wings to pick up from Thai in Laurel, but that’s hardly complaint-worthy. What do you think: is double-parking and fire-lane standing excusable for drivers or not?

The second thing is the opposite of a flex: I got lost in Fort Meade once. I had a delivery that took me past the security stop late one night, but after I delivered the food, Uber’s directions to get out kept sending me to blocked or closed exits. I spent nearly 45 minutes trying to find the actual way out until a Good Samaritan finally was able to direct me. But the absolute worst part of that whole experience was that Fort Meade was my first delivery of two that I had picked up (you can pick up a max of three at a time, if they are near each other). So here is my public apology to whoever’s snow crab legs I had to deliver next near the Laurel Walmart. Yikes!

The third thing is some tips (not those kinds, but appreciated!):

Make sure that in your app, you have helpful instructions to help drivers reach you. If your apartment has a locked lobby, you will need to meet us in the lobby, or else help us figure out how to get through the lock.
Rate us! I’ve delivered over 850 deliveries so far, and only 10% of people have given me feedback. When I do badly, I want to know how I could have done it better (sorry again, snow crab guy) but when I do a good job, it is nice to hear that too.
If you see a restaurant on the app that you don’t recognize, it might be a virtual kitchen, or a ghost kitchen. Denny’s is Laurel’s most prolific ghost kitchen site: on the app, The Meltdown, The Burger Den, and Banda Burritos are all actually Denny’s serving online menu items not on the Denny’s brick-and-mortar menu. Is this clever business or mischievous: what do you think?

Finally, I wanted to review some of Laurel’s eateries based on an Uber driver’s perspective. I’ve kept it positive—we don’t need any more negativity toward the places working for us. I hope you enjoy, and if you ever happen to order on UberEats, it would be my pleasure to serve you.

Orders are always ready when I arrive:

Famous Dave’s

Mid-Atlantic Seafood

Hip-Hop Fish and Chicken

Negril

Quickway

Open late at night:

Wingstop

Hip-Hop Fish and Chicken

Taco Bell

Wendy’s

Longest distance records:

Pho Viet 75

Famous Dave’s

King’s Way

Sprouts (for grocery deliveries)

Date-worthy environment:

La Curva

Bella’s Italian and Indian

Ms. Toya’s Southern Kitchen

Centrado Cafe Shop

I didn’t know about until Ubering:

The Hunger Tamer

Prime Grill

The Big Greek Cafe

&pizza

Friendly and polite:

Firehouse Subs

Panera

Shah’s Halal

Chick-Fil-A (both)

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse

Shane Walker is the Media Specialist at Laurel Elementary School. More than a lifetime resident in Laurel, he is a lifetime member of its greater community. As a writer, he focuses on inspiring harmony through diversity of thought.