BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
Doha: He thinks of your comfort. Braving the hot summer or chilly wind or wading through the pitter-patter of a downpour, he is at your door.
On the dot. No season or circumstances can stop him from delivering your favourite food. It is fast. And the most convenient because the clean-up is in a jiffy.
Unfortunately, the friendly delivery boy is perhaps the last man — and the lowest — at food outlets and fast-food franchises (including many leading American ones) who often sees his dreams break into pieces and life spin off his wheels.
What they plead for is better working conditions and a better mode of transport (a four-wheeler) instead of the risky motorbike, given the notorious traffic, especially during peak hours.
The Peninsula contacted some delivery boys at random and found that most delivery staff work under back-breaking pressure.
Add the double whammy — the risk of losing life or a limb in an accident while they are on their way to reach a home with a hot pizza on time.
“You may not believe it, but it will be difficult to find a delivery boy in any of our 25 pizza outlets who has not met with an accident,” says Dammika, a Sri Lankan, requesting not to mention his original name.
“In fact, no day passes without an accident. Sometimes accidents are fatal. Many have died.”
The man is visibly shaken as he revisits a mishap. A few months ago a Land Cruiser hit his bike from behind while he was carrying an order to Abu Hamour.
The collision was so powerful that the bike caught fire and he fell metres away. Result: Multiple injuries all over the body and fractured legs.
“The doctor advised me complete rest. I spent more than QR3,000 on medicines and transportation (back and forth the doctor and home). I did not receive a riyal from my employer. None from my company visited me either.”
He says motorists in Qatar speed and do not care much about bikers, especially delivery boys.
“Sometimes we are trapped between two speeding vehicles and don’t know what to do. Negotiating a safe way out is very difficult.”
So much of the hazard that awaits them on the roads. But their plight does not end here. “We work for almost 10 hours without any break for lunch or dinner. See, its 4pm now, and I have not been able to take my lunch yet. We are always in fear. If orders are not delivered on time, customers might cancel them and our companies will recover the amount from our salaries,” Dammika adds.
Any perks? “What benefits?” another delivery boy joins in.
“It has been more than two years here. Yet there is no car, no health card, no job contract and no improvements in our working and living conditions.
“Every time I asked for a job contract or health card, I was told ‘we’ll give it soon’.”
About food and accommodation facilities, he says: “There are about four to five bunk beds in every room which is shared by at least 10 employees. There is no weekend for us. We get only two days off a month.
“We deliver hot pizza to everyone but what we get in return? Just rice, daal (pulse) and sometimes a piece of chicken. Worse, the food from the company comes in polythene bag and smells foul.”
They are not offered the food they deliver. “No, we don’t get pizza. It is a no-no. But please don’t write my name, I’ll lose my job.”
Then why he is working if he does not like his job and working and living conditions.
“I come from a poor family. I took a hefty loan to pay to the recruiting agency. Initially I was promised QR1,000 a month, but I am paid QR800. Once I repay my loan, I will leave this mess.”
Another delivery boy adds: “I read a story in a newspaper that people are worried about the condition of pets exposed to the summer heat.
“No one seems concerned about our well-being, about what it takes to drive a motorbike in hot summer months.”
There are many like them. Tired, haggard, unhappy. Still, there is optimism.
“Yes, I read about the proposed amendments to the sponsorship law,” one says.
“I am desperately waiting for them. Maybe, they will think of us, too. “Recently I got an offer from Q-Post, QR3,000 a month, better working conditions. But I could not join.”
It looks like the flip side of fast-food delivery. If you think it is not a hazardous occupation, think again. If you think it is a rewarding career, think again.
They might make a couple of extra riyals as tip, but that will hardly put them through their lives.
The Peninsula
