This one took about five takes to get done.
Not because I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I knew exactly what I wanted to say. The problem was trying to say it clearly, keep it short enough for the video, and not let my irritation take over the entire thing.
By the time I finally got the version recorded, it was already the next day from when I first saw the video. I was tired. I was aggravated. And honestly, I wanted to get it done because this is one of those situations that hits a few different nerves at the same time.
A friend sent me a video that was being shared on Facebook. From what was stated with the video, it happened on June 18, 2026, at about 1 p.m. somewhere in Massachusetts. It reportedly involved a DoorDash delivery driver, a customer’s driveway, and an 11-year-old waiting for food.
And no, I am not reposting the video.
That is not because I am defending the driver.
I am not.
From what is reported and from what is visible in the video, the conduct is unacceptable. You do not show up to someone’s home to deliver food and then use their driveway as a bathroom. You do not do that while handling someone’s food. You do not do that when a child is waiting at the door. You do not do that on someone else’s property.
But the video has too many identifiers.
The vehicle is visible. The plate is visible. There are enough details that someone could start trying to identify the person, the car, or the area. And since this is Massachusetts, and since I drive all over this state, I am not going to be the person who helps turn a Facebook video into a search party.
Let DoorDash handle the platform side. If the homeowner reported it to the authorities, let the authorities handle that side. If a news outlet picks it up and redacts the identifying information, that is different. At that point, there is more context, and somebody whose job it is to handle those details has handled them.
But I am not posting raw footage with visible identifiers.
That is not fear. That is pragmatism.
We do not know from a short clip if the driver owns the car. We do not know if the car was borrowed. We do not know if the person driving was the account holder. We do not know all the details yet. What we do know is that the conduct shown and described is exactly the kind of thing that makes people distrust delivery drivers.
And that is the part that bothers me as someone who works in the gig economy.
Drivers already deal with enough mistrust. Customers already wonder who is coming to their house, who is handling their food, and whether the person is doing the job properly. Then something like this gets shared around, and it makes everyone look worse.
This is the kind of behavior that advertises automation.
Bring on the drones. Bring on the robots. Bring on whatever program removes the human being from the delivery process. That is the excuse companies are always looking for, and some people keep handing it to them.
As a driver, that bothers me.
As someone who has done gig work and may go back into delivery, it bothers me even more.
And as someone who is diabetic, I understand that sometimes your body gives you very little warning. I get it. There are times when you need to find a bathroom and you need to find one fast. That is real.
But that is also why you plan ahead.
You learn where the bathrooms are. You stop before the delivery if you need to. You keep sanitizer. You make contingency plans. You think ahead because that is part of working on the road.
Somebody’s driveway is not a contingency plan.
From what I saw, there appeared to be other choices. Maybe not perfect choices. Maybe not comfortable choices. But better choices than doing that on a customer’s property.
And that is where I land on it.
I am not showing the video because there are too many identifiers, and I am not encouraging anyone to hunt the person down.
I am also not defending what happened.
If the facts are what they appear to be, then this was disgusting, lazy, disrespectful conduct. I would not want someone doing that on my property. I would not want that person handling my food. And I would not be surprised if the platform removed them.
I have seen people lose jobs for similar behavior before. This is not one of those “everybody makes mistakes” situations where you just shrug and move on. When you are working around customers, food, homes, and private property, there is a basic standard of conduct.
Respect the customer.
Respect the property.
Respect the fact that you are being trusted to do the job.
So after five takes, while tired, irritated, and trying not to turn the whole thing into a rant, that is the point:
I am not reposting the video.
I am not helping identify the person.
I am not pretending the conduct is acceptable.
Let the proper people handle the identifying details. Let DoorDash handle its platform. Let authorities handle it if it went that far. Let news outlets redact it properly if they decide to cover it.
But for the rest of us out there doing gig work, delivery work, rideshare, or anything where we are dealing with the public:
Make better choices.
Because when one driver does something like this, the rest of us end up carrying part of the stink.