”Because I had to use complex mathematics to derive your house number among all of the unnumbered houses on your street."

Wouldn’t even be able to do that in the neighborhood I grew up in. They numbered the houses in the order they were built/the lots were purchased and that wasn’t often next to each other lol. So 64, 67, 88, 90 are next to each other for instance.

The misnumbered/not numbered houses is still a big issue. GPS can only be relied on to get you in the general area, and even then sometimes it points you to the middle of a field.

My real gripe is apartments. People will often fail to give you the apartment number and even if they do, every single complex has their own numbering system and layout. There is one complex near here where the signs on the buildings are completely illegible at night due to the lights above them casting shadows. I hate having to go there.

I delivered pizza for a few years in my early years, and poorly lit addresses were the absolute worst. I was delivering in the pre-smartphone but post mapquest era, and we had a computer in the shop with a touch screen (which was crazy at the time) map on it so you could figure out where we were going. But God forbid you ended up on a one way street looking for an address that was poorly labeled or unlit and you got somebody behind you laying on their horn... At some point I bought a 1000 candle spotlight that I used at night, and that got me pulled over several times because people would call the police about "a slow driving car shining a spotlight out of its window"... Like... For fucks sake. I'm just trying to deliver some pizza.

With that said, while working I smoked a bunch of weed, listened to a bunch of good music, and generally got tipped well so... It was a good time.

Ohhh wise one, tell us one of your many tales.

I find it interesting that many people are apparently no longer able to grok maps at all. Even on their phones.

If there isn't a blue dot, they have no idea where they are. Nor how to go anywhere that isn't linked by a blue line.

It's a lost art indeed.

I used to be amazed by the idea that there were people that couldn't do this. A good map/atlas has an index of street names and what pages grid cells they're on, and you can trace any familiar road trip with your finger (or a highlighter if you must).

Now I know that some people have a lot working against them. Some can't visualize things in their head, have no clue which way North is, or imagine what their current location resembles on a 2D map. There's also a kind of "navigation sense" that some people have and/or learn where your perception of space is in constant comparison to near and distant landmarks, even when indoors. People that can do these things are not afraid of liminal spaces, can easy find hidden rooms in structures, know exactly how big their car is, can improvise new routes between distant locations with ease, and being lost is a temporary problem at worst.

Edit: I had an ex that had very poor spacial perception, so that's a thing too. There was an argument over whether or not a moving box would fit through a doorway when carried. Critical thinking aside, a complaint was made when seeing the box sitting alone, packed, in the middle of an otherwise empty room. From outside the room, this person was unable to accurately compare the box's size in relationship to the doorway's dimensions, and insisted it was too big to leave the space. It was as if their mind was unable to pull together enough context to get an accurate frame of reference. I think this spacial perception ability applies to navigation as well, and may explain why some people struggle with it.

I guess I'll take comfort knowing it's still a useful skill for some video games... but even those are becoming increasingly simplified

At least it'll come in handy when society collapses.

I grew up in a time when you had to remember things, like where things were. In fact, for decades, I managed to do that. Suddenly, in 2007, I suddenly forgot where everything on the entire planet was.

Crazy!

And cost you more in fees and tips than the increased cost of the food itself.

But the companies running these softwares now make a huge profit, while the restaurants and delivery drivers earn less. So it’s better this way for their billionaire investors

I drove a taxi and dispatched for a couple of years back in the mid '80s. For ease of use, Street Guides were a drivers best friend, because they just gave you concise directions from the closest main road. For instance, if I wanted Elm street, I would find it quickly alphabetically, and it would tell me something like "Runs south from Main St, two blocks east of First Ave." The driver would mainly just need a decent understanding of the main roads and how the numbering system for addresses worked, and they could just flip through it pretty quick without having to spread out a big map. The whole city fit into a neat little paperback book.

Take me from where I am to where I'm not

The number of pizza drivers just sending it through 4 way stops was crazy

"unlabeled houses?"

What kinda neighbourhood did you grow up in where people couldn't even bother to put a number on their house?

because population has increased and everyone has become fat & lazy, therefore increased demand for pizza home delivery

Why do kids like Chex

Most memorable call?