Dogs are the best, but let’s face it, they don’t always make things easy for delivery drivers. Come to think of it; people don’t really do that either.
Mark Polchleb, a TikTok-er who lives in Australia, recently shared a five-part video journey that begins with an unruly dog and ends with a touching moment of humanity. It all started on July 7th, 2022, when Polchleb shared footage of a food delivery gone wrong, thanks to his incessantly barking Dachshund.
A Devastating Misunderstanding
The video opens with a close-up of Polchleb’s own face, looking deeply regretful.
“Can someone please tell this Uber Eats man I was yelling at my dog and not at him,” the text over footage of his face reads.
Then it cuts to a recording from a front door security camera. A delivery driver has just arrived with a bag of food.
As they often do when food arrives, Polchleb’s dog barks (a lot) and crowds the front door. Eventually, Polchleb shouts at his dog: “Get away from the door, mate!”
The driver, who’s standing just outside the door now, seems to think a customer is screaming at him to get away from his door. He sort of starts to apologize, but per his job, he has to take a photo of the delivery, so he does and then nervously thanks Polchleb and leaves.
@markp_Im genuinely losing sleep over this. He was so sweet and my dog is a menace 🥺♬ original sound – fiona’s gf
At the time he accepted the food, Polchleb had no idea he inadvertently terrorized a service worker. As he explained in a DM to People:
“I didn’t realize until I reviewed the footage that he could have misunderstood me yelling at my dog. It was too late to explain. I couldn’t bear the thought of someone thinking I disrespected them for just doing their job!”
Tracking Down The Driver
In his first follow-up video, Polchleb clarified that the driver was actually working for DoorDash, not Uber Eats. The way the DoorDash app works, you can’t contact a delivery driver after a certain amount of hours. So Polchleb got in touch with DoorDash customer service to find out who he was and how he could apologize.
Ultimately, since the original video was seen by millions of people, Polchleb hoped that one of his viewers could help him find the driver as well. Remarkably, that’s what happened.
“It turns out, with the amazing thing that is TikTok, it took only two days to track him down,” Polchleb said. “His daughter stumbled across my original TikTok after around 7 million views, and I was able to connect with her, and then her dad.”
Above And Beyond Empathy
It turns out the driver’s name is Sami. The final video in the series shows the moment Polchleb met Sami in person. He brought a gift for him and apologized face to face for accidentally screaming at him.
Sami came to Australia as a refugee, and he’s currently trying to raise enough money to see his son in France. Polchleb shared the fundraiser his family made for him with his audience, and hopefully, Sami will soon be able to take a break and visit his son.
@markp_ Replying to @stylands ♬ original sound – Mark Polchleb
Working as a delivery driver can often be tough and thankless, so it’s touching to see a story like this unfold.
Featured Image: TikTok
Toledo, United States.
