Pizza Job A Slice Of Heaven To Her
The first thing Bunny Merrill does after waking each morning is guzzle 10 cups of coffee. Then, the Valley resident takes six different pills, including cod liver oil, calcium, Vitamin E, lecithin and chromium.
She swims for 30 minutes, drinks another 10 cups of coffee then pipes up her organ to play Hawaiian music.
All before the 62-year-old heads to work at Domino’s Pizza on Sprague.
“It’s a blast,” she says. “I’m never bored. If I’m on the clock, I’m going to be working.”
She clocks, on average, 40 hours a week, zipping around the Valley in a red Subaru Justy - her fourth car in eight years of delivering pizzas.
Many of her hungry customers are surprised when she comes to their doors with a hot, steaming pizza and a smile.
“They say, ‘Isn’t it hard to be working?’ ‘Aren’t you kind of old to be doing this?”’
Her response? “Why should young kids have all the fun?”
Indeed, Merrill says she is having the time of her life. After working 23 years in the medical field and five in a chiropractor’s office, Merrill wanted to escape the stress of an office and enjoy her work.
Every day, she’s surrounded by teenagers and twenty-somethings, whom she calls “really good, good friends.” They help her whenever she gets a flat tire, even in the middle of a snowstorm. Her manager, John Martin, never minds explaining to her how to use the pizza shop’s computerized ordering system.
“I relate well to all of them,” she says. “Been there, done that, you know?”
Besides all the camaraderie, Merrill loves her work. She takes orders from customers, cleans the shop, delivers and makes pizzas - “the nine topping Extravaganza is my favorite to make - just throw everything on until it looks right.”
She’s worked at four Domino’s Pizza stores in Spokane. When she was at the store on North Division, most of her calls came from Whitworth College. Students asked for her by name to deliver pizzas and invited her to dances and many of their activities.
Merrill never tires of her job. She says daily exercise helps keep her agile and strong. She works out for 1-1/2 hours a day, including free weights when she comes home from work anywhere between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.
Her diet doesn’t help. Three pots of coffee every day and her lunch and dinner consist of, you guessed it, pizza.
“I eat too much of my own product,” she says with a smile. “I don’t cook, won’t cook, haven’t cooked in 17 years. That’s what drive-through windows are for.”
She says her family and friends have come to rely on Merrill’s contributions to parties and potlucks: Domino’s pizza.
“To me, it’s a way of life,” she says. “To everyone else, it’s a treat.”
Aside from her caffeine and pizza addictions, Merrill knows exactly how to treat herself. She takes long, leisurely baths, gets manicures and fills her free time with lots of music and historical novels.
“No one’s going to take care of you except yourself,” she says. “You’ve only got one life, so go for it. Go with the gusto. If I’m 90 and can still get my driver’s license, I’ll still be delivering pizzas.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo