I struggle to empathize with your experience. I try to be a regular patron of restaurants, and so I find myself putting in emotional effort, although not much,

I struggle to empathize with your experience. I try to be a regular patron of restaurants, and so I find myself putting in emotional effort, although not much, to overcome the hurdles you mention. I phone the restaurant, then walk to their storefront, and hand them cash or card. I know what I want to eat, where I'm getting it from, when they're open, how long it'll take to prepare, how long it will take me to walk there, how much it will cost, and how much I will tip. If I need customization, then I use my words when I'm speaking to them on the phone. For some restaurants, particularly food carts, no phoning ahead is necessary. Yesterday I walked to get Italian food, and the chef was able to prepare my order interleaved with other orders that were going out for delivery, with only a 5min wait. For comparison, I've tried Grubhub, Eat24, and others. I stopped ordering from them because they mistreat their drivers, delivery times are horrible, the fees are unreasonable, they don't put in the effort to learn the layouts of the cities that they operate in, and I'm pretty sure that they take their drivers' tips. I'm not willing to be a part of that sort of system. From the conversations I've had with chefs and restaurant owners, they do not even "support" the delivery services; they all feel strong-armed into being customers.