Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Gino's Pizza - Where the Customer is Sometimes Wrong

We have a lot of really wonderful customers at the Gino's Pizza where I work. We know many of them by name. We know their kids, their pets, where they live, what they do for work. We know all this because our boss spends more time chatting with the customers than he does working. He's the boss, he can do what he likes. And he likes getting to know the customers.

But not all our customers are good ones.

There's the funny ones, like the fellow who called one night and asked, "Do you guys have like, subs?" We told him no. We're Gino's Pizza. We make pizza. So he asked, "Oh, well do you guys have like, burgers?" We told him no. We're Gino's Pizza. We make pizza. So he asked, "What about like, ribs?" Guess what we told him. So finally he says, "Then what the hell do you have?" We explained the whole 'pizza' thing. He then said, "I hate pizza." and hung up.

Just say no to drugs, kids.

There's the emotional ones, like the lady who came in and ordered our $9.99 large, three item pizza, walk-in special. When her pizza came out she said, "I ordered a large." She points to the slice tray and says, "I wanted one like this." Well that's our Centurion pizza, twenty inches. We can make you one in a few minutes if you're willing to wait. She says, "I shouldn't have to wait, that's what I ordered and I want it." No ma'am you ordered a large. The industry standard for a large pizza is 14". This is a large. If you want a bigger pizza we'll make one for you, no problem.

She asked how much for a 20". We told her. She started yelling, "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Every other pizza place if you order a large you get a large but here you get NOTHING. You pay and you get NOTHING. OH MY GOD!" Eventually she made her way out to the parking lot, where we could still hear her screaming, "OH MY GOD!"

It's just a pizza, lady. Please calm down.

But the worst of the worst are the ones who can't do math. This lady ordered a large one-topping pizza. We had a special at the time on a medium one-topping pizza for 6.99 plus tax. The boss accidentally charged her only $7.96. The boss' wife compounded the error by giving the lady $13.04 change from a twenty, instead of the correct $12.04. So we undercharged her and gave her a dollar extra back in her change, nice and simple right?

She comes back to the till and tells us that the woman charged her the wrong price. She puts $13.04 on the counter and says, "She charged me seventeen dollars for a large pizza." We scratched our heads. We showed her using the calculator that $20.00 minus $13.04 is $6.96. We explained that the boss' wife accidentally charged her for a medium instead of a large and gave her an extra dollar back in her change. We told her to keep the extra change and not to worry about having been undercharged. She said, "NO, you owe me ten dollars!" We explained it to her again. She got really upset.

Eventually she demanded her money back. We said fine. We gave her a twenty back, took the $13.04 and told her to keep the pizza anyway. She refused and continued to rant. She demanded that we admit we were wrong. We showed her again, on the calculator, that she was mistaken.

She shouted, "Don't give me that calculator $#!%, I know what I'm talking about, I'M AN ACCOUNTANT!"

We have a lot of really wonderful customers at the Gino's Pizza where I work.
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9 comments:

Serket said...

I found you by clicking "next blog." Your article is really funny. I'm sorry you have such stupid customers! I imagine there are people like this everyone. The accountant story is really sad, so she expected $23.06 back after giving you a $20?

T. D. Fuhringer said...

Thanks for the encouragement Serket. It's only a few customers that give us grief, most are great. Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

You should introduce that lady to your client who didn't keep any receipts. They were made for and deserve each other.

Anonymous said...

This brings back shuddering memories of my waitressing days. Sometimes the old mantra 'the custumer is always right', falls just a hair short of the mark, eh?

Anonymous said...

Yeah Yeah Yeah... All of you pizza shops are the same... Give you money...Listen to me complain a bit ...Say that I can take free pizza that I didn't order instead of giving me right now the pizza I did order that would take twenty minutes to bake through some feat of time travel... offer me a full refund...discriminating against lackwit accountants like me on the basis of economic facts backed up with the newfangled electric abacus contraptions... Not offering me any new cars or sexual favors...Forgetting my complimentary choice of breadsticks or my picture taken with an Orangutan in a tutu and a fairy princess hat.

And then you post on your little blog like it's my fault or something. Sheesh. I'm coming back in there tomorrow. I demand satisfaction. Be prepared to surrender all of your Spanish olive pimentoa, and don't try to jip me with those black olives.

RZStoryLove said...

Love the story. I found your blog through Book and Reader and I think I'll become a regular visitor.

T. D. Fuhringer said...

Welcome suanne and raspberry! And as for you nightbreeze... you stay outta my store ok? That is way too accurate. :)

Anonymous said...

I found this post a little late, but correct me if I'm wrong. You who wandered into a Future Shop and demanded your second penny are judging the lack wit account types? Just asking...

T. D. Fuhringer said...

Don't worry Yames who can't spell. The guy who doea the math for us will appear in a future article!