So Chell and I decided to have pizza last night. As we were round at hers we decided to go online and visit the Dominos website (a fantastic invention if you ask me)
We ordered our pizza: a medium double decadance Cheese and Tomato, medium Ham and Pineapple and Chicken Strippers side... then we sat down to wait. For all you fans of other Pizza places I would like to state that the reason I like Dominos so much is because of their cool little pots of gak that you dip into - a most excellent addition to any meal!
Now Dominos pizza doesn't normally take much time but this one seemed to take an age. We must have waited a good 45 minutes but when we had nearly given up hope (and our movie was nearly over) there was a sudden ring on the door bell.
I collected my wallet and upon opening the door I met a smiley little Dominos guy with his bag of yummy goodness. I promptly took the bag and handed over the money. At this point I need to say that our pizza came to the grand sum of £23.97 - a meal fit for a king!
Here's the crazy bit - I handed over £30: a £20 and a £10. He handed me back a £5 and a £1 coin, smiled at me and said "I don't have the '3', sorry" then he turned heal and walked off! He didn't even wait for my blessing upon his lack of funds! He just left me standing there! Madness.
My question is this... what if he hadn't of had the £1 or the fiver? Would he have just walked off then? Who draws the line under this kind of cheekiness? When does it stop? How much does he make in these 'special gratuities' each week? How long is it going to be before we have pizza guys turning up on our doorsteps and saying: "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't bring your pizza, but can you pay me double anyway?"
And the funniest thing is - I still like Dominos pizza!
3 comments:
A pizza conglomerate in 1965 specified that the maximum acceptable amount to not give a customer in change was 25p. Anymore than that would require an apology. This conglomerate split off in 1971 to form two seperate pizza chains - Pizza Hut and Dominoes. In fairness to them, they have kept true to their original values for more than 40 years.
You do know this isn't a national newspaper right? Are you crying wolf?
Here’s where I take a minute (or ten) to bash British customer service.
A pizza guy would never get away with that crap in the States. We just wouldn’t put up with it (and it might get you shot in some places). But here, in the land of rudeness, shop owners and workers treat their customers as the people who made them come to work today, rather than the people who make it possible for them to have a job. In the States we have a credo when it comes to customer service, “The customer is always right.”
But I have learned something in the last year or two.
The British always start out strong when it comes to treating their customers rudely, but they always back WAY up when confronted. When I first moved here, I was very timid in this area. I didn’t want to come off as the rude/arrogant American. But one day I found myself in a shop, trying to decide between two different televisions. I had only been there about three or four minutes, when the sales lady said, “sir, you’re going to have to hurry up.” That was it. I’d had all I could take from British sales people. So I turned to her, and in front of God and about four other customers said, “I’m trying to decide between two rather expensive television sets. And your job is to help me do that.” She promptly backed up and suddenly became a joy. That’s the attitude I’ve taken ever since and, in every case where the sales associate was British, I’ve found that it always works.
So, the next time a pizza guy informs you that he doesn’t have the £3 change, ask for your money back and tell him that you’ll get him the correct change the next time he comes around.
(On a side note, I’d love to take a shot here at the British for never tipping, but assuming a tip is even sleazier than not tipping at all.)
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