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So while I know this is CS not Employees suck, I have seen other posts here like this so one more can't hurt. And probably to the other customers in the store who did not know the full story I was the Sucky one. But anyway, here is the story.
On my way home from work tonight I decided to order a Pizza from Dominos. In my town they only have 1 location. I tried to call 5 times, and the line was busy. No biggie, I understand that during peak times the lines may be busy. I figure I will just stop in the store on my way home. Usually the order will only take 10 minutes, and I can run over to the store nearby and grab a 6 pack of Newcastle while it cooks.
So I arrive at the store, there is one other customer in the store, who apparently either was an off duty employee or friends with them. She moves aside when I come in, so no big deal, but the 3 employees working do continue to talk and joke with her while making pizzas, and ignore me. It should be noted that this is a VERY SMALL store, from the counter you can see the entire store, including where the phones are. The Managers office is actually behind you from where you stand in line. The only thing you can't see from the counter is the walk in. What catches my eye here are all three phones are OFF THE HOOK! Just for fun I call the store from my cell phone, and yes, I got a busy signal. During my entire time in the store (see below) nobody went over to the phones, so I doubt they had anyone on hold.
So its now been 5 minutes (no, I do not overstate wait times like the SC's do). Even though I can see everyone working and they can see me, nobody has A. Taken my order B. Greeted me or C. Told me that they will be with me in a minute.
At this point I make eye contact with the other customer and jokingly tell her "gee, its a good thing that I am a patient guy". She laughed and said yeah, they are just pretty busy. She was kinda cute, so I made some small talk with her for a few minutes. She finally gets what she was waiting on, and she tells the guy (by name) that I have been here for awhile and needed to place an order. He looks at me and walked off. Also, I should note that they were really not that busy. The warming rack where they keep the completed pizzas had 3 small orders on it, and they only had 6 tickets hanging on the rack and none in the printer. For the volume this store does, thats nothing. Sometimes it pays to have Pizza/Foodservice experience
Finally, one of them, who may have been the shiftleader tells another guy to help not only me, but the 4 other people who have just shown up, and are in line behind me. He finally comes up after the other guy asked him to help us 4 more times,and asks me if I have ordered, I tell him no, its kinda hard to when the phones are off the hook and nobody takes your order when you are physically in the store either. He then asks the other people who just came in if they had ordered, 1 of them had, so he gets their food. I am still not all that upset, I am a pretty patient guy, especially after years working with SC's, and I understand he is just trying to expediate the service by getting the lucky ones that managed to place an order out first.
What got me was that he knew the person in line behind me, who had not ordered yet. Even though I was still standing in front of him, he started to take that guys order before mine. I excused myself, and told him that I was first in line. He said yeah, I know, but I already know what this guy wants. I simply told him fine. I will take my business elsewhere this evening. I did do a little bit of arm waving as I walked off, which seemed to alarm the other customers, but I did not yell.
The only thing that I did that could be considered sucky is I emailed Dominos customer service when I got home. Since I could see all 3 people working in the store, from the way they were acting, if one of them was the Manager/Shiftleader it would have been pointless in my eyes to talk to them while I was there. I did not, however, threaten to not eat there again and demand free stuff. In fact, I told them that I would eat there again, and I don't want anything free. We'll see what happens.
The pizza I got from the other place was very good, and the Newcastle was excellent as always. I prefer local pizza places over the chains anyway, I just wanted to try the new garlic bread pizza they have at Doms.
On my way home from work tonight I decided to order a Pizza from Dominos. In my town they only have 1 location. I tried to call 5 times, and the line was busy. No biggie, I understand that during peak times the lines may be busy. I figure I will just stop in the store on my way home. Usually the order will only take 10 minutes, and I can run over to the store nearby and grab a 6 pack of Newcastle while it cooks.
So I arrive at the store, there is one other customer in the store, who apparently either was an off duty employee or friends with them. She moves aside when I come in, so no big deal, but the 3 employees working do continue to talk and joke with her while making pizzas, and ignore me. It should be noted that this is a VERY SMALL store, from the counter you can see the entire store, including where the phones are. The Managers office is actually behind you from where you stand in line. The only thing you can't see from the counter is the walk in. What catches my eye here are all three phones are OFF THE HOOK! Just for fun I call the store from my cell phone, and yes, I got a busy signal. During my entire time in the store (see below) nobody went over to the phones, so I doubt they had anyone on hold.
So its now been 5 minutes (no, I do not overstate wait times like the SC's do). Even though I can see everyone working and they can see me, nobody has A. Taken my order B. Greeted me or C. Told me that they will be with me in a minute.
At this point I make eye contact with the other customer and jokingly tell her "gee, its a good thing that I am a patient guy". She laughed and said yeah, they are just pretty busy. She was kinda cute, so I made some small talk with her for a few minutes. She finally gets what she was waiting on, and she tells the guy (by name) that I have been here for awhile and needed to place an order. He looks at me and walked off. Also, I should note that they were really not that busy. The warming rack where they keep the completed pizzas had 3 small orders on it, and they only had 6 tickets hanging on the rack and none in the printer. For the volume this store does, thats nothing. Sometimes it pays to have Pizza/Foodservice experience
Finally, one of them, who may have been the shiftleader tells another guy to help not only me, but the 4 other people who have just shown up, and are in line behind me. He finally comes up after the other guy asked him to help us 4 more times,and asks me if I have ordered, I tell him no, its kinda hard to when the phones are off the hook and nobody takes your order when you are physically in the store either. He then asks the other people who just came in if they had ordered, 1 of them had, so he gets their food. I am still not all that upset, I am a pretty patient guy, especially after years working with SC's, and I understand he is just trying to expediate the service by getting the lucky ones that managed to place an order out first.
What got me was that he knew the person in line behind me, who had not ordered yet. Even though I was still standing in front of him, he started to take that guys order before mine. I excused myself, and told him that I was first in line. He said yeah, I know, but I already know what this guy wants. I simply told him fine. I will take my business elsewhere this evening. I did do a little bit of arm waving as I walked off, which seemed to alarm the other customers, but I did not yell.
The only thing that I did that could be considered sucky is I emailed Dominos customer service when I got home. Since I could see all 3 people working in the store, from the way they were acting, if one of them was the Manager/Shiftleader it would have been pointless in my eyes to talk to them while I was there. I did not, however, threaten to not eat there again and demand free stuff. In fact, I told them that I would eat there again, and I don't want anything free. We'll see what happens.
The pizza I got from the other place was very good, and the Newcastle was excellent as always. I prefer local pizza places over the chains anyway, I just wanted to try the new garlic bread pizza they have at Doms.
Wow. Just... wow.
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