Food ordering NO NOs.....

[tiggster67]

This is my first post so here we go............

I work part time / full time taking "take out" and "delivery" food orders for a particular company. This past week has been VERY annoying and I just have to get a few things out!!!!!......(thank you for the opportunity to do so).

1. Please do not put me on hold in the middle of your order because your call waiting is beeping. My time is valuable too!! I get paid per order so sitting on hold waiting for you to talk to your "buddy" is very annoying!!!

2. Please do not call and then spend 10 min yelling and calling at each other to discuss what each person wants to order. A little prep. work goes a long way.

3. Please do not change your mind 4 times within an order. I try to keep up with all your changes and confirm your order but sometimes I think you don't even know what you have ordered by the end the conversaion.

4. I have four kids of my own so I know how things go but please do not call to order when you are holding a screaming baby/toddler and expect me to hear you.

5. Please do not spend 5 - 10 minutes ranting to me about how lousy your last food order was or it was wrong etc. and then when I politely offer to put you through to customer service say "oh no don't bother. I don't want to bother anyone". I understand you weren't happy and need to vent but I'm the wrong person as I explained. I'm just the ordering agent and can't really do anything about it. If you want something done or a credit etc PLEASE let me put you through to customer service.

6. I try and be friendly. I'm polite. I don't mind making a little bit of small talk etc. but your ordering food and this is not supposed to be a social conversation. Time is money for me unfortunately and I just can't spend 10 min chatting with you while I take your $10.00 order.

7. I understand that you may be in a hurry, I want to make it quick as well, but when I try and confirm your order to you (to make sure everything is correct) please do not get impatient with me or cut me off. It's part of my job and I am assuming you want to the right food so please give me the 30 seconds to recap the order to you.

Ahhhh ok feel better. I really like my job but sometimes.....

KA

[JustADude]

Hey! Welcome to the asylum, grab a comfy chair and a drink. We'll have you fitted for your I-Love-Me jacket in no time. On that note, my own phone-order peeves are:

1) Speak up for the love of Gord! If I say 'I'm sorry, I can't quite hear you over the noise in the store,' that's my way of telling you to speak louder, not to repeat what you said in a huffy, whiney tone of the same volume.

2) Don't spend five minutes of my time ordering a stack of pizzas for a party, refusing every special I offer you to try and save your $20-$30 bucks, and then bitch about the price. Yep a metric crap-ton of specialty pizzas at $15 a pop adds up fast. Thats why we have party-packs that even out to $10 a pie. Bonus points if you say 'I'm calling The Competition, they're cheaper'... no. They're not.

3) Yes, that's great that you want a large pepperoni, an order of cheese-sticks, some buffalo wings with ranch sauce, and a two-liter of coke, but I DO need to get your phone-number before I can do the order. Bonus points if you get snarky because I ask you to repeat it.

[draggar]

So they want to talk to their buddy on the other line while shouting to everyone else about what they want to order while holding a screaming toddler, then want to have a social conversation with you but they cannot wait to hear you confirm the order?

[megami]

my personal favorite is when they take 20 minutes to order a 16 inch specialty cookie...and then don't come to pick it up. so we call them and get this

sc: oh...i forgot...can i get it tomorrow?
me: well, yes, but it won't be as fresh
sc: can you make me another one?
me: yes, but we'll have to charge you for it
sc: what? that's ridiculous! after i come and get it tomorrow, i'm never going back there again!
me: (monotone) i'm sorry you feel that way. we really hate to loose such a valued customer

yeah. right.

[tiggster67]

Then there is the always favourite substitution conversation!!!!

ME: well me
LC: Lazy Customer

LC: I don't want fries with that. I need a salad instead.

ME: I'm sorry but the fries come with this special. I cannot substitute anything else.

LC: But I don't want them.

ME: but that's the special. If you want something else with your meal I would suggest you order a regular meal and then you can pick your side order

LC: But I want the special

ME: Yes and it comes with the fries and I cannot substitute. (insert internal tape recorded message here because I'm just repeating this over and over for a few more back and forths with customer) in fact the system will NOT let me substitute. I can't do it even if I wanted to.

and then finally the part of the conversation I know is coming....

LC: but when I go to the store and order they will do it sometimes.

ME: the store has more flexiblity than me. If you really don't want to pay regular price then I would suggest you take your chances and go to the store to place your order at the counter.

LC: but that' a block away and it's tOOOOO FAAAAR!!! (insert annoying whiney baby voice) I guess I'll take the fries but I'm not happy (NO KIDDING!!!!! I got that part)


I can't even count the number of calls that go like this when we run promotions.....

Get up and walk the block to the store!!!!

[BookstoreEscapee]

a block away is too far?! geez how lazy can you get?

[megami]

i like how they're to lazy to go to the store to get a salad...so they get fries instead. because that's so much better.

here's another no no, though:

never let your kid order, unless they're old enough to know what they want the first time. we really don't have the time to get something for them, then put it back when they change their mind. 20 times.

[TheRoo]

My favorite is the people with credit cards who do not have it out and I hear them over the phone digging for it. I also get people who have the code on the back worn out. Yes I need it. Yes we needed it last time. No, it will not go through without it.

On another note, with people calling with noisy backgrounds, I had a manager once who would talk very quietly into the phone if the music was too loud or the kids were screaming. Since they couldn't hear him, they always stopped whatever noise it is that we don't want to listen to.

[JustADude]

I had a manager once who would talk very quietly into the phone if the music was too loud or the kids were screaming. Since they couldn't hear him, they always stopped whatever noise it is that we don't want to listen to.

I'm going to have to remember that one!

[NightAngel]

I'm going to have to remember that one!

It works on screaming/crying children as well. I used to do it to my oldest son when he was a little tyke.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I used to work at a pizza place, and people who waited til they called to make their minds up used to bug me, too. Also, there were people who'd do that actually instore! X_x

[Andara Bledin]

On another note, with people calling with noisy backgrounds, I had a manager once who would talk very quietly into the phone if the music was too loud or the kids were screaming. Since they couldn't hear him, they always stopped whatever noise it is that we don't want to listen to.

I do that all the time. What really gets to me is when people call on speaker phone and have so much background noise that it won't switch from send to receive. I absolutely refuse to raise my voice just so they don't have to take the effort to pick up the blasted phone.

I do that to people in my own office, too. If you can't hold the phone and talk to me at the same time, then get yourself a headset.

^-.-^