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Sorry for the length, I didn't realize that it would be quite this long.
I’ve had a few customer service oriented jobs in my time.
My very first job was working at a Little Caesars Pizza in a neighboring suburb. It was a great job for me at the time (as I was 16, and what teenager doesn’t love pizza?) My mom wasn’t too thrilled, as all my clothes and car always smelled like pizza, but that’s another story.
At this point in time (early 90s), Little Caesars offered two pizzas for the price of one, usually around $10US. And you could have different toppings on both pizzas, as long as they had the same number of toppings. (Not that that is important to my story, but it’s an interesting factoid.)
Now, I had never been officially trained in “proper” customer service at this job, so I didn’t cave in to SCs or put up with their berations. (sp?) I just didn’t put up with any of their crap. Which seemed to just annoy them all the more.
My favorite SC story from Little Caesars shows how little patience I had in dealing with these self-important morons:
A bit of backstory: During the busy times, when people would call in ahead to order their pizzas to be ready at a specific time, we would pre-make their pies and then put them through the oven about 10 minutes before they wanted to pick them up. Our ovens took about 7 minutes to cook the pizzas. Add in a couple of minutes to pull them out of the oven, slice and package and there you go. Now bear in mind, our regular turn around time was usually about 15 to 20 minutes.
Cast of Characters
SC: Moronic Man of Great Magnitude
Me: Pizza Boy Extraordinaire
My Thoughts and Actions
Manager: My ever-so-cool manager
This particular night, I was answering the phones and working the front counter. Anyways, Mr. Moron calls in, places his order and I thought he said he wanted his pizzas ready at a specific time. As we were starting to get busy, I had his pizzas pre-made and then set them aside.
Fast forward 15 minutes and Mr. Moron comes in…now he wasn’t sucky until about halfway through our exchange.
Me: Hi, may I help you?
SC: Order for Moron.
Me: Certainly. (Look around at the pizzas orders that are ready, but not seeing his.)
Me: I’m sorry, what was the name again? (In case I misheard him.)
SC: Moron; M-O-R-O-N. (He wasn’t sucky, just spelling it out to be helpful.)
Me: (Thinking the name sounded familiar and then remembering the order I took just 15 minutes ago.) Excuse me for a moment. (Wander over to our prep station, find the order, place the pizzas on the oven rack and head back to the front counter.)
Me: I apologize sir, I must have misheard you when you ordered, I thought you wanted your pizzas ready at *time* and so they’re not ready yet. They have been made and I just placed them in the oven, they should be ready in about 7 minutes. I will be able to give you a disc…
SC: (Cutting me off and now yelling) WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’RE NOT READY?
Me: (Slightly taken aback) I do apologize, sir, but I must have misheard when you placed your order. Again, I just put your pizzas in the oven and they’ll just be a few minutes. And I will give you a disc…
SC: (Again, cutting me off) WELL, THAT’S JUST GREAT! JUST GREAT! I HAD THIS WHOLE EVENING PERFECTLY PLANNED AND NOW IT’S RUINED! WE RENTED A MOVIE AND WE WERE GOING TO WATCH IT WHILE WE WERE EATING THEM!! YOU HAVE RUINED OUR WHOLE EVENING! WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG TONIGHT?!!
Me: (Being the ever snarky teen, and now pointing into the parking lot) Sir, your car is on fire.
SC: (Shocked, whirls around to look in the lot, seeing that his car is indeed not on fire, turns back to me.)
Me: (Slightly raising my voice, as I really don’t like being yelled at) SIR, I am sorry that I misheard you. I do apologize. Your pizzas will be ready in 7 minutes, if you would like them, please have a seat over there (Pointing to seats) and I will call you when they’re ready, otherwise the door is over there! (Pointing to door.)
SC: Um… (Slinks over and sits down, probably in shock that a "mere" teenager would dare talk back to him.)
I was pretty upset at this point and walked around the corner that is hidden from the customers and run into my cool manager, who is trying very, very hard to not laugh.
Manager: Um, that’s not really how you’re supposed to talk to the customers.
Me: I know, but he just really pushed my buttons. I ruined his whole evening over 7 minutes? My goodness, someone call a violinist.
Manager: Well, (giggling) just try to be a bit nicer in the future.
So a few minutes later, Mr. Moron’s pizzas are ready. My coworker pulled them out of the oven, cut and bagged them and hands them to me.
I walk up to the counter, pizzas in hand.
Me: Mr. Moron, your pizzas are ready.
SC: Um, thank you.
Me: And because the delay was my fault, I am going to give you a discount of $3 off your order. (Now whispering to him) Though I really shouldn’t, since you were so rude to me.
He didn’t say anything else, he just paid, took his pizzas and left my store.
I’ve had a few customer service oriented jobs in my time.
My very first job was working at a Little Caesars Pizza in a neighboring suburb. It was a great job for me at the time (as I was 16, and what teenager doesn’t love pizza?) My mom wasn’t too thrilled, as all my clothes and car always smelled like pizza, but that’s another story.
At this point in time (early 90s), Little Caesars offered two pizzas for the price of one, usually around $10US. And you could have different toppings on both pizzas, as long as they had the same number of toppings. (Not that that is important to my story, but it’s an interesting factoid.)
Now, I had never been officially trained in “proper” customer service at this job, so I didn’t cave in to SCs or put up with their berations. (sp?) I just didn’t put up with any of their crap. Which seemed to just annoy them all the more.
My favorite SC story from Little Caesars shows how little patience I had in dealing with these self-important morons:
A bit of backstory: During the busy times, when people would call in ahead to order their pizzas to be ready at a specific time, we would pre-make their pies and then put them through the oven about 10 minutes before they wanted to pick them up. Our ovens took about 7 minutes to cook the pizzas. Add in a couple of minutes to pull them out of the oven, slice and package and there you go. Now bear in mind, our regular turn around time was usually about 15 to 20 minutes.
Cast of Characters
SC: Moronic Man of Great Magnitude
Me: Pizza Boy Extraordinaire
My Thoughts and Actions
Manager: My ever-so-cool manager
This particular night, I was answering the phones and working the front counter. Anyways, Mr. Moron calls in, places his order and I thought he said he wanted his pizzas ready at a specific time. As we were starting to get busy, I had his pizzas pre-made and then set them aside.
Fast forward 15 minutes and Mr. Moron comes in…now he wasn’t sucky until about halfway through our exchange.
Me: Hi, may I help you?
SC: Order for Moron.
Me: Certainly. (Look around at the pizzas orders that are ready, but not seeing his.)
Me: I’m sorry, what was the name again? (In case I misheard him.)
SC: Moron; M-O-R-O-N. (He wasn’t sucky, just spelling it out to be helpful.)
Me: (Thinking the name sounded familiar and then remembering the order I took just 15 minutes ago.) Excuse me for a moment. (Wander over to our prep station, find the order, place the pizzas on the oven rack and head back to the front counter.)
Me: I apologize sir, I must have misheard you when you ordered, I thought you wanted your pizzas ready at *time* and so they’re not ready yet. They have been made and I just placed them in the oven, they should be ready in about 7 minutes. I will be able to give you a disc…
SC: (Cutting me off and now yelling) WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’RE NOT READY?
Me: (Slightly taken aback) I do apologize, sir, but I must have misheard when you placed your order. Again, I just put your pizzas in the oven and they’ll just be a few minutes. And I will give you a disc…
SC: (Again, cutting me off) WELL, THAT’S JUST GREAT! JUST GREAT! I HAD THIS WHOLE EVENING PERFECTLY PLANNED AND NOW IT’S RUINED! WE RENTED A MOVIE AND WE WERE GOING TO WATCH IT WHILE WE WERE EATING THEM!! YOU HAVE RUINED OUR WHOLE EVENING! WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG TONIGHT?!!
Me: (Being the ever snarky teen, and now pointing into the parking lot) Sir, your car is on fire.
SC: (Shocked, whirls around to look in the lot, seeing that his car is indeed not on fire, turns back to me.)
Me: (Slightly raising my voice, as I really don’t like being yelled at) SIR, I am sorry that I misheard you. I do apologize. Your pizzas will be ready in 7 minutes, if you would like them, please have a seat over there (Pointing to seats) and I will call you when they’re ready, otherwise the door is over there! (Pointing to door.)
SC: Um… (Slinks over and sits down, probably in shock that a "mere" teenager would dare talk back to him.)
I was pretty upset at this point and walked around the corner that is hidden from the customers and run into my cool manager, who is trying very, very hard to not laugh.
Manager: Um, that’s not really how you’re supposed to talk to the customers.
Me: I know, but he just really pushed my buttons. I ruined his whole evening over 7 minutes? My goodness, someone call a violinist.
Manager: Well, (giggling) just try to be a bit nicer in the future.
So a few minutes later, Mr. Moron’s pizzas are ready. My coworker pulled them out of the oven, cut and bagged them and hands them to me.
I walk up to the counter, pizzas in hand.
Me: Mr. Moron, your pizzas are ready.
SC: Um, thank you.
Me: And because the delay was my fault, I am going to give you a discount of $3 off your order. (Now whispering to him) Though I really shouldn’t, since you were so rude to me.
He didn’t say anything else, he just paid, took his pizzas and left my store.
Excellent comeback!
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