Hands off the pizza bag!

[derangedperson]

This isn't so much a sucky customer story as it is a sucky kid story. Anyway, I'm starting a new job next week--1.5 years of pizza delivery come to an end! YAHOO! And towards the end of my tenure, THIS happens.

I had three deliveries at once that I was taking care of, and I pulled up to the second stop on my way. I've delivered there before, so I know her and her son. I took the pizza bag and their garlic bread up to the door, rang the bell, and this ensued:

I pull out her pizza and place the bag on the ground. As I was collecting her money and handing her the food, her son (who's about six and well fed, if you get my meaning) shouts "I wanna carry this!" and picks up the bag, nearly tipping the damn thing sideways! I scream, "THERE'S A PIZZA IN THERE!" as his mom starts scolding him and pulls him back in the house saying the same thing.

To which her son replies, "PIZZA?!"

She goes, "WE HAVE ONE ALREADY! DON'T TOUCH OTHER PEOPLE'S PROPERTY!" and all the while, I'm trying to restrain myself from yelling "DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN, YOU GREEDY LITTLE SHIT!" But she apologized, I said it wasn't a problem, and went on my way. I made sure to check the other pizza, and thankfully it was in good shape.

Now, if the bag was empty I wouldn't have cared, but for God's sake, THINK, KID!

EDIT: I apologize for the bitter tone. I don't hate kids. Really.

[Sandy]

Hey, wasn't the kid only 6 years old?? I don't think he did anything wrong. He didn't know there was a pizza in that bag by the sounds of things. I think he was just trying to be helpful. The poor thing, he was only 6!

[bigjimaz]

I agree with Sandy. Kids do things like that, sometimes worse. They don't have the cognizant reasoning to think of the consequences of doing this. All they know is there's pizza in there. What bothers me is why you took someone elses pizza into a house it wasn't supposed to be. Anyway, maybe it is a good thing that you are ending your 'tenure' there. Good luck on your next endeavor.

[captainvegetable02]

Six years old is PLENTY old enough to know that you don't touch things that don't belong to you. And I don't see anything wrong with having someone else's pizza with him at the time...both pizzas were in one of those insulated bags so they stay hot. If it were your pizza, would you rather he took it out and let it get cold while he delivered the first one?

[powerboy]

Not all 6 year olds, knows not to touch other peoples property. Hell I didn't know that, when I was 6

[bigjimaz]

If it were your pizza, would you rather he took it out and let it get cold while he delivered the first one?

No, but I wouldn't mind if he took mine out of the bag and left the one intended for someone else in the bag while he handed mine to me. My pizza isn't going to get cold while out of the bag in that minute it takes to go from his car to my countertop.

Playing devil's advocate for a second, lets assume PDG (pizza delivery guy) has 2 pizza's to deliver. At stop 1 he takes his insulated bag containing both pizzas into house 1, get's paid, makes a decent tip (for a change) and while PDG is making change some of the roaches from this infested house find their way into PDG's nice dark delivery bag. What happens when PDG gets to house 2, opens his insulated bag and just as the pizza is free from the bag, 3 or 4 residents of the last house crawl out of PDG's bag to the horror of PDG and the hungry people at house 2.

Listen folks. I know that most pizza shops make their delivery people take the bag right to the door. I also know that they do this to try to represent that the pizza will be fresh and hot. Believe me, the 1° or 2° temperature drop will not matter in the 30 feet from the delivery vehicle to the door.

Anyway, I'm not climbing on OP's case. He reacted as many people do around children. He sounds as if he doesn't have children, judging solely by his reaction. Those of us that have kids know that 6 year olds are inquisitve and hard to train when it comes to matters of the stomach. What they see is pizza, they don't see their parents. They don't see the delivery person. They see pizza.

OP, I apologize if it sounds like I was chiding you for your reaction. I assure you I was not. My reaction was as a parent of boys who have done the exact same thing.

[April]

Eh I have to call not very sucky on this one. It was just a kid, probably over excited to eat pizza. I am the mother of a 6 year old, and while she knows not to touch other people's belongings when she gets excited about stuff she tends to forget.

Plus the mom tried to correct the kid and apologized for his behavior.

[iradney]

I think the kid was somewhat sucky. He could plainly see that the OP was handing their food over to his mom, so why would he want to carry the bag when the food's in his mom's hands? Plus, 6 years old is DEFINITELY old enough to know NOT to touch other people's property. Shoot, when I was FOUR, I knew not to touch other people's stuff without permission. If you're old enough to learn the alphabet and basic math, then you're old enough to know basic etiquette.

[captainvegetable02]

No, but I wouldn't mind if he took mine out of the bag and left the one intended for someone else in the bag while he handed mine to me. The pizza isn't going to get cold in that minute it takes to go from his car to my countertop.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but here's how I interpreted the original post:
OP has two pizzas in bag; goes to first customer's house. Walks up to customer's house, holding bag with both pizzas. Removes customer's pizza from the bag, sets bag with remaining pizza down (presumably on front porch or just inside the door, wherever he's standing). Customer's kid (who in my opinion is more than old enough to know better, 6 years old is a first grader!) runs up and grabs the pizza bag, despite the fact that the OP has already given the kid's mother their pizza.
I don't see anything wrong with what the OP did here. Yes, he could have removed the first customer's pizza from the bag to bring it to the door, and left the bag w/the second pizza in the car, but I don't think that the way he did it was wrong in any way. Since you're on this site I'm sure you're aware that there are plenty of SC's out there who would throw a fit over their pizza not being brought all the way to the door in the insulated bag...and if someone took more than a couple minutes to get to the door, it could get a bit cold in that amount of time.

[MrSunshineState]

At least the mother diciplined the child and apologized to you. Most of today's parents would boast about how cute ther little perfect angel is.

[volatile]

I agree with Sandy. Kids do things like that, sometimes worse. They don't have the cognizant reasoning to think of the consequences of doing this. All they know is there's pizza in there. What bothers me is why you took someone elses pizza into a house it wasn't supposed to be. Anyway, maybe it is a good thing that you are ending your 'tenure' there. Good luck on your next endeavor.

Perhaps you have never had experience delivering pizzas. Hotbags are limited and space in your car is limited. If you are delivering just one pizza to one house there is no point in letting it get one hotbag to itself. You pack a couple orders into one bag then take out the appropriate order for the customer when you get to their home. Maybe he could have just pulled out the other orders out of the bag and left them in his car while he delivered his one pizza...but now, that would just be plain stupid wouldn't it?

[volatile]

No, but I wouldn't mind if he took mine out of the bag and left the one intended for someone else in the bag while he handed mine to me. My pizza isn't going to get cold while out of the bag in that minute it takes to go from his car to my countertop.

You are severely underestimating the retardedness of customers. Perhaps you wouldn't, but trust me, there are lots of people that would flip over the notion of any temperature drop and demand a free pizza or that it be remade.

[IT Grunt]

I'd have to say what the OP did is common practice. It is with the pizza delivery people around here. If they are delivering to more than one stop, they'll have two, often three pizzas in the same bag. I've watched them open the flap, check for the one they need and pull it out, either holding the bag with my pizza on top, or setting the bag down while we finish the transaction. (I always use credit/debit cards, easier to ensure I can tip them.)

As for the kid, I would agree that 6 is definitely old enough to know right from wrong. Yes, young kids are going to have impulses, but by the time I was in first grade, I knew not to go grabbing something that didn't belong to me unless someone told me it was ok. If I did, I'd have gotten the same scolding that kid did, so I say kudos to the mom. Given the fragile nature of fresh pizza, the OP's reaction is highly understandable in my opinion.

[Hobgoblin]

I side with the OP here. IF he had taken the pizza out of the bag to deliver it, someone would call the store to complain. Taking someone else's pizza out of the bag to deliver yours is also right out, as it is preferential treatment to you, something none of us should expect.

Kids, even well-mannered ones, can forget when they get excited. Hell, I forget whenever I get thrilled about something, and I'm far from being a six year old.

But it all worked out okay. Sounds like a situation wherein a little venting was needed and that's all. Glad that you get a new job (especially one that you are happy to be having). Hopefully you won't find yourself in too much need of posting on here about it.

[BusyBee]

Six is definitely old enough to have internalised "Don't touch other people's stuff." You don't expect first graders to go around grabbing (and wanting to take away) other kids', or the teacher's(!), stuff from their desks.

It sounds to me like the kid had no idea there was more pizza in the insulated bag. He just thought "Hey, I haven't seen one of these before/in a long time! It looks cool! I wanna pick it up!" Which is fair enough, I still think thoughts like that But he still should've known better than to grab it, in my opinion anyways.