Best Pizza Place in the Area Loses $1000s

OK, there is this pizza place here on Long Island that opened about 2 years ago. It's pizza just like the best from the Bronx, back in the day. One particularly busy night I stopped to get a large pie with fresh garlic for the family after a late day at work. It was around 7pm. I had called for the pie about an hour ahead, knowing they were busy and I was told that it would be a 40 minute wait. I knew I'd have to give them at least 80 minutes... they are notorious for making their customers wait. And wait they do... the food is THAT GOOD. And not just the pizza, all of their dishes are exquisite.

Anyway, I get there and I'm told, oh, yours will be out in a few minutes. This is with the cushion of their 40 minutes plus my 20 minutes. Total time since my call to order, 1 hour... for a large pie... and I'm still told I have to wait... ok... par for the course.

About 10 minutes into my wait I observe a server taking a pie out of the oven, cutting it into slices, placing it into a box and taking what I know to be my ticket... ok, things are good. He calls out to the waiting crowd, "Kevin." But my name is Ken. He must've gotten it wrong. No. A guy behind me says... "Yo... that's me." He hands Kevin the pie and he walks out.

The pizza guy that I know comes from the kitchen and sees me waiting. He says, "You're still waiting?" And then he has a conversation with the server who gave Kevin his pie... and I hear snippets of that conversation, "No... not Kevin... Ken... fresh garlic... none on Kevin's." He promptly tells me that there's been an error, and he'll get my pizza out in 10 minutes... he busies himself making another pie. If this place were not so good I would have walked out and gone to a different place. But, as I said, the food is "THAT GOOD."

I can tell this is going to be a very long night. I walk outside the pizza place to call my wife and tell her so as I observe Kevin placing his pie in the back seat of his car. He looks puzzled and he opens the box that the pie is in and sticks his nose in it. I'm thinking, he got the wrong pie and he doesn't like fresh garlic, as I walk back into the place. Sure enough, Kevin is right behind me. He makes his way through the crowd and calls the pizza guy over to the side of the counter. He whispers something to him. I watch him walk back out to his car, take the pie that he just stuck his nose into, and hands the pie back to the pizza guy. He takes it and places it on top of the ovens. I'm thinking... he's kidding, right? That pie should have been placed right into the garbage... I saw Kevin stick his nose into that box, who knows what else he could have stuck in there? Kevin walks out with his correct order, and I sit to watch and see what happens next.

About two minutes later, I'm told, "Ok, you're all set." And I watch the pizza guy take Kevin's nosed-into pizza box off the ovens and place it on the counter.

I. Am. Stunned.

I say to him, "You're not trying to give me Kevin's pizza that he got in error, are you?" You see, I liked this place. I loved the food. I was going to give this guy every opportunity to redeem himself.

He says, "No. Kevin's pizza is in THAT box," pointing to another box on the back oven.

I said, "I watched you place that box from Kevin, right where you got this one from, and I'm telling you, I saw this from right over there."

He responds, "Hey, you kow me, I wouldn't do that."

I said, "I thought I knew you, until you just responded to me with a lie, and I gave you the opportunity to correct your error, you still lied right to my face. Never mind that this is a violation of Health regulations. You've lost me as a customer for life."

He didn't say another word.

Before this event, I ate there at least once a week with my family and once a week for lunch with lunch buddies. Well, that was a year and a half ago. I have not set foot inside this place since this incident that could have easily been avoided and definitely would have been overlooked if the employee had corrected the "mistake" he had made. But, as a result of a poor decision, he did NOT correct the mistake and has cost the small business owner thousands of dollars in revenue.
What's worse is, the owner will never know why I left. And why over 300 people who work within two blocks of his store have heard that story and use that as part of their decision as where to have lunch 5 days a week.

I've thought of going in to tell the owner a few times, but each time I've attempted, that same guy is behind the counter and I think, I am not going against my word. I'll never set foot inside that place again.

If you're a small business owner, ask yourself, "Who's minding the store?"

Lack of Responsibility

I see it more and more every day. Young representatives of established corporations, telephone customer service reps, clerks at the movie theater candy counter, the guys in 7-11... it's almost too much to grasp... this total lack of personal responsibility on behalf of the service provider, that permeats just about every interaction that I have as a customer.

After a customer complained about getting mayo all over her brand new blouse, I observed the Quizno's Franchise owner tell the customer that the mayonnaise dispenser must have a cold because it sneezed on her shirt, and he laughed about it. No further discussion, no offer of payment for cleaning the shirt, no free soda on your next visit, no apology, nothing at all.

What's worse is that the customer accepted that non-response. I'm telling you, we are getting beyond apathetic here in America. We'll just accept whatever you throw at us. Even mayo.

Do you feel it too? Is it just me?