Hi, so I’m one of the editors for Not Always Right and I thought I would share my own customer horror story; it might help you understand why I love my job now!
So I am 16, my first ever job, and it’s in a pizza hut. Literally day 3 out of training on my own, and I am serving a nice family who get a large pepperoni pizza.
I serve the pizza and start to walk away when the father of the family calls me back. I turn around and see him holding a hot slice of the pepperoni pizza, and he shouts: “WHAT IS THIS?!”
Then he THROWS the pizza slice - slap bang - into my face from point-blank range.
So there I am with hot cheese and pepperoni on my face while this guy is ranting about “HOW DARE YOU GIVE MY FAMILY PORK! IT’S AGAINST OUR RELIGION!”
A few thoughts go through my mind:
• Damn this cheese is hot.
• Do you not KNOW what pepperoni is?
• This cheese is still hot.
• It’s not my job to assume your religion or dietary restrictions. That’s what the MENU is for!
My manager comes over and the customer explains what happened.
The manager looks at me, and then apologizes… to THEM.
I now know that this kind of groveling manager behavior is the norm in the service industry, but 16-year-old me was outraged.
I had been burned both literally and mentally, and so I quit.
I couldn’t handle 3 days on that job, so for the many of you that submit stories to us day in and day out after years on the job - I salute you.
I guess I need to ensure not everything I consider “common knowledge” is the same as other people’s “common knowledge” but I I’m glad you agree that any confusion resulting from this shouldn’t deserve hot cheese to my face…
heh. Yeah, common knowledge is such a weird concept.
I know pepperoni is a type of sausage that is sliced up and put on various things, including pizza. What is in it, or why it is called that? i don’t know.
But no, definitely did not deserve to be attacked. And the cheese still being hot makes it even worse.
I’m always bewildered at the stories where people just decide to start throwing stuff. I’ve only seen a handful of babies do it as part of a tantrum, do these people just decide this is the best way to deal with things? Yeesh!
Wasn’t there a story posted here about that customer complaining about the pepperoni pizza being pork? Did you submit that story?
Anyway, in some countries with a predominant Muslim population, a lot of common pork products are made from different ingredients. E.g. almost all gelatine is beef, bacon is from turkey or beef etc. But just because you are caught unaware doesn’t give you the right to abuse or insult the employees
I’d be confused (and disappointed) too, for me a peperoni is a kind of chili pepper. Wouldn’t ever dream of slapping someone with a slice of pizza though xD
I thought these kinds of stories were exaggerated too, but after pizza hut I worked in a few other retail places and every single one had at least one customer that threw stuff, so now I’m like… meh… humans are trash.
I had to google that - so yeah I would definitely have read that on the menu too fast and would have been confused why my pepperoni pizza was full of chilies!
Peperoncini is the Italian word for what I would call peperoni, so as long as the menu isn’t in English I’m not confused xD
My mother tongue is Swedish, but German is my everyday language. Peperoni is a chili pepper in those languages (except in Switzerland, they call sweet pepper peperoni xD)
I’ve spent a few summers in Italy, so peperoncini is deeply rooted in my brain (love to buy a stock of dry ones )
It’s the English speaking world that messes everything up for me xD
If you have health or religious reasons to avoid some foods, then it’s your responsibility first to know what any food is, and whether you’re allowed to eat it, before you order it.
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