As a customer, what would you expect to happen in this situation

[MN.HAWK]

Delivery driver attempts to call to help find address. You (customer) doesn't answer and you get a voicemail. The VM is obviously unintentional, the delivery person thought they had hung up but hand't and what was said, was recorded.

2 F bombs,
1. "God Damn"
1. "Stupid shits"

are clearly heard in reference to you, the customer, not answering your phone when you order food. About a 5 second message before it cuts off.
Then of course the obvious rudeness from the driver at the door when they do arrive.


I'm comfortable in how I handled it, but I'd be interested in what a customer would expect to happen to an employee in this situation. Without knowledge of what kind of employee this is, outside of this incident.

As the business owner, I'm very happy this customer came to me. I can fix that problem. If I had been the customer I simply would have never ordered again taking my money elsewhere.

 

[Pepperman]

Being 100% honest, I'd probably never order again from that establishment. Even if I called to explain what happened.

Also being 100% honest, I kind of expect most delivery people are this way when I'm not able to hear them talk about me. There is a reason why Digiorno has that commercial with the stupid white kid (is that racist, Slieb?) thumping the bass on his stereo.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

I wouldn't hold one bad delivery against the employer. I would have let this slide, but don't have a problem if someone goes the other way and calls the employer. As I see it, it's not like you are telling him something he probably don't already know about most of his delivery drivers -- so what's the point unless it is a repeated practice or habit from a particular driver?

 

[MN.HAWK]

As a occasional delivery driver I understood the frustration. As the owner of a business I know you dont' get to say what you feel and not expect repercussions.



This post was edited on 3/17 1:36 PM by MN.HAWK

 

[TJ8869]

Meh. Plebeians being plebeians.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Pepperman]

Question for the OP - how much "info" do you keep in your computer system on customers? I ask because I had a carry out order once where a topping was totally wrong (onion instead of olive) and they told me I could choose from:

1) Keep the incorrect one and have it noted in the system my next pizza is free

2) Keep the incorrect one and come back to get a free correct one AND have it noted in the system my next pizza is free

It wasn't enough of a disaster to justify my return, so I chose option #1, but I've always wondered what the system will note when/if I call back for another pizza?

I am somewhat paranoid about what WORKERS (not owners) do to your food the next time in situations like this.

 

[MN.HAWK]

Depends on the system. On one end it's all pulled up by a phone number, and it will have you last few orders, etc. and a place to put a "free pizza" or dollar amount.

On the other end, it's a straight up, excel based spreadsheet where we keep track of customer complaints so we can rectify them in the future. We are not above screwing up on occasion and take legit complaints seriously and try to fix them.

Both systems have safeguards for abuse, because there is a good number of people who call up and full on lie about having a free pizza coming to them.

I'd have handled yours the same way more than likely. If there is a screw up I'll always remake it but, like in your case it's not a huge deal and a freebie next time is good enough. In some cases onion is the devil and I want to make that right, right away, and still give something for the trouble.

 

[Fan In Black]

I wouldn't care about the voice mail if I knew it was accidental and my food was good. If he was rude to me at the door I wouldn't order from their again. I wouldn't call in.

 

[JWolf74]

I guess it would depend on past experience. If I've dealt with the company many times without issue, I'd let it slide. If it was one of the first time dealing with the company, I'd probably never order from them again. I wouldn't bother calling the owner, but if I did, I'd expect them to get a firm talking to.

 

[3boysmom]

I would probably laugh about the voice mail. Rude at the door depends on what that entails. Full on abusive screaming at me or my kids would get a call and never return. Short with me and I would probably ignore it unless it were a pattern. I am more concerned that my pizza is good, hot, and made correctly. One of those things would be more likely to lose me than a delivery driver.

 

[2bagger22]

I would laugh but I'm 25 and language doesn't offend me.

My brother graduated college in December and is off to law school in August but for now he makes and delivers sandwiches for a local shop. The constant excuses his coworkers give for not showing up on time, for making four deliveries in two hours (the delivery boundary for his store might be ten square miles), and simply not caring are incredible. As a business owner I wouldn't think twice before firing one delivery kid and looking for another.

 

[MN.HAWK]

Thanks for the replies. i just find the opinions of those not in food service interesting.

The customer was actually very nice, and complimentary of the pizza, but wanted to let someone know who was representing the company and in what manner. Like I said, I'm quite thankful she did what she did, kept, and shared the voicemail as well as other information like how she was treated at the door as well.

For those mentioning it, this was definitely part of a pattern that I had seen in store from said employee. Recently i've had two different supervisors more or less tell me they refused to work with said driver any longer because of the, more or less, tantrums that were thrown on a nightly basis. So this customer coming forward was a great help in having a good, document-able, incident.

 

[Honda Hawk]

Originally posted by 2bagger22:
I would laugh but I'm 25 and language doesn't offend me.

This. Delivering would suck.They're obviously doing it out of frustration and are wanting to do the right thing.

The "stupid shits" comment could be referring to the order-taker and not the customer.

 

[MN.HAWK]

Originally posted by Honda Hawk:


The "stupid shits" comment could be referring to the order-taker and not the customer.

Not if you heard it.

 

[dandh]

So, MN, did you cut the guy loose? Because given all that feedback, I probably would have done so, unless delivery people are impossible to find right now.

 

[MN.HAWK]

Yes, and I'll be the one taking the shifts for the time being. Certainly no an ideal situation for anyone but when you're fighting for every customer you have, you can't allow this pattern to continue
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Arbitr8]

Originally posted by MN.HAWK:
Delivery driver attempts to call to help find address. You (customer) doesn't answer and you get a voicemail. The VM is obviously unintentional, the delivery person thought they had hung up but hand't and what was said, was recorded.

2 F bombs,
1. "God Damn"
1. "Stupid shits"

are clearly heard in reference to you, the customer, not answering your phone when you order food. About a 5 second message before it cuts off.
Then of course the obvious rudeness from the driver at the door when they do arrive.


I'm comfortable in how I handled it, but I'd be interested in what a customer would expect to happen to an employee in this situation. Without knowledge of what kind of employee this is, outside of this incident.

As the business owner, I'm very happy this customer came to me. I can fix that problem. If I had been the customer I simply would have never ordered again taking my money elsewhere.

A quick rush to judgment the presumption is that the voice mail was directed toward the customer, but could it have been just a reaction to someone who suddenly cut the driver off in traffic or almost backed into them? Without any direct correlation between the voice mail and customer it is merely assumed that the voice mail directed toward the customer. Unless they said John Smith or the residents of then you have a nexus of sorts.

Who orders food then peeks out the door or fails to answer the phone when the delivery person is simply attempting to fulfill their part of the transaction?

Now if the driver readily admitted to it all that would be a different story.

I didn't realize Shakey's delivered?

 

[MN.HAWK]

Originally posted by Arbitr8:

Originally posted by MN.HAWK:
Delivery driver attempts to call to help find address. You (customer) doesn't answer and you get a voicemail. The VM is obviously unintentional, the delivery person thought they had hung up but hand't and what was said, was recorded.

2 F bombs,
1. "God Damn"
1. "Stupid shits"

are clearly heard in reference to you, the customer, not answering your phone when you order food. About a 5 second message before it cuts off.
Then of course the obvious rudeness from the driver at the door when they do arrive.


I'm comfortable in how I handled it, but I'd be interested in what a customer would expect to happen to an employee in this situation. Without knowledge of what kind of employee this is, outside of this incident.

As the business owner, I'm very happy this customer came to me. I can fix that problem. If I had been the customer I simply would have never ordered again taking my money elsewhere.

A quick rush to judgment the presumption is that the voice mail was directed toward the customer, but could it have been just a reaction to someone who suddenly cut the driver off in traffic or almost backed into them? Without any direct correlation between the voice mail and customer it is merely assumed that the voice mail directed toward the customer. Unless they said John Smith or the residents of then you have a nexus of sorts.

Who orders food then peeks out the door or fails to answer the phone when the delivery person is simply attempting to fulfill their part of the transaction?

Now if the driver readily admitted to it all that would be a different story.

I didn't realize Shakey's delivered?

1. If you heard it, you would know it is clearly directed at the customer
2. Does it matter? If you were out to eat and could hear an employee cursing angrily about something, then served you and was rude (in your eyes as the customer) would you, as the person paying your money to be there, care what they were swearing about? Even if they weren't rude to you, do you expect to hear employees of a restaurant swearing before they serve you?

 

[INXS83]

Why didn't you answer the call?

Didn't driver have a smartphone with GPS?

 

[bagdropper]

Originally posted by MN.HAWK:

As the business owner, I'm very happy this customer came to me. I can fix that problem. If I had been the customer I simply would have never ordered again taking my money elsewhere.

Yepper. You, the business owner need to know these things. I, the customer (and former restaurant manager) would call in.

I took a lot of customer complaints through my 20+ years in the business. Not only am I not afraid of receiving it from the owner end of the issue, but saying something as the customer end of the issue.

As an example, I ordered there because I like the product, and want to continue doing so if treated well and with good food. So, someone gets out of line with me which may cause me to rethink patronizing the establishment...I'm going to say something about it to "rescue" the situation.

 

[dandh]

Originally posted by MN.HAWK:
Yes, and I'll be the one taking the shifts for the time being. Certainly no an ideal situation for anyone but when you're fighting for every customer you have, you can't allow this pattern to continue

Posted from Rivals Mobile

Sounds to me like you did the right thing - there's really no choice here, especially given what other workers had told you. Good luck in finding a replacement.

BTW - are you in the Twin Cities? I'm on the SE side - let me know if your establishment is anywhere close, and we'll try it out next time we get pizza.

 

[MN.HAWK]

Originally posted by dandh:

Originally posted by MN.HAWK:
Yes, and I'll be the one taking the shifts for the time being. Certainly no an ideal situation for anyone but when you're fighting for every customer you have, you can't allow this pattern to continue

Posted from Rivals Mobile

Sounds to me like you did the right thing - there's really no choice here, especially given what other workers had told you. Good luck in finding a replacement.

BTW - are you in the Twin Cities? I'm on the SE side - let me know if your establishment is anywhere close, and we'll try it out next time we get pizza.

Nope. I was in Austin Mn. when the moniker was made. Now over in the QC.

Appreciate the feedback from everyone. Like I said, i was comfortable in my decision based on more than I gave in the OP. I was more interested in feedback from the customer end and, like I suspected, most wouldn't call and either just stop ordering or, at minimum put it in a bad experience column.

 

[Lone Clone]

Originally posted by MN.HAWK:
Delivery driver attempts to call to help find address. You (customer) doesn't answer and you get a voicemail. The VM is obviously unintentional, the delivery person thought they had hung up but hand't and what was said, was recorded.

2 F bombs,
1. "God Damn"
1. "Stupid shits"

are clearly heard in reference to you, the customer, not answering your phone when you order food. About a 5 second message before it cuts off.
Then of course the obvious rudeness from the driver at the door when they do arrive.


I'm comfortable in how I handled it, but I'd be interested in what a customer would expect to happen to an employee in this situation. Without knowledge of what kind of employee this is, outside of this incident.

As the business owner, I'm very happy this customer came to me. I can fix that problem. If I had been the customer I simply would have never ordered again taking my money elsewhere.

Was this pizza? Or a UPS package? or what?
If it's pizza, I pay the kid, then I hand him a few bucks and I say,

"Here's a tip. And here's another tip: Next time you feel like cussing out a customer, make sure you aren't talking to his voicemail.