Sunday, May 13, 2007
Full of Shit.
Last night, I was simply amazed at how well I was able to control myself. Let's start off at the beginning:
Two deliveries were up; one to Street A and the other to Street B. "Street A is on the way to Street B," I said, so I was given both to take. I looked at the tickets. Street A only ordered 30 minutes ago and were given an 50-60 minutes for delivery. Oh well, there's nothing wrong with showing up a little early. So I take Street A first and I get no answer at the door after ringing the doorbell. So I knock, loudly. Again, no answer. Street B's order is still sitting in my car and I can't remember how long I have to get there, so I hop back in my car and leave. Street B ends up getting there on time, and all is well, so I head back to Street A on my way back to the store. When I got there, it was now still about 10 minutes early.
I knock first this time, loudly. No answer.
I ring the bell again. No answer.
I knock one last time. No answer.
I hop in my car and call the customers on the phone number they gave us. By the sound of the voice mail, it's their home number. No answer. I left the following message: "Hi, this is D with Napoli's. I have your address as XXXX Street A. I just wanted to let you know I've been by your house twice now, but neither time did anybody come to the door. If you'd like, you may call Napoli's at (insert the store's phone number here) and let us know when you're ready to have your order delivered. We will try and get it to you shortly thereafter. I am so sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you." The whole thing was dripping with sarcasm, especially the last line. Anyway, I got back to the store and put the delivery to Street A in a safe place, then explained to everyone who'd be getting the phone what was going on. I told them not to send anyone out with that delivery until the customers called back, even if it was getting close to the hour delivery time they'd been given.
I took a few more deliveries and, about an hour and 20 minutes after they ordered (20 minutes after their delivery should have been there), the customers on Street A called back wondering where their food was. Someone else took the call, but told me the customers said they were home the entire time. Right, whatever. I took their delivery for a third time, half expecting them not to answer the door. They did.
Me: "How are you today?"
IC: "Not too good."
Me: "Oh yeah? Why not?
IC: "Because you guys are late!"
Me: "With all due respect, I've been here twice already and nobody answered the door."
IC: "We were home the entire time."
Me: "I'm not sure what happened, then. I rang the doorbell, knocked, and even called you guys and left a message."
IC: "You're so full of shit."
I was suddenly in shock; I've had customers curse at me before, but never had one ever called me a liar
Me: "I beg your pardon?"
What I should have said here was "Sir, until you apologize to me for what you just said, I will make sure we never deliver to you again." But I didn't. Dammit. Just imagine, from this point on, that my voice has picked up a very sarcastic tone behind pretty much everything I say. At this point, I begin speaking to the customer as though he's a child (even though he's at least 20 or 30 years my senior).
IC: "You're full of shit."
At this point, the customer reaches out and rings the doorbell multiple times to prove that it works.
Me: "I see it works; that's so strange that you didn't hear it if you were here the entire time."
IC: "My wife and I were in this room (he points to a room right by the door) the entire time."
Me: "Then you definitely should have heard when I knocked."
IC: "You guys have done this to us before."
Me: "I understand. Sometimes our customers just aren't home, so we have no choice but to wait for them to call us, rather than waste a driver's time by sending them out."
IC: "We were right here the whole time."
Me: "Sir, how the heck would I benefit from calling you 30 or 40 minutes ago -- and you can check your caller ID and voice mail -- just to lie to you?"
IC: "This has happened before, and I won't put up with it."
I know the customer was telling the truth, because it had happened before with me.
Me: "Yeah, that's pretty bizarre."
IC: "I know the owner. I'm going to call him and let him know what you guys are doing."
Me: "Good luck with that. Enjoy your food."
Without another word, I left. The food/money exchange had taken place at the beginning of the conversation. For whatever reason, the guy still tipped a couple bucks on his relatively small order. As soon as I got back in my car, I called Napoli's and explained to a manager over the phone what had just happened. I didn't relay the entire conversation, but I did include the important parts, especially the customer telling me I'm "full of shit." I admitted that after that point I may have gotten a little rude. My managers understood and were eager to talk to the guy when he called back. Unfortunately, as long as I was still there, he never called back.
