'Cause we snuff our little souls away

I'm in the middle of a big update post, but wanted to get this one out there before I was interrupted. But this came up earlier, and I thought I'd share it.

Man, people are immature.

Now, certainly, there are different aspects of maturity. Using myself as an example, my tastes in food, music, recreation, movies, etc., all tend to be very immature. However, and this is something I pride myself in, I'm very mature in taking responsibility for my actions and decisions, and accepting their consequences. Those are but two aspects, and there are many.

Now, one that I have to deal with a lot is people not getting what they want. Let me clarify a few things first. If we screw up an order, we fully expect you to call back and let us know. We'll remake it, or give you a replacement free the next time you order. No problem. Not what I'm talking about at all. I'm referring to two issues that pop up repeatedly: Being closed, and not having parmesan cheese/crushed red peppers. Now, I close a lot. It's not quite as much recently, but for a while there, it was four or five nights a week, with one memorable streak of twelve consecutive closing shifts. I've been doing this since about three to four weeks after starting there, so we're talking almost 200 closing shifts. And the one thing I've noticed here - and this is certainly not unique to Domino's; it happened a lot at Sonic, but not quite as badly, and I'll get to that later - is that people are FUCKING IMMATURE about calling us and finding out we're closed. Now, I can understand being upset if we're supposed to be open - ie, it's before one o'clock Sunday through Thursday, or before two on Friday or Saturday - and we say we're closed. That's wrong, and shouldn't happen. Taco Bell does that all the time, and it's annoying as hell.

However, I digress.

We close at one o'clock Sunday through Thursday, and at two on Friday and Saturday. That's much later than the other major chains in town - Papa Johns and Pizza Hut - and the little ones - Valentino's, D'Blazio's, etc. The only ones that stay open as late as we are is Pizza Classics, and they're a local place, and more likely to close early when they're slow or don't feel like being open. We don't have that choice. Well, we do on Christmas Eve, but that's it. Every other day of the year (excepting the two days a year we're not open at all), we're there, open, until our actual closing time. We take orders up to that time, and deliver whatever's in the store when we close. So yeah, we don't close 'early' or anything. I guess word has gotten around, and we have a reputation - at least in San Marcos - for being open really late, not undeservedly so. So, when it's late night, people automatically just call us and assume we'll be open, which isn't the case.

Now, I'm very polite about it. I say the exact same thing I always say, the same thing I said at Sonic. "Domino's Pizza, I'm sorry, we're closed for the night." Now, most people are polite. They'll say thanks and hang up, or ask when we close, or ask if anyone else is open that they could call (which no one is). However, the problem is the few other people that are so incredibly immature it makes me want to go over to their house and punch them in the throat. I mean, seriously! We're closed! Deal with it! We've had the same hours for well over the last year, probably much more than that. I've had people cuss me out, denounce Domino's and everything, try to tell me that they'll give me fifty dollars for a pizza... it's just annoying to have to deal with people that act like three year olds. I had one guy try to tell me that he was a secret shopper, that the customer was always right, that he was a valued customer that ordered like three times a week from us... No. Or the guys that are like "Why the hell did you even bother answering the phone then?" Or the girls in the background yelling "Well FUCK DOMINO'S!"

Seriously, GROW THE FUCK UP.

The other thing that comes up a lot is that we don't carry parmesan cheese or red peppers. Is it reasonable to assume a pizza place has those? Sure, I can understand where they're coming from. Understandable when they're a little disappointed that we don't have it? Sure. Okay to take it out on us, to throw a temper tantrum like a three-year old? No. Most recently, some random guy calls up:

"I just got a pizza delivered."

"Okay?"

"And the driver told me that they don't carry cheese or red peppers?"

"Yeah. We actually don't have them in the store at all."

"What?! I want to talk to the manager in charge RIGHT NOW!"

"No problem, I'm going to need you to hold first."

The manager in charge was in the middle of taking an order. By the time Sergio picked up the phone, he had hung up. We didn't think much of it - there's not a lot we can do about that kind of complaint. But he calls back like twenty minutes later.

"Yeah, is your manager in charge available, or am I going to just be put on hold again?"

"Yeah, sorry about that when you called earlier. He was in the middle of another call, got to you as soon as he could."

"Yeah I did." (? First principle of working in a phone-dominated business: They don't listen. Period.)

"Alright, well, before you talked to him, I just wanted to make sure you were aware that the decision is made at the franchise level, that we don't have any say in it."

"Yeah it is. I've already called three other franchises; they all have them, and I'm getting ready to call your corporate office."

"Okay, here he is."

So I handed the phone to Sergio. We could only hear his half of the conversation. But as far as we could tell, he was acting like an immature three year old. Sergio kept saying things like "Well, you need to call the franchise office." "The decision isn't made at the store." "Arguing with me isn't going to help, I didn't make the decision." "The company isn't run from this store; you need to call the franchise office." "I don't know how many other franchises carry them."

I mean, if you want to complain about it, go ahead. Talk to the people that make the decision. Sergio gave him the number like three times.

I guess I can kind of understand it from college students, since most of them are worthless pieces of human shit anyway, but still. I seriously think everyone should be required to work for six months in an entry-level customer service position, just to understand what jerks people really are. I mean, how would you feel if someone was such a total ass, yelled at your child, brother/sister, wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, etc., for something that's not their fault, they have no control over, and it's just the person doing the yelling being an immature ass? I venture to assert that no, most people would not react kindly to finding out that someone they care about was treated like that. I'm not going to drop the obvious platitude, that people need to treat the person behind the counter that way, because if the people were considerate or smart enough to actually do it, they wouldn't have to be told that.

"But they just need to vent."

Fuck off. Seriously. That doesn't excuse that kind of obnoxious, inappropriate behavior.

"But the customer is always right."

No, they're not. That was a business axiom that finally failed in the nineties because of THE SHEER WORTHLESSNESS, GREED, AND IMMATURITY of the American consumer. Certainly, the customer deserves to be treated with respect, and should be given all REASONABLE accomodations. However, that's a two-way street. Once a customer stops being civil and respectful, they seriously loss any right to expect it in return.

"You're just upset 'cause you don't have a real job. // Get a real job."

A) That's a personal attack, seeking to distract from the argument at hand and refocus it on me. B) The upset part tends to stem from having to deal with rude people. C) I'm working on it.

Girls Aloud -- Life Got Cold