On this date in 1969, rock and roll legends, Led Zeppelin, released their self-titled first album. Today two years later, controversial television program All In The Family was first broadcast on CBS. Celebrating a birthday today are former world heavyweight boxing champ Joe (down goes) Frazier (1944) and “The Human Highlight Reel”, Dominique Wilkins (1960) of basketball fame.
Last night, The School Girl and I decided that we did not feel like making dinner, yet we did not want to go out to eat either. A quandary of this magnitude could have only one solution…order a pizza. It has been awhile since we actually ordered a pizza as we usually will just buy frozen ones to cook ourselves. So I picked up the Yellow Pages and let my fingers do the walking. As some of you already know, we live in Southwest Nowhere-ville in Marshall County and our pizza selection is limited. We have Pizza Hut but I have never been a huge fan of that establishment. They also tend to take a lot longer than normal since everyone in town will call them.
We used to have Papa John’s, one of my favorites, but they went out of business and we have stayed clear of them since a few years ago when we received a pizza that was still raw in the center. That leaves me with the choice of Domino’s. I like Domino’s pretty well. No real complaints product-wise but, of course, you must know that something happened to prompt me to write about them this morning.
I called Domino’s and spoke with Shawn. Shawn seemed very knowledgeable and pleasant. He was all about getting my order and getting off of the phone. Even though it was only the two of us, we decided it would be a good idea to order the 3 medium pizzas with one toping each for $5 per pie. (Note: one with pepperoni, one with ham and one with mushrooms.) We would have lunch for Friday or Saturday just hanging out in the refrigerator. The wait time seemed a reasonable 30 minutes considering it was in the middle of the normal dinnertime rush.
I prepared my check and was sure to add in a tip for the driver. I had some dishes from the previous night that required my attention so I delved wrist deep into soapy suds as The School Girl began sand-papering some trim in the kitchen for the upcoming revamping this weekend. Shortly, the telephone rang. It was the delivery driver with our pizza. We do not have a doorbell and were unable to hear the feeble knocking across the house. My wife trod to the front picking up the check on the way towards the front door and I continued to wash dishes.
She returned rather quickly, check still in hand. Apparently, Domino’s does not accept checks anymore and she needed to call them back to give our check card number over the telephone. I was irate to say the least. What pizza joint doesn’t accept checks? After a few minutes the driver had left and I began loading my plate with pizza. I opened the first box. Mushrooms were scattered across the pie looking all delicious and calling my name. In order to be fair I decided that I should sample each pizza (yeah, just to be fair). The next box was opened and it contained a nice and hot pepperoni and ham pizza. Hmmm, that wasn’t what I ordered at all. I announced aloud that I bet they really screwed this up and the last one had no toppings at all. I lifted the lid on the final box…cheese pizza.
“Where’s the phone?”, I exclaimed. After the entire fiasco concerning the check I felt the need to call Domino’s back. I hit redial and Shawn answered the phone. “Shawn, do you listen to complaints or do you have a manager?”
Shawn proceeded to put me on hold and retrieved his manager. Another young gentleman got on the line. “Hello?”, he said. He just said “hello”. There was no “how may I help you” or “hello, my name is turd face”, nothing but “hello”.
“With whom am I speaking?”, I asked him. “I am a manager.” Can you just tell that my blood pressure was rising? “Do you have a name or do you just go by manager”.
He proceeded to stutter “ers” and “ahhs” before spitting out his name…Bo. So I told Bo The Manager who I was and began informing him that they were unable to get their 3 pizzas with 1 topic on each special correct. He spit all over himself as he wanted to come pick up the original pizzas and bring me new ones. Yeah, like I was going to wait another 30 minutes. I told him that he could go ahead and take my name and address down and make my next order free. (So I will have to get Domino’s one more time before they are permanently on my list.)
I also felt it necessary to teach him a little trick that could assist his business and make less people angry when they aren’t able to pay with their check. I asked him if he thought it was a good idea if he had his telephone operators ask if the customer will be paying with cash or if they have their credit card ready. This would prevent future issues regarding their check policy. He agreed. Bo The Manager was audibly shaken as he hung up the phone but I think that he gained some knowledge from Old Man LeBlanc. I am sure that I was all kinds of a-hole last night but hey, who got the free pizza?
I had no clue dominoes didn’t take checks. The only people who deliver to our house is papa john’s…and I’m so sick of that pizza and their prices I could scream. Luckily for Rutherford county, we just got a papa murphy’s. If you have one nearby, I HIGHLY suggest it!
I think only MY Domino’s doesn’t take checks!
Are you serious? It’s people like you that have turned this country into a mess of rabid complaining consumer-idiots who forget that life isn’t perfect, mistakes happen, and you don’t DESERVE anything because someone makes a simple mistake. “Gee, Cletus, they gone ‘an put dat dang ham on wit da pepperoni, dat just gol’ darn ruined my whoole dinna, guess dis way i cin git me a free meal so i’s cin save my last welfare check for sumfin more important, like dat new NASCAR dvd!”
Nothing is more wonderful than someone with an opinion and prejudice about people who live in the south (BTW, I may live in the south but not originally from here) as well as a complete and total lack of intelligence who doesn’t have the balls to post on blogs/websites with an actual name or provide a legit email address. Thanks for the comment, you pussy. Oh and BTW, I see you are from Virginia…isn’t that in the south?
That policy is not true for ALL Domino’s. I had this same experience when ordering from my local Papa John’s (Yes, I order from my competition. I have worked there for 9 years…wouldn’t you get tired of something after awhile?) However, I ordered online and there was no indication that checks were not accepted. Yes, I was aggravated and the driver apologized. She even knew that my check was good as she appears to be the only driver that delivers to my house. However, I understand. In this business, there is a large turnover of bad checks. People seem to write bad checks over the weekend thinking they will beat them to the bank on Monday. Bad idea. We make nightly deposits to the bank so they are the first deposits of the day and sometimes checks are presented electronically. The point of this is to clarify that it is your store’s policy, (probably the franchisee’s policy) to not accept checks-not the policy of the corporation. I am sorry about your experience with Domino’s. But please remember that everyone makes mistakes. It is our procedure to try to correct the mistake immediately. I would not have requested the original pizzas back though. It is easier to remake the incorrect pizza and let you keep our mistake (with the extra topping). If you decide to receive your next order free, then that is no problem. But as I mentioned before, it was a mistake and people are human. What if it was that manager’s first day? REAL training at a job like that requires on-the-job training. Remember that we get nasty phone calls from even when we do our jobs correctly. We are the fall guys for people’s bad days. And we still manage to take your orders with at smile. Well, at least I do.
Tara
-Full-time mother, employee & student