Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Papa John’s Meets the Hood

On this New Year’s Eve prepping myself for a night of celebration and fun, I thought it a good idea to order Pizza for lunch in lieu of the Giants $8.99 Papa John’s special. And while I know the G Men won’t be repeating as champs this year the effort they gave yesterday earned me the choice of 6 toppings for my pizza based on the 6 touch downs they scored Sunday.

I thought I was off to a good start by ordering online through the website as I have done many many times and yet for some reason the work ethic and decay in America’s service industry continues to rear its ugly head yet again!!! Now I’m pretty sure that had this experience I just had happened say in Manhattan I think my latest ordering experience with Papa John’s would have been totally different.

These are the six toppings I selected.
1. Pepperoni 2. Pepperoni 3. Sausage 4. Green Peppers 5. Black Olives 6. Grilled Chicken

Let’s see what the employees of Papa John’s decided to give me instead.  As usual I have photo evidence.

What in the Hell is…this?!!!!

Sad as it is to admit it the outer boroughs don’t have a thing on service, especially customer service and value for the money that one can obtain like in Manhattan. Can some one tell me how you mess up an order that is typed and directly in front of one’s face as it’s prepared?  This of course would make no sense if one is paying attention to what he/she is doing.  I took one bite into a slice and immediately much to my chagrin realized this wasn’t what I paid and tipped handsomely for I might add.  The delivery driver got his $2 delivery fee plus a $5 tip.  The hell you say?  Oh yes $7 dollars for something I didn’t order and well over an hour after I ordered it.  I received Onions not Grilled Chicken, No double Pepperoni, and no Sausage.

This is the confirmation page showing my order summary

When I called the store location that prepared my order.  I was immediately told please hold before anything else was said.  I waited patiently for a store clerk to come back to my call.   After 7 minutes on hold, I mean not even some annoying elevator music playing to keep me occupied while I waited, I gave in and hung up as I don’t have time for my minutes to be wasted.  Not easily deterred I redialed the store location again.  This time a female employee answers my call I ask as politely as possible if they could have someone correct my order as what I received was entirely the wrong Pie.  She responded with give me a second for the second time and never came back to the phone after placing me on hold for an additional 5 minutes.  

We don’t slack a minute sir!

I’m very adamant about standing up for one’s rights especially the paying consumer.  People have gotten away from pride and character in their work.  I don’t care that it is a boring, dead end job.  My attitude is in this economy if you have a job, you better appreciate it and do your job to the best of your ability.  If you mess up…Fix it!!!  To treat a paying customer like a douche bag that is bothering you to simply do your job is obscene and asinine!!!  This all goes back to treat others how you’d like to be treated.  I made one last ditch effort to call the store.  This time around no one would pick up the phone to answer my call even after I let the phone ring until my cell stopped trying to dial.

I resolved that they actually thought I wouldn’t come down to the store to rectify the situation as I’d ordered for delivery.  How wrong they were.  Oh yes, I got dressed jumped in the car and drove myself down to the store and saw exactly who was on duty working at the time of this debacle.  I should have known to expect a group of lazy good for nothings with attitudes impersonating Papa John’s employees.  The young girl working the phone clearly would have liked nothing more than to be at home or anywhere but there.  When she saw me place the pizza box on the counter top she immediately starting chirping to the manager in back that the customer who called about the messed up order was there.

The manager approached and asked me what was the problem.  I reiterated to her that my order was incorrect.  She flips open the box looks at the pizza  then promptly asked with attitude “What’s the Address?”  I still kept calm and told her as she looked at the sticker on the pizza box and removed it.  She then relented and said she’d make another one in 8 minutes.  Keep in mind it’s now over hour and a half since I placed my order.  I decided it wasn’t worth the wait and demanded my money back.  She gave me money and I left the store disgusted that I paid $7 for that aggravation.  I mean think, why would someone wait an additional 1 minute even, after over an hour and a half of shenanigans?  This has soured me on my dealings with corporate entities operating in the outer boroughs.  Again this all comes down to the hiring pool and who is available to work these types of jobs.  America is headed down the toilet quick fast, and in a hurry.  Not good.  This only helps me see that either cooking at home or having good delivery is really a matter of your location.

Lastly, Papa John’s loves to say in his commercials “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza…Papa John’s.  Well I like to say in order for that statement to mean something to paying customers you better have Better Employees and Better Work Ethic.

Til next time this has been another report from THEJNSREPORT.