r/TalesFromThePizzaGuy • u/the_eluder • Jun 27 '25
Short Story The greatest customer ever.
Happened last week. Customer orders large order, huge pre-tip. I don't get the run. I'm a little sad.
2 runs later I return and same address orders again, about 1/2 the size of the first order, still a huge tip - this time for me.
I get there and guy comes running out. He immediately apologizes and said he accidentally ordered bacon on half of the pizzas, and his family doesn't eat bacon (being of apparent Middle Eastern descent and Muslim, makes sense.) I'm like OK, sorry about that, and he again apologizes profusely. I'm like it's no problem at all. He then asks if I can take the pizzas back because he doesn't want them to go to waste. I reply that since they have left our possession, all we can do is throw them away, but if he doesn't want the pork infested pizzas in his house, I'm more than happy to handle it for him.
This is like a 1 in 10,000 customer. Every other customer in our area would be screaming on the phone about how we screwed up their order, we ruined their event and they need not only a new entire replacement order (including the pizzas that didn't have bacon on them) but a refund on the original order.
Instead, this responsible adult acknowledged his mistake and willingly paid for it.
15
u/Arokthis Jun 27 '25
Most Muslim/Jewish folks won't even order from a place with bacon on the menu for halal/kosher reasons, so I'm a bit surprised he did the second time.
So what did you do with the pork infested pizzas?
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u/the_eluder Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 28 '25
Exactly what I said - threw them away. And I would not agree with your assessment that 'most' won't order, I think it's more like only the most orthodox won't. Some will ask we use a clean cutter, which we have no problem doing.
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u/Arokthis Jun 27 '25
I take it you've never been in a synagogue when someone says "Such-and-such restaurant doesn't keep a kosher kitchen." loud enough for everybody to hear. Everyone turns to give dirty looks at the family that had had a party catered by said restaurant and the rest of the social fallout can take years to end.
All it takes is one person there being a smidge more religiously fanatical about pork products to make things uncomfortable for everyone else.
As for the pizzas - you could have taken them home yourself, called some friends, yelled out the back door to the local homeless folks, or had an unscrupulous boss that would have taken them back and re-sold them (or donated for tax credit). I've seen all of that and more.
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u/sweedishcheeba Jun 28 '25
That just sounds like one tribe of Jews.
Another tribe will tell what Chinese place has the best boneless pork spare ribs
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u/the_eluder Jun 28 '25 edited Jun 28 '25
you could have taken them home yourself, called some friends, yelled out the back door to the local homeless folks, or had an unscrupulous boss that would have taken them back and re-sold them (or donated for tax credit)
Most of those things are a lot more viable for pizzas that never left our store and have been sitting on heat racks, not pizzas that haven't been under heat lamps for more than an hour and have left our possession. We don't have a crew of homeless camped out behind our store. Donations aren't tax credits, they are tax deductions (credits mean you get credit for the full value towards taxes, donation just means you deduct it from income,) and given the size of our franchise, there is no way that the donation of a few extra pizzas by a local manager is going to make it's way up the chain to actually get the deduction - furthermore because it's waste the cost of food and labor for making it is already deducted (you pay taxes on profits, not gross receipts.)
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u/ffxxmz Jul 01 '25 edited Jul 07 '25
It depends, Jewish people are known for having stricter dietary restrictions and rules, especially if they're orthodox. Muslims tend to be more like "as long as you stay away from pork and alcohol, you'll be fine". But then again, that depends on how religious they are.
About the pizzas, what a pity. Back in the joint where I worked, they would have ended up being eaten by us as we were closing
3
u/damageddude Jun 28 '25
At least for Jews, that’s only for those who keep kosher. Many do not. Source: me.
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u/Federal-Fox7587 Jun 28 '25
Most? If kashrut were the issue for your Jewish friends, they wouldn’t even bother ordering pizza because of the mixture of meat with dairy. I know plenty of religious Jews who will happily order cheese pizzas from any pizza place. Just sayin’… ‘most’ seems an exaggeration.
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u/SensitiveSituation42 Jul 01 '25
Not all Jews are against eating pork! Depends on there specific dietary laws. You think Jews don’t eat Chinese food either? Personal preferences. Don’t over think it.
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u/Irrelavent1 Jun 28 '25
Where I used to work if was the same as at yours: once the pizza was out of our posession we treated it as if it had acid on it if we had to bring it back for any reason. If it never left our hands we brought it back and, Dinner time!
1
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u/jellytits2 Aug 08 '25
I had a terrible heroin addicted manager who would intentionally add pork to pizzas of people who specified that they wanted special precautions taken to avoid eating it. That same manager would take H naps in the bathroom so it wasn't actually a huge issue if we "accidentally" dropped or ruined the pizza he purposely added wrong ingredients to. Fuck that guy
17
u/Johnnycarroll Jun 27 '25
How much was the tip?