This comes from my double-dare project to publish, “Life’s Too Short for Dull Razors, Cheap Pens, and Worn Out Underwear” (April 1, 2019 on Amazon and Kindle). It’s from a section where I include behind-the-scenes stories from previous jobs.
Another classic story is delivered from my time working at Pizza Hut. This was during the 80’s when only a few pizza places offered delivery service. It was a stormy Saturday evening and for some reason rain tends to invite more people to order pizza. I’m not sure if rain is to pizza cravings as cold weather is to mashed potato hankerings, but that night we were intensely stretched to stay ahead of all the pizza orders.
The dine-in traffic was heavy, carry out orders were abundant, and the phone was ringing off the hook. We stayed open until 1:00 Friday and Saturday evenings and by the time closing duties were finished, it was always well after 2:00 before employees could go home. We braced ourselves for an even later departure that night. As the orders continued in monsoon proportion, pizza wait time was increasing and patience was decreasing. It rained outside, but a virtual storm brewed inside the restaurant as employees hollered at each other to move faster, pay attention, and get out of each other’s way. The clock finally struck 12:30 and we knew we were on the homeward stretch.
The coworker on phone duty was weary from three lines bombarding him with new orders, checking on existing orders, questions about coupons and meal deals. He fielded complaints in between reassuring customers we were doing the best we could. His temperament was wearing thin so when the phone rang at 12:30, he answered the call with flippant irritability. The person on the other end asked if we still delivered that late at night. My ordinarily professional coworker echoed the pizza customer’s question, “do we deliver?” Sure we’ll deliver! How far apart are your contractions”?
I’m hard-pressed to envision that caller’s facial expression after my coworker’s response. However, I did see our manager’s facial expression which led to intense words of fellowship with my exhausted snappy coworker.