Pay For Your Order, And Pay Attention!

I work at an Italian restaurant that takes orders to-go. We write the names of people on their receipts, which are kept at the front desk. A customer walks in.

Customer #1: “I would like to pick up a to-go for [Name #1].”

I check the receipts and do not see his name, but I find one with a similar name that is one letter off. Sometimes we write names down incorrectly over phone orders, so I pick up the receipt and decide to verify his order to be sure whether or not it is his.

Me: “Okay, [Name #1]. I couldn’t find a receipt with your name anywhere, but I have this one for [Name #2]. Let me verify the order with you to see if it’s yours because it could actually be for someone else.”

I read the order to the customer, who seems to be staring blankly in the distance. I barely finish asking him if the order sounds correct to him when he shoves his credit card at me. I hand it to the to-go person for processing. Another customer walks in.

Customer #2: “To-go for [Name #2], please.”

Me: *Getting suspicious* “We do not appear to have your receipt right now. What was in your order?”

[Customer #2] describes exactly what I just gave the other man, who is still sitting in the lobby with the bag of food. The whole host staff, including the to-go person is in a frenzy of confusion because we seem to have two people with the “same” name and the same order, but only one actually exists. As we are dealing with both customers during the panic, [Customer #1] finally speaks up after over five minutes.

Customer #1: “You know, the order may be under my wife’s name, [Name #3].”

I check the receipts and find it there. I read off [Name #3]’s much longer order.

Customer #1: “Yeah, that has to be my order. Sorry about that.”

We process his payment again and hand him a much larger bag of food.

Customer #1: “This is better. I was wondering why you gave me such a small order. And what was in it didn’t even sound right!”