I work in a pizza takeout, but we do have a small table to the side of the counter for those who want to sit and wait.

We have a regular family (a mom, a dad, and a ten-year-old boy) who come by once a month on a Friday on the dad’s payday for a treat. The family actually dines in at the table. The boy absolutely loves it, and we always make sure he gets some extra toppings since he’s always so well-behaved.

One day, we see the boy come in all by himself, which is strange.

Boy: “Hi. My mom and dad are sad today, so I thought I would get them pizza!”

Me: “Oh, that’s really nice of you.”

Boy: “I’ve been saving my allowance, and I wanted to get what we normally get?”

He hands over almost $15 in nothing but quarters.

Boy: “That’s enough for a medium, right?”

Me: *With my heart breaking* “Uh, technically, yes, but we’re having a special today. Regular customers get a free large pizza if they’ve eaten ten pizzas with us before!”

Boy: “But… but we’ve eaten way more than ten pizzas!”

Me: “I guess that means you get two! I’ll get you two large pizzas. Just wait right there!”

I called out the order to the back, and when I turned around, my heart found out it could break even more. The boy was in the process of putting ALL his quarters into the tip jar! I stopped him, told him we had enough tips already, and got him to help me with the crossword in the newspaper until his pizzas were ready. I think I got most of his quarters back to him, and he went out with the pizzas.

I found out on their next visit that the mom’s sister had just been diagnosed with a bad illness and that’s why they were sad, but she realized what I had done and tried to pay me back. I told her that raising such a fine young man was more than enough.

The sister made a full recovery, and the boy is now a fine teenager who works here at weekends and brings pizzas home to his parents every Friday! 

Related:
A Hot Slice Of Kindness, Part 6
A Hot Slice Of Kindness, Part 5
A Hot Slice Of Kindness, Part 4
A Hot Slice Of Kindness, Part 3
A Hot Slice Of Kindness, Part 2

This story is part of the Best-Feel-Good-Stories Of-2023 roundup!

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I’m a manager, and I work graveyard shifts at a privately-owned pizza place. The past week has just been full of stupidly crazy people.

One night, we get a call from a woman asking for a manager. I take the call.

Customer #1: “I’m having an allergic reaction to your pizza.”

Me: “…Okay, um, what did you order?”

Customer #1: “A medium supreme pizza.”

Me: “Well, that pizza has eleven toppings on it. What exactly are you allergic to?”

Yes. Eleven toppings!

Customer #1: “MSG!”

Me: “Well, considering MSG is in just about everything, I really don’t know what to tell you…”

The customer hangs up. The customer calls back five minutes later.

Customer #1: “I’m still having an allergic reaction!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but there’s really nothing I can do for you…”

Customer #1: “Well, what do I do? I could die!”

Me: “Umm… Seek medical attention?”

Another hang-up. Another call.

Customer #2: “I got a pizza yesterday, and I had a major allergic reaction to it!”

Me: “I’m sorry to hear that. What was your order?”

Customer #2: “The Deathbringer Special with extra hot peppers.”

I’m speechless for a moment.

The Deathbringer Special is one of those pizzas that’s available only because some of the locals believe that if it doesn’t blow the tastebuds out of the back of your skull, then it’s bland. The dough is made with jalapeno juice. The cheese is pepperjack. It has specially made, extra spicy, pepper-infused sauce, and it is topped with several different kinds of extremely hot peppers. It’s disturbingly popular and is ordered often enough to have its own special spot on the menu.

There is literally no part of this that isn’t infused with pepper.

The policy encourages employees to wear a mask and gloves while slicing some of these. The spot where this pizza is made is specially set aside from the rest of the food prep to avoid contamination. There’s an eye rinse station specifically set up near the prep area. 

The fact that she ordered this AND asked for extra (i.e. more) hot peppers on top says that she should be incapable of speaking without setting things on fire for the next three months.

Me: “Um, okay, what were you allergic to?”

Customer #2: “Peppers.”

Me: *Pauses* “You ordered a pizza that has peppers as an ingredient in literally every part of its preparation, knowing that you were allergic?”

Customer #2: “And your point? What are you going to do to make up for your incompetence?”

Me: “Uh, give you some advice, I guess? Maybe if you’re allergic to something, you should stay away from it? Just a thought.”

I hung up on her angry squawking. I documented both incidents and saved receipts just in case basic stupidity escalated to legal stupidity. We DO have the necessary allergy warnings and ingredients posted, as well.

This crap only seems to happen at 4:00 am.

I drive for a food delivery app service. I get a delivery was to a basement apartment that doesn’t have its own exterior entrance. I check the notes from the customer

Customer: “Go around to the back of the house; look for the broken window.”

I have to hand them the food through a broken window that has a piece of plywood leaning on it.

Customer: “Thanks! I don’t want to disturb the people upstairs; they’ve already gone to bed.”

Creeped me out! I had my finger hovering over the emergency call button the entire time.

A few years ago, I ordered pizza from a very large pizza chain online. When the delivery was dropped off, I noticed they forgot the soda. I double-checked, and I did indeed order a soda, so I made a call to the number on the digital invoice. So far, so good, right?

After some music, the phone was redirected to an automated message. After I entered some options, a human picked up. 

Employee #1: “[Intro message]. How can I help you today?”

Me: “I ordered a Coke with the pizza, but the Coke wasn’t with the delivery.”

After getting my order number, name, and email for my account, the employee said they’d forward me to the store.

Some music played, and then there were automated messages again, so I entered some options, and another human picked up.

Employee #2: “[Intro message]. How can I help you today?”

I explained the problem again, and they asked for the same information and said they would forward me. 

Me: *A bit confused* “Why are you forwarding me again? I was already forwarded.”

Employee #2: “Sorry, but there is nothing I can do on my end. I have to forward you to the store.”

Me: “Okay, then.”

You might have guessed: it was the same music, the same automated messages, the same set of options, and then another human. To be honest, I was a bit upset at this point.

Employee #3: “[Intro message]. How can I help you today?”

I explained the problem again, and they asked for all the information again and said they would forward me.

Me: “I don’t want to be forwarded. Why can’t you just help me?”

After asking some questions, I figured out that this was the call center. The phone number I’d called was indeed for the store; no idea why I kept being forwarded to the call center. There was nothing the employee at the call center could do for me. So, I said fine, but I’d better be forwarded to the store.

Nope. Same music, automated messages, options, and then another human. Yeah, I was pretty frustrated at this point, and my tone was not the best.

Before the fourth employee finished his intro, I cut him off and asked if this was the call center. 

Employee #4: “Yes. How can I help you?” 

Me: “I have been forwarded to the call center four times when only the store can help me. This is ridiculous.”

Employee #4: “I’m sorry. What is this about?”

I repeated my problem again and just told him the information before he even asked. 

He said there was nothing he could do and he’d have to forward me. 

Me: “Nope, I will not be forwarded again. I want you to solve my problem; it shouldn’t be this hard.”

This went on for a while. He kept asking if I could let him forward me and telling me there was nothing he could do. When I finally said he could forward me, I was sent straight to the music again.

But this time, there was no automated message and someone picked up, so I was really hopeful.

The person was indeed from the store, and once I explained the problem, they apologized and said they would send me the drink now if I would like. 

I accepted and asked why I had been forwarded five times before I got to him.

Store Employee: “I’m really sorry. It’s the way our phone system works: if it’s busy or no one picks up, it gets automatically forwarded to the call center. Since it’s dinner time, it’s quite busy.”

So, my guess is that the music I’d been hearing was from the store, no one picked up, and then I was sent to the call center and given the automated messages. I did get my drink; the call took twenty-five minutes.

But wow, that is one stupid call system that such a large company set up.

Caller: “I ordered a large pizza, but you sent me a medium!”

Me: “Sorry to hear that. To confirm, is there a large drawing of yellow cheese on the box or a big red tomato?”

Our medium boxes have a picture of cheese, and the large boxes get a tomato. Apparently, this concept is beyond the caller, and it takes at least five minutes to get her to figure out what is on the front of the box. After she sees that there is a picture of a tomato on the front:

Me: “And is the pizza filling out to the end of the box?”

Caller: “Yeah.”

Me: “It appears you have a large, then, ma’am.”

Caller: “No! This is a medium! You sent me the wrong size!”

Me: “How do you know it’s a medium?”

Caller: “It’s only got six slices! Your mediums have six slices!”

Me: “That’s just the number of slices. The size of the pizza is still a large.”

Caller: “No! It’s a medium! I’m coming back there, and you’re gonna give me a large!”

Me: “Ma’am, you can bring it back in if you like, but if I measure it and it’s a large, we won’t replace it.”

Caller: “We’ll see!”

She did come back, and of course, the pizza was a large. I just took the same pizza and doubled the number of slices. The caller grabbed it back, said, “Finally!”, and drove away.