February 16, 2007

• Had another bad experience with Giordano's yesterday. We had a party at work in which I ordered Giordano's. I ordered 3 extra large pizzas, one small deep dish and one sandwich at about 10:50 in the am. The total game to $77 and some change. The lady that took my order read it back to me and told me it would arrive shortly after 12. I went to lunch about 11:40ish. By 12:20, it had not arrived, so I called for a pizza ETA. I was told that the driver had just left and should be there within about 10 minutes. That sounded reasonable. At 12:40, the driver arrived. I walked up to the reception area. I saw 3 or 4 small boxes with individual size pizza. I said to the driver that it wasn't my order. He said "are you Mike?" and showed me a receipt with my name on it. I said yes, but none of this was mine. In fact, the total of the food before me came to $56, well short of $77 we had ordered. Instantly, I became agitated and slightly pissed. He sat there trying to tell me this was my food. I told him that I had ordered 3 extra large pizzas and I needed them here right now, I wasn't going to wait another 2 hours for pizza. He told me he would call his boss, but I told him I was going to call. I stormed back to my desk and called. At this point, I was no longer just agitated and slightly pissed. I called and asked what the hell was going on. The guy that answered said that there was another order placed by our company. We have over 600 employees and people are always ordering from there. I clearly expressed my frustration with the situation. He told me that he would give us half off our order. He told me the driver would be there shortly. I walked back to the reception area and told the driver that we weren't taking this order. He asked me what he should do, I told him that I didn't care, it wasn't my problem and that I had to get back to work. I went back to my desk and a few minutes later, heard a page for whoever ordered Girodano's. I don't know what ever happened to that driver and the food. At 1:10, I called Giordano's back and instantly said "I ordered a large amount of food nearly 2 1/2 hours ago that is still not here. You told me you would give me half off, well now I want it for free or else I will never order from your place again!" The guy paused for a second before saying sternly "Fine. Its free". He said it with quite an attitude. I explained how pissed off I was and how a year ago, it took 2 hours to get $40 worth of food and they gave it to us for free. I said that I got the feeling that he was upset with my demand for free food. He said he was not, but just frustrated with the situation and that I had a right to be pissed. I told him that I was in customer service and that I understood it was not his fault, but I didn't care if he was upset with the situation. I went on to say that I don't blame him or the driver and that I was still going to tip the driver (I gave him $10 once he finally got there). I explained that I work in a call center and we have to stick to a scheduled lunch and how 15 people (it was probably closer to about 8 or 9) did not have any food to eat on their lunches. I also said "I can't stay mad at you people, what, am I gonna order from Pizza Hut? No, they suck." And its true, I won't sink to the Pizza Hut level, however, there are other local places we can start going to.

  Bigotry. Is there an uglier word? First, it was Mel Gibson against the Jews. Then, Michael Richards against the blacks. Now, we have the trifecta. By now, I'm sure everybody has heard about Tim Hardaway's comments on gays. If not, here is a quick refresher. A former NBA player recently came out of the closet. Former NBA player Hardaway was asked to comment and said that he hates gays and he doesn't believe that "it should be anywhere in the world or in America." What makes these comments so disturbing is that this is a black man and we all know the long history or discrimination that blacks have had to deal with in our country. What amazes me, is that homophobic blacks don't seem to remember that all the hatred and discrimination that gays have to deal with is the same kind that blacks have or even still do deal with. How they can not be more empathetic and understanding of gays is beyond me. I do also understand that his feelings and thoughts are probably rooted in religion. Most blacks are very religious and because religion breeds intolerance of gays, we get these kind of attitudes. At least he was honest, though. Let's be real, there are probably far more NBA players that feel the way he feels than not. Also, its great to see the people that are coming out agaisnt what he said. This situation is much different from Gibson or Richards. For starters, he was in an interview and surely he had to know that he was going to be asked about gays. His thoughts might have even be premeditated. With Gibson, he was drunk and obviously, wasn't planned, as nobody plans to get pulled over. With Richards, it was a racist rant filled with rage and was set off by hecklers. For Hardaway, it was a planned interview and he can not use alcohol or rage as an excuse. Although, one has to wonder if he is going to wind up in rehab over this.

  • 5:41 pm
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