When you work for a pizza place that delivers, you have to make sure you deliver to a given area before taking an order.

What would you do if the customer was very rude because he knew he was in the delivery area, saying that you are wasting time?

That is what happened to the delivery guy in this story, so once he took the order, he delivered the pizza, and the guy insulted him during the delivery, not realizing he was the same guy.

Customer insulted me to my face because he didn’t know I was the one who took his order

I work at a local-ish pizza place that has stores all over the area.

I’m sure this is an important step for a delivery place.

When I was being trained to answer the phone at this particular store, I was told to always check the address was within our delivery area.

This is because the area intersects with a lot of different stores, and addresses that are just a few minutes away may be in another stores delivery area since it would be closer.

These are all important details.

We very commonly have customers try to order food from our store which are in other stores’ delivery areas.

We also have a “No delivery zone” that starts a few blocks from the store due to a high enough crime rate that management would just not want to send anyone to.

Well, they don’t deliver there anymore.

This is relatively new, so another reason to always check is because customers may say “I always order here though!” or “Well, you’ve delivered to me before!” when we don’t anymore.

This customer was particularly angry when I asked them to hold so I could check their address.

They are being polite.

Me: “Would you mind holding for one moment so I can make sure you’re within our delivery area?”

Customer: “No, I am within your delivery area. I’m just a few minutes down the road.”

Me: “I’m sorry, but I have to ask every time.”

If the person is being combative, that is a sign not to deliver to them.

Usually when this happens that line gets me on hold so I can check the address, but not this time. As I was reaching for the hold button I was interrupted, and I didn’t want to rudely cut them off.

Customer: “Wait! I don’t understand, you’ve delivered to me before. I order here all the time!”

Me: “I’m sorry sir, but I-“

Whether they are new or not, they still have to check.

Customer: “Are you new here? Because I haven’t been asked this before.”

Me: “Well, I’ve-“

Customer: “I order here all the time! I don’t understand why you would have to check that I’m in your delivery area!”

Me: “I’m sorry sir, but I have to check every time. This will only take a moment.”

You’re going on hold.

At that point they were yelling at me, but after that last line they were quiet for long enough to put them on hold.

I’ve gotten pretty quick at checking addresses, so this customer has made a 20-second part of the order to 2 minutes.

She is still new and has to check.

To be fair though, if management or a shift leader (or someone inexperienced) recognizes a street or address, they don’t check the address.

Although it’s safe to check every time, because a few streets cross multiple delivery areas.

Me: “I’m sorry about that hold, it looks like you are within our delivery area, so what can I get for you?”

Let’s not waste even more time, sir.

Customer: “Well I could have told you that!”

The rest of the phone call was standard enough. They were on hold for a pretty short amount of time, and there was nothing else for them to complain about.

If they had been patient, it would have gone faster.

The whole order part of the call probably took half the time that arguing about the address took. I can usually put down phone orders in the system and finish the call in less than a minute.

Since it was a delivery, and I was the driver, I took it to the house.

Why would they do this?

Someone answered the door and took their credit receipt into another room to sign it (even though I gave them a pen?) and that left me standing at the front door with someone else.

Their voice I could recognize from the phone. They took a long drag from their cigarette and

Oh, really?

Customer: “You know… The person who took my order was an idiot.”

Me: “Oh?”

I was pretty surprised at that comment, and took a step back, but tried to hide it. I may have smiled.

You don’t know who you’re talking to.

Customer: “Ya, they kept talking about how I wasn’t in their district or something, and they didn’t seem like they knew what they were doing.”

I never said the word “district” in any interaction I had with this person.

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry about that.”

This is getting funny.

Customer: “Oh, don’t worry about that, it wasn’t your fault.”

The other customer came back with their receipt. They tipped me, and I gave them their food.

Me: “Thank you! Have a nice night!”

Customer: “Thank you!”

You have to find humor in these things.

I smiled the whole drive back to the store, I thought it was hilarious.

It’s really weird that the interactions I have with people are drastically different on the phone than face-to-face.

Lots of people are only rude on the phone (or behind a keyboard).

They’re so much nicer when I’m there in-person.

That is too funny, but at least they were nice enough in person, and they gave a tip.

The people in the comments also liked the story. Check out some of the things they had to say.

This would have worked too.

Here’s a good idea.

Yup, tell, don’t ask.

This is what I was thinking.

People are always scamming for food.

Some people are so rude on the phone, but nice in person.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.