After a rash of customer comlaints, an owner
decides to take matters into her own hands. |
‘Problem’ Customers A smile crept over Leigh’s face as she crossed the final name off the list. As usual, it had been a long day. The dinner rush hadn’t managed to put everyone in the weeds as it did most Friday nights. As the last table got up to leave, one of the drivers took a seat at the end of the bar to check out. “How’d you do tonight, Travis?” Melissa asked as she added up his delivery slips. “Pretty good,” he said. “Have you heard about from the Jones’ lately?” “No, I thought they just gave up on us. Why, did they order tonight?” “Nope. Last week they got the wrong pizza and called up and really chewed Leigh out. They said they were going to write an editorial about how much we suck.” The Jones’ ordered religiously every Friday night. No matter how fast the kitchen was, their pizza arrived late, cold, or both. At first it was simply a matter of the drivers getting lost. Their house was on a dirt road without any street lights. Finally, Lisa went with a driver and drew a map to their place. Travis counted out the money he owed and stuffed his tips in his hip pocket. “Eighty-two dollars, not bad for working a double today.” Lisa walked out of the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. “Glad that’s over. I thought the orders would never stop.” “Yeah, but everything ran smooth,” Leigh said as she ran an X report. “Two thousand eighty-three, and two more drivers to check out! I think it’s gonna be a record night.” Belle held up a visa slip. “I don’t believe it- they tipped twenty percent! I never get over ten when that couple comes in. The wife bitches and complains about everything. But tonight there wasn’t a single problem for them to whine about. What’s getting into everybody?” Leigh started matching Travis’s delivery slips to the door sheets. “I guess people are starting to get the idea. Even that lady over on Central Avenue called tonight and was pleasant on the phone.” “Hey, I’ve noticed Cathy hasn’t been in lately,” Lisa said. “Have you heard anything? I don’t think they’ve done any work on the bakery for a few weeks.” Cathy came into a small fortune when her rich aunt died. Having nothing better to do she decided to open a bakery right across the street from the pizza shop. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but Lisa had started opening up for coffee eight months prior. Cathy announced plans to sell coffee and doughnuts too. A town that small couldn’t support two coffee joints in direct competition. “Cathy changed her mind.” Leigh said. “We don’t need to worry about her anymore.” “What do you mean, ‘changed her mind’,” Lisa asked as she looked across the street at the empty building. “I mean, she changed her mind about the bakery. She won’t be opening across the street. She realized it would be a mistake.” Leigh smiled at Lisa with a knowing look in her eyes as she turned to go into the office. “It’s funny,” whispered Melissa. “We haven’t had a single complaint in a least two weeks. The ticket times are getting faster everyday, and the drivers haven’t been getting lost as much, but still-it’s getting sort of freaky.” Lisa went to talk to Leigh in the office. While she was glad the business was doing so well, something just wasn’t right. Not to mention Leigh had been acting a little weird on top of it all. Outside the office door she noticed a crumpled piece of notebook paper. Lisa picked it up and was about to throw it away when she noticed what was written on it. In what was unmistakably Leigh’s handwriting were the names and addresses of ‘problem’ customers. She started push the door to the office open but heard Leigh on the phone. “Mike, it’s me.” Leigh said as she looked over the delivery orders from that night. “Yep, another perfect night. Not a single complaint. I told you they’d see things my way. All you gotta do is make them an offer they can’t refuse.” |