Right Up Her Alley!
I should have expected it. The week before my son was coming over to watch the Monday night football game that our favorite team was playing in. I thought it would be a good idea to have pizza for the occasion. I waited until about an hour before the game to order. At that time I called a few places. To my surprise some were closing early (at 7:30) and others were just too expensive. One place has great pizza but for $38.00 for a large one I felt I had to pass. I got through to one of the Papa John’s that was still opened but they told me they were only doing deliveries, pickups were out. By the time my son got there I was totally frustrated. I told him that I didn’t get anything which was disappointing for him because I told him to come hungry. Luckily my wife was on ear and without a beat she got some food together for us. She saved the day but I couldn’t believe it is so hard to order a pizza these days.
Everything has changed since the pandemic in case you have been living on another planet. The shocking thing about my pizza experience is things that you totally count on you can’t count on anymore. I went to a store last Saturday. There was a sale sign by a product and it didn’t ring up as on sale. The sign was a little confusing because it said 4 for $5.00 and then it said minimum 2 but no more than 8. I took that to mean if I bought 2 or 3 that the sale price was in effect. At the cash register there was a young man maybe 19 that was ringing me up. When it didn’t ring up on sale I questioned it. He tried to get me to pay the price he rang up but the sale price didn’t register. I asked if someone could look at the sign and he got all upset. He used the F word which totally came as a surprise since I have never heard that word before from someone working for a business at a cash register. I realized I was holding up the line so I went over to the person next in line and told her I was sorry. She said “don’t worry about it, you did nothing wrong.”The kid finally got someone to run the next register. He mentioned he would check the sign and stomped off madly in an almost running pace. I followed him and tried to keep up but he was several feet ahead of me. When he got to that part of the store and saw the sign he called the manager to come by and explain it. The kid was still raging. “I hate this job”, he said. I was a little upset with his whole attitude and his being completely unprofessional. At that point I gave him some elderly advise. “If you don’t like your job you should quit”, I stated. “Customer service is the most important thing.” Kind of surprised by my advice he tried to correct himself. “I like my job OK”, he stated, “I just don’t like corporate and the mistakes they make.” A couple of minutes later the manager came by and said the sign was wrong. Someone had made a mistake. I offered to buy another product to make my total 4 to make it easy for them. The kid seemed to have a different attitude with me after that. He was as nice as he could be. Maybe he was afraid I would report him.
With things the way they are right now and companies in desperate need of help it is not surprising that employees are sometimes mismatched. It is also not surprising that places cannot operate efficiently with a skeleton crew working. Your typical McDonald’s visit might take two or three times as long because the few people that are back there are overloaded. A friend told me the other day that she drove up to the speaker at a restaurant and waited patiently in line for about seven minutes before anybody even acknowledged she was there. It was like when a company puts you on hold on the phone and they give you the silent hold. She didn’t know if she was ever going to get helped or how long she would have to sit there. These situations are sad because our economy is suffering. People who could be filling a need have decided that they don’t want to work. Our government has decided to pay people not to work so where is the incentive to fill a need? Companies are apt to hire any able bodied person just to function.
The next Sunday my son was coming over again to watch the game with me. I decided not to call my order in but to arrive early and place it in person. I went to Papa John’s and I hoped they would be open. They were supposed to open at 11 but in these times all bets are off. To my happy surprise the door opened when I pulled on it and there was one lone girl running the whole operation. I found out later her name was Ally. Ally came up from the back to help me. She had dough all over her apron she was wearing. I made my order with Ally and she said it would take about half an hour. I was amazed that Ally was the only one there. She was doing the work of three or four people! I actually felt bad for Ally. I didn’t know what happened. I assume that all of her workers she was expecting called in. It seems to me that Ally could have done the same but she didn’t. I learned a couple of weeks later that Ally was actually the General Manager for that branch. Whatever her title is she is in the business of making pizza and she can do it all. On that day she was at the counter taking orders, ringing up sales, throwing the dough up in the air or loading and checking the oven! Just in the little time I watched her before my pizza was ready when I got back I saw that she was amazing!
I was thinking about the profits that Papa John’s would have missed that day if it weren’t for Ally. I can only wish that America will get back to work and all of the workers will be like Ally. She smiled and never complained and did her job and the job of many just to keep things going. I know that I truly appreciated Ally being there. In fact when I think about a franchise it isn’t based on the TV commercials that they play to get my business. It is good experiences like Ally gave me at Papa John’s! They are so lucky to have someone like her representing them. I told her on one of my other visits how impressed I was of her work that day. I asked her if she got tired. “I’m used to it”, she smiled as if it were nothing at all. Today Ally told me it was her birthday. “Can I ask how old you are?” “Twenty two”, she replied. It is encouraging to me that a person so young has the maturity to keep things rolling even in the midst of crises. She represents Papa John’s in the most positive way!
As Christians we are representatives too. When things are going well it can be easy to have a good attitude. What about when things are going wrong though? What if we feel like we are the only one representing? Sometimes God puts us in situations where we feel like we are all alone like Ally was that day. Do we keep our positive attitude and faith when it feels like nobody is there to help? Can we truly say that we are doing everything we can to keep God’s door open to the hearts of many?
lightenload 