Another post of no known significance…
Since we moved here six months ago, we’ve been getting pizza for dinner on some Saturdays–from a takeout/delivery place just three blocks from here. It’s much better than most chain pizza, although technically it is a chain. Turns out the pizza place hasn’t been there that much longer than we have…
When we do this, I usually call in the order around 5:30 p.m., they usually say “20 minutes or so,” I go over around 5:40, and it’s usually ready between 5:45 and 5:50. There’s usually a reasonable flow of traffic, with deliveries going out every few minutes, people coming in to pick up pizzas every couple of minutes.
So yesterday was Saturday, and I ordered a pizza around 5:30, and they said “20 minutes or so.” (This one was free: they have a really good frequent diner program, one free after six orders.)
But yesterday was also Halloween. The owner had no idea…
I can only conjecture that everybody eats pizza on Halloween–or at least that it’s a natural for Saturday Halloween parties. They were well-staffed, but the desk people didn’t quite catch on to what was happening quite soon enough. And you can only make pizzas so fast in a two-oven facility…
Let’s just say that I got my pizza at 6:20 p.m. By 5:50, they were telling people “45 minutes to an hour, longer for delivery.” The manager did his best, including giving refunds to people who just gave up…although in one case, it took just long enough to give the refund that the person got his pizzas instead. The atmosphere in the increasingly-crowded area around the tiny shop went from bemusement to some anger (on some folks’ part, not mine) to a sort of camaraderie.
The pizza was fine, if a whole lot delayed, and of course I got it fresh out of the oven…
(Yes, we had trick-or-treaters, although not many–maybe 25 total.)