Why do you customers insist on asking ME, a regular lower-level employee, a non-manager, why the price of our food is so expensive?!!! What the fuck do you want me to tell you, really? I don’t set the fucking prices! Our supervisors or general manager don’t even make those decisions! No, we are NOT a pizzeria, so our prices are higher, and people who are at all intelligent assume that. But some people insist on asking me “Why is this so expensive? I don’t get it, I’m only ordering a medium pizza! I can get a large for this price at ‘blank'”. So fucking order from the other place! I have other things to do besides listen to you complain about the prices for 10 minutes on the phone (even after I explained to you in detail about what costs what)! If you’re that concerned, contact head office and stop wasting my time!
—Busy worker
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2009.
If you work for something other than a pizza place, I’d say you work at a place that serves pizza at the very least, but combines it with other easy to make, pasta type foods (B. Pizza, maybe?). See, here’s what’s wrong with Corporate structures such as this. The complaint is made at the store level because that is the first point of contact. Regardless of who makes the prices, it should be recorded there and there should be an internal process to pass it along (I will say, this is something the Banks actually do very well) however, the store deflects it, saying it’s not their responsibility and says to call “head office”. Head office usually amounts to a regional office in this case but the website or any other contact info states a 1 800 number that puts you through to a general call centre, where people record your “complaints”. Those complaints sit on a database, and for your troubles, they send out out some coupons. Here’s what’s wrong with that: First, they don’t actually address the concern. It functions as a information gathering system. Secondly, Nobody knows where to go when a complaint should be made, because it’s not listed appropriately. Finally, the employees don’t give a shit to pass it along to the people that matter. Despite what the OP says, your GM/Store/Restaurant management are paid to give a damn. It’s your fucking job to pass the concern along to the management, so do it. If you don’t feel that it’s valid and you don’t want to do that, just say: “hey, I appreciate your concern and I’ll get it to my general manager. We appreciate your feedback.” There, by saying that, I’ve saved you 8 of those 10 minutes.
What I used to get all the time at a store that is super, along with “why is your food so expensive? why are your prices going up” was “why don’t you guys have more cashiers on?”…I dunno ask my supervisor who does the hiring? I’m sure she purposely understaffs the shift just to fuck you over and make you wait a whole extra three minutes in line.