James says a Papa John’s delivery dude called him a “f*gg*t m*th*rf*ck*r” as part of a blowup in a dispute about whether or not the driver rang the doorbell during an unsuccessful delivery attempt.

James writes:

I have been ordering from the local Papa John’s for about six months. I order a lot of pizza. Well over $100 worth each month, since I moved to this address.

In the past I have had an issue where they send me pepperoni instead of pineapple. It’s not the most unsurprising mistake I suppose. I generally order online, and I generally order late at night, so often times it is too late to call back and have a replacement sent that night.

This happened again a little over a week ago. I decided to walk to the store and talk to the manager, which I did. He was very friendly, even gave me his personal cell number in case I had a problem in the future.

Last night I ordered my typical pizza online: extra large with green pepper, onion, spicy Italian sausage and pineapple. I waited…and waited. Two hours went by. I gave them leeway because it was Saturday night and there’s a big festival going on in town. After two hours, I called over to find out what was going on.

Long story short the manager on duty – not the same guy I had talked to – said they had no record of the order. He also said that other people had called to say they had the same problem that evening (online orders not going through.) He ultimately offered to send me the pizza for free, but with reluctance.

Then it came, and it had pepperoni instead of pineapple.

Today (Sunday), I walked back over to the store. The manager I had previously spoken to was on duty but apparently away from the store. The sub-manager (I guess?), a nice young woman, listened to me and agreed to send a replacement pizza for the pizza from the night before. I asked her to have it delivered within the hour.

I got home and waited a bit, then decided to take a quick shower. It’s 90 degrees out today so…walking 30 blocks got me pretty sweaty. I get out of the shower, and my roommate says “did you order a pizza?” It turns out the driver came during that four minutes, but instead of getting up off his ass and ringing the bell, he called. Over and over again. My roommate had been making a long distance call on my cell phone, and asked the guy to come to the door. Which he never did. So he left.

So, I call the store back again and speak to the young woman. I told her to PLEASE tell the driver to RING THE BELL. Fifteen minutes later, my roommate – who was still on the phone long distance – got another call from the guy saying he was outside.

I ran down and the guy was still sitting in his car. I went over to HIM, and I asked him why he didn’t ring the bell? I was angry, but calm and polite. He swore up and down that he rang the bell “20 times,” even saying I could ask my elderly neighbor who was sitting on her stoop. I didn’t feel like arguing, so I took my pizza and went to the stoop.

When I got there, I did ask my neighbor if he had run the bell. She shook her head no. Then, I hear over my shoulder:

“I RANG THE BELL 20 TIMES! F*GG*T M*TH*RF*CK*R!”

I mean, that’s basically the end of my story. I don’t even know where to go with that. I do know that in my state – PA – discrimination by a business based on sexual orientation is a federal crime. I don’t know if name-calling is technically discrimination, but it certainly seems like grounds for firing.

My inclination is to discuss it with customer service, but they don’t have a number where you can speak with someone – you can only file a complaint online, or leave a voicemail complaint. So I guess that’s what I’ll do.

It’s so distressing to go through a series of mistakes by other people – and downright negligence by one in particular – only to then get hit with an epithet. It doesn’t really HURT, because I’m better than that. But it still shocks me.

Oh, and for the record…I opened the door to my small apartment complex (only 3 apartments,) rang the bell, and I could hear it ringing in my apartment from all the way down. I don’t think I would’ve missed 20 rings, nor would my roommate.

Probably not a great way to secure future business.

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