In all honesty, our deliveries are hit or miss

The last blog was written from the heart, with honesty. Given that honesty is as well received as change, it's no surprise that it got mixed reviews. No problem, I can deal with mixed reviews. Can you deal with more honesty?

We had a full house on Valentine's Day. I was on-call, so I didn't arrive until around 7:00pm to help. I answer phones, clear tables, wash dishes, do deliveries, and just about anything else to keep things running smoothly. At 8:00pm, there was a call for a delivery. I hesitated and then I said there were no deliveries. The customer agreed to come in for a take-out, so I took his order. I questioned myself and started to berate myself for telling him no deliveries. Just as those thoughts were going around in my head, the pager went off.

I have to believe it was the voices in my head that told me to tell the customer no deliveries. No, not THOSE voices, the voice of my intuition. The Dalai Lama says to attain inner peace we must ignore those around us who cause turmoil so that was can hear our inner voice, our intuition. This has to be true, because I read it on Facebook.

 



It must have been the inner voice of my intuition that told me not to accept deliveries because I was on-call that night and could, and in fact was, called in at the drop of a dime. Anyway, it all worked out. The customer got his food and I went off to MMH and saved a life.





The next night was Friday, so of course, I was at the Casa again. I was not on-call. The phone rang. I answered it and the customer asked if there were deliveries. I said no. He said he was new to the area and he sounded like a freak.  More intuition? I like to think so.

Another phone call and question about a delivery. I happily said yes. Well, after that, it all went downhill. The customer described in lengthy detail about his difficulties in getting food delivered and how deliveries at the restaurant are "hit or miss." Remember, it was Friday. We are always busy on Fridays. I was trying really hard to take the food order, not engage in his negativity, and move on to my next task.

I'm a trained professional....with those inner voices....of intuition....and Tina was standing nearby and I didn't want to give her any bad examples. Too late, he wouldn't give it up. I replied, "Sir, we are a small family owned restaurant and I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry that we can't afford to hire a dedicated delivery driver for that one delivery that may or not come in." I guess he got the message. I gave him his total. He asked if that included the delivery fee. I said, "Yes, it does. It doesn't include a tip." Palease, I wasn't expecting any tip!

Well, I delivered the food. He had Italian music blasting out of his home. He was sporting a pony-tail. He was happy to see me....he raved about how great our food is and how sad he feels when it can't be delivered. I encouraged him to tell all his friends and loved ones about our restaurant and our fantastic food. He said he does. And after all that, he included a large tip. OK, so sometimes my intuition is off; however, and best of all, I plan to use his terminology in our ads:

Dine in  -Take out - Hit or Miss Delivery - CATERING

 

 



 

Business is booming at Carmella's Casa Italiana.  I hope to see you there soon. Hopefully, you won't depend too much on our "Hit or Miss Delivery." There's never an issue with dine in, take out, or catering. Stop in and you'll see what I mean!