A Slice Of Humble (Pizza) Pie

Anyone who’s ever worked in any type of customer service job knows that some customers are just the worst.

I’ve had several different customer service jobs (I’ve done waitressing, fast food, and retail), and I’ve had my fair share of encounters with some major Kens and Karens.

Like this one guy who came into this chocolate shop I worked at a few years ago. He refused to lift a finger and expected me to lift and carry all his stuff, as if I was his servant. And he was convinced that he was more important than all the other customers there; I’d be helping someone else and he’d keep trying to pull me away to carry all his sh*t.

Oh, and the store was packed because this was in the middle of a storewide flash sale, so I was already worn out and losing my patience.

I couldn’t help but look at this jerk and think to myself “Who the f*ck raised you?” Like, who taught you to be so entitled, selfish, inconsiderate, and rude?

Working in jobs like that has shown me just how awful some people really are. And it’s taught me how important it is to be a good customer.

But honestly, my parents taught me all that when I was like 2. They worked hard to raise me to be a decent human being, and that proper upbringing coupled with my past experience in customer service has given me some important insight. I treat customer service workers the way I’d want to be treated if I were in their shoes, because I have been in their shoes. And there was one day that it literally paid off for me.

It was 2018. I was living in Boston at the time, and one night I went to this pizza place called Otto for dinner. It was the middle of the dinner rush, and it was busy, as I expected.

They have this really popular specialty slice: Mashed Potato, Bacon, and Scallion. It’s to die for. And I was craving it hard on this day.

It’s so popular that they run out of it several times a day, so I was kind of expecting it to be sold out before I even got there. But I held out hope that they’d still have some and kept my fingers crossed.

So I went in and ordered two slices of this glorious pizza, and the girl at the counter told me they had a pie of it currently in the oven and that it’d be ready in about 10 minutes.

I said that was fine, and that I’d wait for it. Then I sat down and played around on my phone for a while to kill time. No big deal. No sense in being a total Karen about it and throwing a fit about having to wait. Who cares that it isn’t ready the second I walk through the door? I was just grateful to be getting any at all.

Finally, the pizza came out of the oven and I walked over to get my slices and pay. And to my surprise, the girl ended up only charging me for one slice because I waited so patiently.

I was surprised. I wasn’t expecting any special treatment or anything. I didn’t think I deserved that. I was just doing the right thing, and acting the way everyone should in that kind of situation.

But it sure made my day!

No, this wasn’t one of those stories where some Karen causes a scene and ends up getting an instant *slice* of karma. This was just a personal reminder to me from the universe to keep being a good customer and a good person, and I’ve never forgotten it.

I think about it often, and I like to tell this story whenever I have the opportunity, as an example to people on how to act as a customer. And it’s made me think… people usually think of the phrase “Humble Pie” in a more negative sense, to refer to the idea of karma biting someone in the butt after they do something wrong. But it doesn’t always have to be that way. It can also be thought of in a more positive sense, to refer to someone being rewarded for staying humble and acting kindly.

And that analogy illustrates an important lesson: Always think about what kind of Humble Pie you’re looking to receive. You always reap what you sow, so make sure you’re setting yourself up to receive a good pie, not a sh*t pie.

To the girl working the counter at Otto that night, I hope your life is amazing. You made my day that day, and I hope I made yours better too!

Side note: I also highly recommend getting pizza at Otto if you’re in Maine or Massachusetts! I’m a Jersey girl, and this was the only good pizza I’ve ever had outside of NJ and NY!

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