Uncooperative Manager at Little Caesars

If the second order of bread was free, why didn't you just take it and
save it for later? There was no need to throw it away.

you wasted food?! with all the hungry people in the world? what is
wrong with you? i bet you wouldn't have to go very far to find someone
who would have loved it if you'd made a gift of your bread to them.
wasting food is horrible. and you can't sub one food for an unrelated
item. that is not the way the restaurant business works. they cost
out each item individually.

Why...on earth...would you simply throw it in the garbage?? I mean,
come on.

.... personally i do agree, there's nothing wrong with just getting
one crazy bread order instead of two.


Now, this is someplace I actually worked - not that location, but the
franchise, but it was about 18 years ago.

Back then, the manager had *some* leeway in doing things like that.

like
- customer's special comes with 2 small sodas and cust wants a large
instead? sure. no prob.

- cust wants to make the transaction outside if the place smells like
smoke? umm... ok it's no smoking inside but sure

but....
- cust want's just one pizza instead of "Buy one get one free"?
No can do. Back then we weren't allowed to do it, we didn't even have
single-pizza boxes that i remember (not for a long time at least).


but... that was 18 years ago.
since then, i think they legally can't do "buy one get one free" 247
simply cos the law prohibits a store from having an item on sale
constantly.

the price has to be lowered to the sale-price or the item has to be
taken off sale once in a while.


So, since the crazy bread is not always on a 2-for-1 sale, they have
the ability to just hand over one order.

How I would have done it?
sure. i don't think i'd be allowed to change the price tag but if
they really wanted just one... ok.


now granted i don't work there now, so i don't know if the manager's
hands are tied.

as i said before, our hands (and the manager's hands) were tied on
some things, but not on others.

Here's something interesting on LC's profit margins:

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107106/Can-They-Really-Ma
ke-Money-Off-the-Dollar-Menu

LC had a promotion where they charged $5 for a pizza. The ingredients
and packaging cost LC about $3.50. Labor, rent, utilities, and other
fees cost a franchise about 60 cents/pizza.

So, it costs a franchise about $4.10 to sell you a pizza for $5. A
profit of $0.90.

The article is fascinating.

This location has historically offered me substitutions. With the
lunch combo, the crazy bread comes with the crazy sauce (a pizza
sauce). I don't particularily like this sauce, so they will substitute
it for the prepacked garlic dipping sauce.

Seeing as to how they have done something similar before, I figured it
was worth asking.
I am not sure who has seved me in the past, but if substitutions were
completely out of the question, I doubt it would happen before.

I didn't simply walk in to the restaurant expecting to name my own
deal, I simply wanted a substitution similar to one made in the past.

It is meant to be about this being more of the same attitude that is
being bred by the anonymous world of the Internet. If something is not
done precisely the way I want it done, then those doing it are wrong.

I say I want to exchange this for that! No? Well, you are WRONG!

I say it will be cheaper to give me this for that! No? Well, you are
WRONG!

In MY world, I know EVERYTHING about YOUR world. I know EXACTLY how it
works, including how YOUR inventory is managed and how YOUR promotions
are designed. You better listen to ME, buddy, or I'll tell everyone
about it on the World Wide Web.

I can't imagine what our society will be like in 10 or 20 years, with
this elitist mentality spewing out of control.

They offered you a Buy One Get One Free deal. You accepted it, then
asked them to change it to "Buy One Get Something Else" for you. They
declined, because this was not the deal they were offering. This is
not bad service. This does not mean the staff is uncooperative or not
"properly trained". This is the offer, take it or leave it. You may
think it's not a big deal for them to give you your own way, but you
have no idea of the way the registers are set up or how strict the
franchise owner/corporate office may be.

If every business you go to bends the rules for you because you want
to be wowed, being wowed in this matter is just going to become
routine for you. There won't be any wow potential left anywhere you
go, unless your standards become increasingly impossible to meet. So
why not just accept this perfectly reasonable service and save the Wow
requests for something more out of the ordinary? I think you'd be a
lot more impressed by a once in a while, way out of the box move than
you would by a free container of sauce.

BOGO are Buy One Get One Free. Not Buy one get something else of equal
or lesser value free. The promotion was made clear to you.

You should have just ordered something else.

Also, once you AGREED to the deal,a reason that he insisted that you
take both is that who is to say you wont return the next day and claim
you didn't get your free one? That no one told you about the deal?

They make you take it so that can't happen.
Got it on camera!

I am not sure what the issue is here. You got to things of bread for
the price of one... It is not like you had to pay for two things of
bread....

Why waste the food by just throwing it out? The way things are today I
promise you could easily find a friend, family member, or even
stranger who would have been happy to take it and eat it.

I understand that you only wanted the one, but you got the one plus an
extra for free. Just give them to a friend next time... Or save them
for later as a snack.

When I read the letters, I try to put myself in the LW's place. In
this case, I don't think your request was unreasonable. This is
something I might have done if I was on the go and stopped to eat but
didn't want any extra food. Weather permitting, the food could be
left in the car, otherwise any leftovers would probably be thrown
away.

What I don't understand is why you didn't just refuse to take the free
bread. I doubt the manager "forced" you to take it. I think you were
annoyed so you threw it away, probably when the manager was looking.


I think the problem with this is your unrealistic desire to be wowed.
If I'm wowed by service, that's great. But acceptable service is good
enough. If an employee can't or won't do what I ask, even if I think
it's a reasonable request and don't understand why it can't be done, I
don't condemn the employee or the business, especially if it's
something as minor as this.

As far as giving the food to the homeless, I understand not wanting to
drive around looking for someone. Homeless people are not visible
where I live (although I know they're out there) so I wouldn't know
where to look. However, you certainly could have either left the
bread on the counter or given it to someone in the restaurant. The
least you could have done was taken it with you for later. I think
you threw it away for the wrong reason. I also think your chances of
being wowed everywhere you go are slim to none, but I do admire your
perseverance.

In the future, why not give the 2nd order of Crazy Bread to a homeless
person (if one is in the vicinity, of course) or offer it to another
guest of the Little Caesar's...perhaps someone who's waiting for their
order?

Or, if you're going back to the office, perhaps bring it back with you
and give it to a co-worker?

Just an idea. Seems like such a waste just to throw it in a garbage
can.....

I guess I don't expect to be WOW'd at a place like Little Caesar's --
a low-end pizza chain of marginal quality (although, still yummy!).

And I don't see that the manager did anything wrong or objectionable.

A craft store I was visiting the other day was having a buy one get
one sale on small acrylic painting boards of which I needed three
packages. I however, only needed those three, I didn't really need a
fourth.

I could have, however, used a small package of acrylic paints instead.
The price tag was smaller on that particular package of acrylic
paints and the brand was the same as the boards. Maybe I should have
demanded they give me this other item in substitution to WOW me. It
was a related item, right? It was a cheaper product, right? When
they didn't, maybe I should have broke the boards in half and threw
them in the garbage or on the floor on the way out, you know, "To make
a point." And I'll badmouth the store to everyone I know because they
wouldn't honor my "reasonable" request.

(No, I just took the extra package of boards, I can save it until I
need it or give it to someone else...c'mon now.)

Visibly "cheaper" or not, the promotion is not for a substitution,
it's a promotion for THAT product only. I don't consider the "no" on
the promotion being "uncooperative."

HOWEVER the manager "insisting" repeatedly that I take the second
order when I didn't want it would have caused me to leave without my
order post haste. If I had already paid, I'd have demanded a refund
and then left. That would have made a real "point." I doubt this
particular manager cared that you threw away the bread-sticks.

I don't really see anything wrong on the part of the manager, except
that he gave you the second order of bread when you didn't want it.
You were offerred a promotion - you declined. You then tried to
negotiate a better promotion for yourself - he declined. Big deal.

It sounds to me like this is a case where the OP decided that "no"
meant "uncooperative". Which is not necessarily the case. There are
inventory controls, etc. that have to be considered here - and the
manager might not have said no just to say no.

Depsite my disagreement with the OP on this issue, I think the
feedback in this letter about franchisees, just like the BK one, has
merit as it gives the franchisor information he might not otherwise
have. Whethers it's 15 extra seconds or a small side of dip, there
are larger issues at play.

Seriously Nate. You eat way too much fast food.

I agree with you about the manager not insisting on giving you two
cheesy breads but the request about the free dipping sauce is
ludicrous.

First of all, I don't know how you know the value of the dipping sauce
is less that the cheesy bread. When I worked at the pizza shop, our
breadsticks were made of pizza dough cut into strips. We mixed the
dough ourselves in the back of the store so it probably cost a couple
cents of dough per order.

Second, buy on get one cheesy bread promotion is most likely in place
to drive up sales on other products. They know that a lot of people
like sauce with their cheesy bread so they are likely to sell more
sauce if they offer free cheesy bread. Its like asking a grocery
store if they would substitute margarine for your buy 1 get 1 free
loaf of bread so you can have toast. The margarine is cheaper than
the bread, so why wouldn't they let you do it???

1) I think it's really wasteful that you threw away the bread. I think
it is also wasteful that he insisted you take it, but simply leave in
on the counter or give it to somebody in line waiting to order!
2) It's Little Caesars. When they started making their pizzas ready
for order and $5 I think any reputation they had as a "wow"
establishment went out the window. Little Caesars is simply about
convenience, for a person not picky about getting a lot of pizza
toppings. You were setting yourself up for disappointment no matter
what happened by expecting to be wowed!

For. The. Love. Of. GOD!

Why did you throw the bread away? Were you just trying to show the
manager that you weren't "wowed" by free bread? If you didn't want it,
why didn't you jusr leave it on the counter?

Im sure the bread freezes well, so why not do that.

Or why not stop by work and give it to someone there.

I was never raised to waste food, even though I would never eat what
you ate.

Also, probably the reason they wouldnt bend is then you would expect
it everytime, and everyone would want the same exception.

Come on Nate!


Good Day

You have homeless in your area? I would have given the free bread to
them. I would NEVER throw away food, even if it wasn't wanted. As a
child, I knew what it was like to go to bed hungry because we were
poor...

These days, if I happen to accidentally receive an extra sandwich or
if a fast food joint is doing a bogo or free sandwich night, I donate
my extra food those homeless beggars (and yes, these are ones that I
know ARE truly homeless.)

The store probably had a ton of bread that they wanted to get rid of.
Why didn't you just accept? You could have saved the rest for later,
shared with friends or family, given it to another patron in the
store, or feed the hungry? I just honestly don't understand...

Here's what I don't understand. You went to Little Caesars for a
lunch combo, not Crazy Bread. So why didn't you just order something
else if you didn't want the free bread? It seems like you decided on
Crazy Bread after the cashier told you about the special.

Is Crazy Bread part of the lunch combo. That might explain it.

it is safe to assume that when you are hungry again, you would eat the
second one. It is a BOGO offer, not a buy one get another item of
your choice offer. The "value", or cost, which you are assuming, is
pretty much not an issue.

I would never dream of asking an establishment to substitute for the
second item of a BOGO. However, if I did, and they said no, I would
count it as an odd request and move on. They had an offer you
couldn't or wouldn't take advantage of. That is on you, not them.

Your assessment that the substitution is "reasonable" sounds as though
you are taking on the responsibility of the manager. However, you
were on the front side of the counter, not behind it.

In my community, I come across homeless people every day downtown,
where I go for a class. I know they exist, I see them all the time at
work as well.

This area is a major commercial strip, so there isn't someone just
sitting around begging, and I don't want to walk up to some pedestrian
and be like "You look homeless so it would be my pleasure to let you
enjoy free bread I don't want".

of what "WOW" means to you. Maybe he'll think you are a World of
Warcraft player.

"...I need only one. Still, he brought me two."

Sounds to me like he's either not very bright or has a hearing
disability.

"he was the manager."

And, yet, someone thought that this person who is incapable of
hearing/understanding your request was promoted to manager.

Given that, I'd say you should never go back. This place has already
shown that they lack the ability to select minimally competent or able
managers.

In other topics... Nate, I'd like to get one of your vending machines.
Delivered free to my house in Virginia. You supply the product. I
keep all the money. We'll do this for 6 months. If I'm happy, then
you can get paid. If I'm not happy, you can take the machine away.
Please WOW me.