Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
Funny story from the Caesars pizza outlet from a decade ago. This was not DiFara, but the one prior to it (some internal brand name).
I wanted to buy their entire pepperoni pizza pie. The sign indicated that a whole pie was $26, and otherwise it was $6.50 per slice. Each pie was 6 slices. Obviously paying per slice was FAR more expensive if you were buying the whole pizza ($39 versus $26).
I was Seven Stars at the time.
Fortunately, there were no other customers there, and they had a full pepperoni pizza sitting out, which looked like it had recently been made. I told the woman behind the counter I wanted to purchase it for the $26.
She said back, "Sorry, I can't do that. If you want a whole pie, you need to wait 20 minutes while I make another one."
I replied, "But it says right there I can buy the whole pie for $26. So please sell it to me now. I don't have 20 minutes to wait."
She answered, "No, but the policy is I have to make you a separate one if you want to buy the whole thing. That's because it's not fair to anyone else. If you buy the whole pie sitting here, then the next person won't be able to purchase any pepperoni slices for 20 minutes."
I replied, "But there's no one else here! So there is no next person! Why can't you sell me this one?"
She wasn't budging. She said back, "Someone else could walk up at any time and want it. It's not fair to them. Now, if you want a slice, I can give it to you now, but I can't sell you the whole pizza unless you want to wait for me to make another."
I then replied, "Let me ask you a question. Let's say I was willing to buy all 6 slices individually, instead of the whole pie. Could I do that?"
"Yes, you could do that," she answered. "If it's by the slice, you can buy as many as you want."
"Aha!", I snapped back. "So this isn't about being fair to everyone who comes after me! You just said you'd sell me all 6 slices and have nothing left for anyone else, as long as I bought them individually and paid the higher price! So if I pay $39 for 6 slices, which is the whole pie, then you'll sell it right now. But if I want the whole pie for $26, then I have to wait! So this is about money, not caring about the next customer!"
She got flustered and couldn't explain it.
I then showed the Seven Stars card and said, "Since we've established I can buy the whole pie if I just pay more, and since the whole pie price is supposed to be $26, I would like you to call your manager, tell them I'm Seven Stars, and I simply want the whole pie now for the posted $26 price."
She made the call, explained my point, and I heard the manager say on the phone, "Yeah, actually makes sense to me. Let him do it."
I paid the $26 (in RCs), got my pizza, and went on my way.
VICTORY!