Why Papa John's Pizza will never see ANOTHER $$ from me!

It all began because I was hungry and didn't feel like cooking! It has been raining here all day (all week actually) and I really didn't feel like going back out in the rain to get dinner. You would think that living in Brooklyn (were you can get the best pizza in the USA) that I wouldn't bother ordering from a chain pizza joint. Since my favorite family own pizza shop only takes cash I had to find a place that took cards. I have never been a fan of Dominos so I figured I give Papa John's a try. I had seen their commercials and knew you could order online.

So I ordered 2 specials and a beverage, and a side! First time I put the order in (with a tip added to the total) I don't get any confirmation, so I decided to place the order again without a tip (I figured I pay the tip in cash). This one goes through. Luckily someone from the store calls me and tell me that two orders have been placed and wanted to know if this was a go. I tell the guy "no, I didn't get a confirmation with the first so I placed it again." I tell him I only wanted 1 order. Fine. He says "we'll cancel the first one!"

A few minutes later the delivery guy calls and tells me he will be here in 4 mins. Cool, I tell him just bring it to my apartment door. Then he tells me that it's policy that they don't come into apartment buildings and that I would have to come to the front of the building. For a $35 order, I expect door-to-door service. Damn even Dominos does that! I tell him if he brings it to the door I will give him a nice tip. I'm figuring $10 is worth it. He tells me that I have to call his boss and okay it with him. So I call the place back and tell him I can't come to the front door and he says tell the driver its okay. I get back on the phone with the driver and relay this message. (Why couldn't the boss just do this himself?)

Okay, so the driver finally arrives to my apartment door and he doesn't have change for a $20 (all the small cash I have on me!) All he has is $3 on him, but he will go down into the car and bring back my change! I make a quick decision: if he didn't want to bring the pizzas up in the first place, he won't be back. Against my better judgement, I say "Fine, take the $20 and have a good night!"

So I go in and find that between the two boxes is a paper solicitation for an dog breeder of Siberian huskies! WTF? Who wants to find that WITH a food order. I'm thinking the delivery guy has a side job. But this is just tacky! It's reminds me of pet hospital next to a Chinese restaurant (see photo - yes it's real and it's located on East 14th Street between Aves A and B)! To a person with a vivid imagination, that is the last thing I want to see! It gets better: the receipt with the order is for the first order (yes the one that I put the tip on the card) So, if you are following me, this delivery guy has just made a $25 tip on a $35 pizza order!

Since I ordered online, I go to check both my bank to see if either of the orders have been cancelled. Neither order has been cancelled. So I go back to the phone and call Papa John's and find out what the deal is. The manager tells me, after putting me on hold for what seems like ages, that the first order was cancelled and it should show up on my account in 24 hours. Needless to say, this has been the most expensive pizza order I have ever placed thus far!

So, I do what any disgruntle customer would do, I fire off a letter to the company on their website! It funny that when you place an order the site runs fast and easy. But if you are trying to lodge a complaint... slow as all hell!

Its been raining all week here. Im getting over a bad cold I've had for the past 2 weeks. This pizza fiasco was the cherry on my day!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday was the worst day I've had in a long time. Everything started out okay when I got up. I got up on time and had all my homework done. I even had a chance to have breakfast before I left home. The sun was out. Who could ask for the better start to a perfect day? Well every thing started to go downhill once I got into the NYC Subway system. I usually take the 2 or 3 to Atlantic Avenue from Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum. That connection was fine. I wasn't even going to let the crazy homeless man who is always at the entrance ruin my day. When I got to Atlantic Avenue. The B train (I take this to 42nd Street) was at the station. The time was about 8:15am and by all accounts, I would have been able to make it to my class and sitting in my desk by 9am.

Well an announcement came over the loudspeaker that the train was halted in the station because there was a sick passenger on the train ahead of this B at Dekalb Avenue. Okay, so I figured wait for a few moments. Someone said that they had been sitting there for nearly 20 minutes. So I thought, well I go to the connecting tunnel to Pacific Street and catch the D train. It's just as fast and they didn't seem to have any trouble getting over the bridge. So I walked to that platform and as luck would have it the train was just arriving into the station. So now it's about 8:35 and I'm making okay time. I didn't have a seat this time but that was okay.

So I pulled out my John Amaechi book out and picked up where I left off. As the train is going over the Manhattan Bridge, I'm really into the book and all of a sudden I feel a surge of people move closer around me and then the most foulest smell came over the car. When I tuned around I saw that this elderly man had "lost his lunch" on the floor directly behind me where I was standing reading my book. Some had even "splashed" on the bottom of my khaki pants that I was wearing. Now not only was I going to be late for class, but I was going to arrive to class smelling like "motion sickness".

So now I had the option to either go home and change or go to class smelling the way I did. I reasoned it would cost me more to go back instead of just going forward and getting to class late. As soon as I got off the train I ran to Duane Reade and pick up some of those "Shout Wipes" because, I didn't want the puke to stain my pants. Of course, I decided to forego my daily coffee and bagel with cream cheese. I just did not have the appetite. Can you blame me? Anyway I finally made it to class at 9:30 and got right to work on cleaning up the vomit stains on the pant legs. Everything seem to go pretty smooth until after I finished my next class. I should say that on Wednesdays I have 3 classes back-to-back and it involves some campus travel. I start in 50 West 40th (between 5th and 6th Aves) and then go to 232 West 40th (between 7th and 8th Aves) and then back to 50W40. Technically there are no breaks but the Professors know the deal and usually dismiss the classes at least 10-15 minutes early so that it will give everyone enough time to get to their next class. So after my second class (English Comp - that I had to finish a paper for the night before on "The Worst Day of My Life") Ironic, isn't it? Anyway. I decided that now I could stomach some coffee and I stopped and pick up some from a stand on the way back. As I'm going upstairs to the last class, someone bumps into me on the elevator and coffee spills on my light blue and white shirt. Could this day get any worst?

So now I get to my last class for the day and I'm totally in shock over the day I'm having and start to pull out the Shout Wipes again and go to work. I get through the class and I'm fine. Once class is over I hightail it out of there for the subway for home. The ride goes fine and I get home and take off my smelly clothes and take a nap until about 8pm. I got up and made some dinner and got ready to watch the season finale of "Lost" and I'm set for the night. Except I guess I was still tired because I dozed off just before the ending of "Lost" and missed the ending. AAaaaaahhhhhhhH!!!!!!!!!

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Today has been a better day. In Flash class we learned how to make a website in Flash. It was so much more easier than that dreadful Dreamweaver that I used to make my site last quarter. I can't wait to redo my site in Flash now. Fortunately today is the last day of classes for the week and it's a holiday weekend. Now if I only had some plans for the weekend.

How would Ann Coulter liked to be called the "C" word?

I bet she wouldn't like it at all. But I could be wrong. She might even be used to it by now! I know the saying goes "Sticks and Stones can break my bones but names can never hurt me". But is that really true? I think hateful words like the one Ann Coulter used in front of a group of people at the Conservative Political Action Committee last Friday are just as hateful as when someone uses the "N"word! To me, being a black man and a gay man, you can imagine that it's like being stabbed twice in the heart.

Yeah, I could rise above it. But that is easier said than done. All my life I've grown up with people calling me names and I try to ignore them and just see them for the ignorant people they are. But Ann is no ignorant person. She is a smart woman and knows that what she says in public will be talked about for weeks to come. True, we can just ignore her, as I've have done in the past, but that doesn't make the sting go away any sooner.

It's bad enough that hip-hop has consistently used the "N" word for years despite the objections of Black civic leaders and celebrities like Bill Cosby. But does that make the "F" word fair game to be said instead? Hell-to-the-NO! I know that what she said was in reference to the Isaiah Washington incident with the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" at the Golden Globe Awards a few months ago, but why rehash it? Somehow I don't think that by bringing it up again is going to stop people from seeing the political incorrectness of using the word. Especially among a group of so-called "civilized" intellectuals!

John Amaechi (my new hero) said it best when he said "Ann Coulter knows better!" True, but I think that EVERYONE should know better! When will we as a society finally stop the name calling? The sooner we as a people start hurling kind words to one another instead of spewing hateful ones, the sooner the world will start to become a more pleasant place to live.