25th September 2020
Another busy week but finally it is Friday. Pizza night. I usually make my own but got stuck in really bad traffic picking Matt up from school and it threw things out a little so we decided to order in. Now I love pizza but am not a huge fan of the large chains as they are far too removed from Italian pizza and are really not cheap by the time you get a few for your family and a side or two. It is however nice to sometimes not cook. You could buy all the ingredients and feed your whole family for the cost of just 1 of the pizzas and that is no exaggeration.
As I placed the order I did think I could just knock up my quick dough in a relatively short time but really was tired. 45 mins later I thought I would check the status, still not even being prepared. 1 hour later same thing, maybe I will call, no answer. To cut a very long, very boring story short, the next hour consisted of me checking the tracker and calling. Finally after 1 hour 40 mins I thought I would just go there, just to double check what is going on. Turns out my order was lost in the system along with my money. It had not made it to my local store and they were not interested, the manager had left and helpfully I was told to contact head office Monday for a refund as they could not (would not?) help. The level of customer service has been absolutely shocking.
Although I was hungry tired and irritated while I was in the shop, I was actually pleased it never came (I am not pleased they still have my money) because watching them I was shocked at how many people touch each pizza. They work on a production line essentially, the guy at the end stretched the dough, the next person put on the tomato, the next person the cheese, the next person veg, the next guy meat and the next person puts it in and takes it out of the oven, the next person packs it. All of them without gloves or masks - in the middle of a pandemic. No one person did one pizza. It felt irresponsible and I felt really, really pleased I was not eating that.
By contrast: I left the pizza shop and it was now almost 9pm, I didn’t know what we would eat but it was now late so I needed to make a plan. Next door to the pizza shop there is a fish and chip shop, the lady was warm, welcoming and lovely, just what I needed at this point. All of the staff in the shop were friendly and helpful, the food was freshly cooked, piping hot and so, so delicious. The chips were crispy and light and fluffy and the scampi crispy outside soft inside. As soon as I took a bite I could not help but smile, the onion vinegar and salt is such a heady happy smell. If you find yourself in Sevenoaks look up the St John’s Fish Bar.