Pizza is great in and of itself. Doesn’t matter what kind you like, you can’t really go wrong with it.
But do you know what tastes better than pizza? Pizza with a discount. But not the kind of discount that you get because the ingredients are about to go bad, no. Rather, the kind of pizza with a discount that’s supposed to boost sales and encourage folks to order using a particular method. Say, over the phone.
Great on paper, but what do you do if the only way you can learn about said discount is by popping up at the physical location? And since you’re there, you might as well get the discount? No? You have to call regardless? Ah, OK, we’ll do just that.
More Info: Reddit
Ordering pizza is great, but ordering pizza with a 10% discount is even better. But, turns out, you must have a phone to do so
Image credits: Pete (not the actual photo)
Meet u/VivaIbiza, a Redditor who has recently shared a story that isn’t all that recent, but entertaining regardless.
OP lives around 5 minutes away from a local pizzeria. Incidentally, they wanted some pizza, and it was just not far enough to justify a phone call, considering how efficient the pizzeria is at doing its thing. So, they decided to go there and order on the spot.
Well, OP had a phone and the right frame of mind after being told that said discount was for "phone orders only", despite them being onsite, but if the staff insisted...
Image credits: VivaIbiza
While there, they noticed an ad for a special offer—order on the phone and get 10% off. Sweet. OP asked about it, wondering since they were already there, could they get the discount?
“No. It’s for telephone orders only.”
But that would mean that OP would have to call then and there, quite literally, to achieve the same result, making it very unnecessary and somewhat awkward.
“No. It’s for telephone orders only.”
OK, rules are rules. It’s better to respect them. And that’s exactly what OP did. With a little bit of malicious compliance.
Because the pizzeria clerk took the rule promotion all too seriously, OP respected the rules and simply stepped outside to order a pizza on the phone
Image credits: VivaIbiza
Very soon after—possibly around 15 seconds later—the pizzeria’s phone rang, the same staff member went to pick it up, only to be greeted by a familiar voice asking for a pizza with that 10% discount. Politely, of course. The staff member looked outside to see OP smiling and waving while on the phone.
Needless to say, the pizzeria clerk looked rather upset. But he too had to comply and cough up that 10% discount. The order was placed with a 10-minute ETA.
Well, during these 10 minutes, OP saw another restaurant patron approach. Right before they entered, OP stopped them and asked if they were there to pick up a pizza they’d ordered on the phone beforehand. Turns out, they hadn’t ordered it yet, so it must have been their lucky day because OP enlightened them of the possibility to save 10% on their next purchase and asked them what they wanted.
Not only did OP get a 10% discount, but also got one for a random stranger after calling the pizzeria again and placing another order, reminding them about the discount
Image credits: VivaIbiza
With a grin on their face, OP redialed the pizzeria, still very visible from the outside, and proceeded to place this absolute stranger’s order, all the while reminding them kindly to not forget the 10% “telephone orders only” discount. By now, it looked like the pizzeria guy would pop a blood vessel from all the malicious compliance he was being subjected to, but he himself now had to abide by the laws that were set forth with this whole discount thing.
It took all but a week for the promotion to be modified to “if you have a menu, which you can very conveniently pick up at the entrance, you’re eligible for a discount.” Now everyone gets to enjoy pizza that is 10% more awesome.
OP also provided a little bit of context and information in a later edit to the post
Image credits: VivaIbiza
"I think he was just one of those guys that does everything to the letter, despite how pointless it may be. I would have been fine with it had it been a case of 'it’s stupid, but the boss says I'm not allowed to give the discount to walk-ins so even though it really makes no sense, you will have to call it in and I’ll have to answer the phone and then take the order,'" speculated OP in an interview with Bored Panda.
They continued: "But it was just a straight 'no, the discount is for phone orders only' as if he wasn’t interested in deviating from the plan. There were a few 'come on, really?' type of comments from me to his straight 'no' that I didn’t include in the original post (for the sake of keeping the story short), but every response from him was pretty much the same."
Image credits: VivaIbiza
Folks online thought the story was great. Many shared similar stories, and it turns out it doesn’t matter where you go—tourist attractions, water parks, craft stores, appliance part shops and the like are all guilty of running similar promotions and forcing folks to maliciously comply by phone.
Oh, and there was that one dude who suggested OP should have called in from right in front of the person’s face. And then, when they tried to talk to them directly, they would shush them. “Sorry about that, this idiot keeps interrupting me.” Gotta love the internet.
Image credits: Rebecca Siegel (not the actual photo)
But despite there being a myriad of ways to improve upon the malicious compliance, OP explained that it wasn't supposed to be some elaborate plan on making someone's life a living hell:
"I suppose I could have gone back every day and made the call for a discounted pizza in front of him every time, but… in honesty, this malicious compliance would only have been a one-time thing for me, a spur of the moment. I had a laugh at the time, but certainly next time I’d have called ahead first to avoid the hassle. I only did what I did because of his enforcement of a badly planned promotion."
"I’m not a complete d#$k, so was only there for as long as it took to get my pizza and I was out of there. Only one other customer came in during that time and it was just a spur of the moment decision to ask him if he knew about the promotion as he was going in. It worked out perfectly as he didn’t so that gave me a chance to make the call again just for the reaction."
And folks loved the story, providing suggestions and sharing their own in the comments
Out of curiosity, we also asked if OP remembers what the pizza was or how much the discount amounted to. And they had this to say:
"I have no idea, it wouldn’t have been much. But it was never about the monetary value—just about the fact that there was a promotion on that he could have so easily given me without making me jump through hoops to get it. If it were me in his shoes, I’d have laughed at it with customers about how stupid a phone-only takeaway discount is when everyone has mobile phones anyway. You are just wasting everyone’s time enforcing that if the person is already in the restaurant and is aware of the promotion. There is nothing to be gained from making a customer call a cashier that is stood right in front of them on the phone rather than just speak directly to them."
The post got quite a bit of attention on Reddit, garnering over 17,000 upvotes (96% positive), nearly 15 Reddit awards, and a whopping 2.4 million in views. You can check out the post and people’s responses in context here.
But, before you do that, why not share your malicious discount compliance stories, or just what you thought about this one in the comment section below!