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Dear Papa John’s, I wanted to relate my experience at the above mentioned store last night. I have never felt so uncomfortable and I was actually a bit afraid for the other employees there. I have been in this store several times over the past years, and to be truthful, it is NOT my favorite store. The employees there are rarely nice or helpful, particularly if you have questions. They just seem to want to get you out of the store as soon as possible. As it is, I already have to drive a few miles to get to this store; it is the closest to my home, but I am not in the delivery area. So, I only have the option to pick up. Because of my past experiences here, I have driven further into town to another store, or to another Town, or gone to a different company altogether. As it were, it was on my way home last night. But, I digress, here is what happened. I placed a pick up order over the phone. The male employee that answered was a bit abrupt, but just helpful enough that I could place an order (I had questions regarding a coupon.) He quoted me a 20 minute wait time. I was already parked outside of the store, so I went in at about 12 mins into the order. There were 3 people in the store at this time. The young man that took my order, another young lady making food and another female (I assume was in management- she was wearing a black shirt) that was folding boxes. When I walked into the store, only the male greeted me with a curt “Be with you in a minute.” He never looked at me nor did he acknowledge me at any time after that. After waiting for at least 3 minutes for someone else to acknowledge me, finally the lady in the back that was preparing food came over to help me. She took my money, gave me a receipt and went back to work. All the while this was taking place; the young man was making pizzas, getting a drink and walking around the store. This wasn’t the problem; it was his demeanor that was bothersome. He looked furious about something. He was slamming things down onto the counters, slamming doors, slamming cooking utensils around. It was as if he was very angry, but very controlled. Even as he was cutting dough and stretching dough, he was slamming that around or doing it very roughly. I don’t think I’ve EVER been in a store where the atmosphere was So uncomfortable. The other employees would not look at him nor would they make eye contact with him, me, or each other. The older lady wearing the black shirt seemed to be watching him as she folded the boxes, but she did not say anything the entire time I was there. Another delivery person (female) came in while I was waiting. So did another male (also wearing a black shirt – but he left during the visit- he also did not acknowledge me or anyone else in the store, except for the other black shirted lady- they did speak briefly). When my pies started coming out of the oven, he did grab a box and get one of them. Just to illustrate how hard he was pushing things around; the middle island where he was working was swaying from side to side, and continued to do so for at least a minute or two after he walked away. No one else was touching it at this time. Had boxes been stacked on top, they would have fallen off. I hope this tells you how much force he was using. He slammed that pie into the holding area and walked away to make more dough again. After a few minutes when it was clear he was not going to finish boxing my order up, the other delivery lady got my other items out and boxed them up and brought them to me. I asked if marinara had been put in the boxes; she looked but there were not enough. I told her that I needed to purchase a couple more. The male was the closest to the counter yet she called to the young lady in the back to ring me up. When she did this, the male very rudely barked out “Just give them to her for free.” She handed me one and walked off without another word to anyone. While I appreciate the sauce, I had my debit card out (no cash in hand) and was ready to pay for them. I was in there about 15 minutes and I have never seen employees act that way towards each other, nor have I ever been so uncomfortable. I WANTED TO LEAVE THE STORE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. It was as if everyone was trying to avoid the others at all costs. And the young man that took my order (I’m sorry, I don’t know his name, it could have been Brad, but I’m not sure. All I can remember is that he was young, thin build, tall, and brown hair) His attitude clouded the entire store. I don’t know what had transpired prior to my arrival, but it was NOT GOOD. The store didn’t look particularly busy, as there were not many order printed out on the machine, nor were many boxes in line and the phone was not ringing, so that probably wasn’t the reason for the attitude. Another thing that also bothered me: NONE OF THE EMPLOYEES WERE WEARING GLOVES. Not once did I see a glove on a hand; not after answering the phone, getting more supplies, ringing me up, gathering pizzas, etc. Pizzas were made, dough was stretched, the toppings area was refilled with tubs from the bottom or back. And NOT ONCE did someone don a glove. The store had a good score of A/95 so I guess it was clean, but I know that hands that have touched that many other surfaces cannot stay clean. The delivery lady that got my pizza out of the oven and boxed it up; she did not wash her hands the entire time; even after being out on deliveries. The young man, did quite a few tasks, and never once washed. The lady in the back preparing- same thing. I watched them pull handfuls of peppers and other toppings out, by hand, sans gloves. I watched him kneading dough, stretching it over pans and adding sauce; again, no gloves at all!! I know you do not want your employees doing this and I surely don’t want to patronize a place that allows these practices. Overall, I like your stores and your food. My children called me best mom in the world when I walked in with the food! I love that your stores have a $4.99 one topping large on Tuesdays. I DO NOT love the overall atmosphere of this store. And, I will be hard pressed to patronize it again, if I have a need for a quick meal on my way home, I’ll probably look elsewhere. (Just to give you background, I work at a police dept as a communications officer; I’m used to bad attitudes and uncomfortable situations, but this was utterly different than I’ve ever experienced.) When I was getting ready to leave, the lady in the back (possibly a manager) did make eye contact w/ me and she tried to give me a small smile. I assume she could see the look on my face. I returned the smile and gave a little shrug, she did the same. I’ve never seen someone look so uncomfortable at their workplace. I hope that everything was ok after I left; I almost felt like they may have been afraid. I wish I had called my colleagues to check on them after I left. However, I did not as I didn’t want to seem overly paranoid. Please accept my apologies if something did occur last night. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something did - with me feeling so awful when I left. I hope this feedback will help you give your employees some insight on customer experiences and help them to better serve your customers.

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