A Pizza Hut Customer Asked For A Joke and The Punchline Got An Employee Fired

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton | December 20, 2017 2:45 pm

Two teen boys ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut and in the “special requests” section they asked for the delivery driver to write a joke on the box. So he did, but he went just a touch too far with it. I didn’t even know you could request such a thing, but I guess it’s pretty common.

Not long after his pizza box joke, he found himself sitting in the unemployment line and the incident splattered all over the news. Apparently his joke was a little too inappropriate, according to the mother of the boys who complained to the company and got the man fired. I’m not sure I blame the mother on this one. The joke is disgusting. And I’m sure she did not mean to get him fired. The mom is not the bad guy here.

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She posted the joke to her Facebook page and then took her complaint to the local Pizza Hut management.

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“What do a pizza delivery driver and a gynecologist have in common?” it asks. “They both have to smell it, but neither of them get to eat it.” Yeah, that’s really not okay.

I can understand how this might be a little much for teens, but to fire the guy over what is essentially a tasteless joke might be a little far. Maybe take him off delivery duty? But I will say this… if his judgement is this bad, maybe I wouldn’t want him for an employee. Come back when you grow up.

Social media users had mixed reactions to what she did, with many sending her harsh messages asking her to take back her complaint.

“I hope you see it in that big, black heart of yours to call back and explain that you aren’t upset,” said one user. “Days before Christmas you got someone fired.” Again, she’s not the bad guy in this story. She was looking out for her kids who are 12 and 15. Now, she’s being cyberbullied for doing what any good mother would have done. This is seriously messed up.

Her reply? “It’s an inappropriate joke,” she explained. “There’s a time and place for everything. My pizza box is not one of them. It’s a lesson learned.” She’s not wrong here. I feel for the guy that got canned, but he should know better than to put an off-color joke like this on someone’s pizza box. If it’s not the kind of joke you would repeat to your grandmother (or, say, a 12 year-old kid), it’s probably not the kind of joke you should tell at work.

She also noted that she didn’t want the man to get fired, but the store ultimately made the decision to send him on his way. He violated their work policies and even worse, it got very bad publicity. The guy was no longer an asset by any means. Plus, management is very skittish when it comes to things like this… we do live in a lawsuit happy culture anymore. Better safe than sorry in their minds.

The employee did call the woman and apologize for his “joke,” but it wasn’t enough to keep management from axing him. Again, you can’t blame management on this one either. Perhaps it is indeed a hard lesson learned. Firing was a bit much however.

Okay, so this is not a joke you tell in mixed company. You have to know your audience pretty well to know how this will go over. I won’t defend his use of it in a random pizza box for a family he doesn’t know. He probably thought he was being funny and didn’t realize it was not appropriate for all audiences. Firing him, though? Perhaps a formal reprimand and not letting him do any special deliveries, and a week-long probation with no complaints, but to just fire him outright?

Were there any problems with him before this that may have factored into this decision? One would almost have to think so. Pizza Hut didn’t give a statement when contacted, so we don’t know much about that yet, but to get fired right before Christmas is definitely a bad break. Let’s not forget though that the guy bears responsibility for his actions. Still, they could have given him a bit of a break here. No one won here… and it’s dumb because it should never have happened to begin with.

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