Via iStockphoto / @baldlesnar TikTok
A Papa John's employee purportedly left an irate voicemail to a West Virginia customer after receiving an 11am pizza order.
A Papa John’s customer in Barboursville, West Virginia, was shocked by the voicemail they received after placing a pizza order far too early for the liking of the delivery driver.
The voicemail uploaded by a TikTok user who goes by Stove (@baldlesnar). He says that the video actually isn’t his but was taken by someone else in his town.
The clip is a simple one. It features a visual voicemail message with a 681 area code, which is consistent with West Virginia.
“Hello this is Richard again calling from Papa John’s on my personal cell, making sure you’re not outside of your mind ordering all these mediums at 11 o’clock in the morning. If you could please pick up your phone, that would be greatly appreciated,” the caller says.
In a caption for the post, Stove says he was bewildered by the worker’s response. “This is my local Papa John’s in Barboursville, West Virginia. It’s a little crazy that a delivery driver would even do this considering they’re already prepaid. Let’s do better and this is not my video, this is someone from my local town,” Stove wrote.
What’s Papa John’s Policy On Phone Calls?
It seems Papa John’s workers are allowed to place calls to customers on their personal devices. However, many don’t out of privacy concerns. “I’d never give a customer my personal phone number no matter the type of industry. That is what they make things like Google Voice for,” one Redditor posted.
Another said they have a second phone just to call customers on. “Just block the number immediately after calling them. Problem solved,” another said.
So, Richard may’ve not been crossing any lines by reaching out to a customer with his personal smartphone. The nature of the call was the issue.
How Early Is Too Early For Papa John’s Pizza?
This Papa John’s location in Barboursville, like many others, opens at 10am. This means the employee wasn’t receiving this order right when the establishment opened.
According to Brandwatch, the time that pizzas is most in-demand is around 7pm. But in more recent DoorDash delivery data compiled by ShiftTracker, ordering pizza at 11am isn’t all that unusual. As a matter of fact, 11am-1pm, 5pm-9pm, and Saturday late nights between 10pm-1am are usually peak order windows.
The Slice Network also notes that the biggest day of the year for ordering pizzas isn’t the Super Bowl—nor is it Memorial Day Weekend or even March Madness.
According to a blog post on the site, Halloween has seen a massive upward trend in pizza orders.
@baldlesnar This is my local Papa John’s in Barboursville, West Virginia, Virginia. It’s a little crazy that a delivery driver would even do this considering they’re already prepaid. Let’s do better and this is not my video. This is someone from my local town. #papajohns #fyp #angrydriver #pizza #🍕
BroBible has reached out to Papa John’s via email and Stove via TikTok direct message for further comment.