I will start off by saying I have worked in the quick dining, fast paced industry for over 15 years, many of those years in management and the way things ran during this visit were completely inappropriate. The food is great. However, I was there the night of the 2015 Torchlight Parade in Downtown Seattle. I arrived at 6:30pm with a line out the door. I've been to a MOD Pizza in a different city with a line out the door and never have I waited more than 45 minutes tops from the time I got there to the time I got my pizza. Tonight was different. I left with my 3 pizzas (for my husband, son, and myself) at 8:15pm. Almost 2 HOURS after I arrived.
There were 4 people working that I could see. A man in a red tee shirt with a bushy pony tail, a short girl with purple hair and piercings, a man in a grey shirt and a dark high pony tail, and a guy in a grey shirt bringing stuff from the back room with his pants hanging off his butt. When I got up to the counter to finally place my order, the girl greeted me and I asked her if they were normally this busy when a huge event was just blocks away. She told me there was supposed to be 2 other people working that night but they called out and they (I'm assuming management) didn't cover the shifts or care about the parade. I was a bit appalled by this as with any business such as this, when you know you're sales are going to be threw the roof and a crowd, you do what you can to get coverage. This was an industry standard of all hands on deck. You never run an event like this short staffed. Call other stores and borrow employees if you must.
That staff did everything they could to get people in and out as fast as they could, but they can only do so much. However, the complaining of the situation by them, did NOT need to be heard by the customers. The girl was complaining that she couldn't stay late, that she was going to miss some party and it takes her 2 hours to get home. She messed up on my pizza and when I told her it was supposed to have green pepper and pineapple on it, she just threw them on and said "I hope no one else wants green peppers because we're out and we're not cutting up more". There were at least 25 or more people behind me in line. The guy from the back was moving slower than a snail when they told him they needed more dough and red sauce. The person running the oven, the shift leader or person in charge I'm assuming, was having a noticeably bad attitude. He couldn't keep pizzas in order of when they came in. Called out names out of order of when people placed their order. Some who ordered first had to wait longer than others who ordered after them. My first 2 were done 5 minutes before my third one was finished. When you call someone's name, or deliver their order, you make sure the order is complete, not partially done.
As a whole, yes the situation is stressful, I get it. However, that does not give you the right to have an attitude, show that you are annoyed so many customers are there, throw pizza trays around, complain about missing parties, tell your co-workers you can't close early or you will lose your job, don't ask to close early, and the whole staff needs to be hustling. I commend the dude in the red shirt with the bushy pony tail. He was the only one that seemed focused and pushing threw the rush without complaining. The rest of the team can learn a thing or two from him about customer service. I will return to Mod Pizza as my son loves it here, but I WILL NOT BE RETURNING TO THIS LOCATION. The lack of professionalism and customer service from the staff as a whole is a huge fail in this industry. This entire establishment should be ashamed of itself for how it handled the whole evening. read more