A grandmother has revealed new details about what led to her fierce confrontation with a Domino’s store owner after she complained about the state of her $12 pizza.
Franchisee Akhil Antony says he is sorry after threatening to “smash” Katherine Pickles’ face during a furious tirade at his store in Mount Gambier, South Australia.
Pickles attempted to return the food that had been delivered to his home on Saturday, calling it a “hot mess” that looked like two pizzas fused into one.
He had ordered The Lot pizza, which comes with five different types of meat and a variety of vegetables, but instead he was delivered the dinner with some ham, pineapple and mushrooms, plus pepper, which he had asked to be removed.
A video that has now gone viral shows the moment he walked into the store and told staff that the pizza that arrived at his door the night before was “made like shit.”
Her complaint caused Mr Antony to lose his temper, pointing at the door and shouting “fuck you” while brandishing a broom.
‘I own the damn store. If you don’t come out, I’ll break your fucking face.”
Domino’s Pizza franchisee Akhil Antony has apologized for threatening to “break” the face of a South Australian grandmother who was unhappy with her $12 pizza.
Pickles claimed Antony threw the pizza at him and showed 7News a sauce stain left on his jacket, along with several pieces of ham.
However, that moment was not captured in the viral video.
Antony told WhatsNew2Day Australia he was deeply sorry for the incident and said there was “no excuse” for his behaviour.
“As anyone who has worked in customer service knows, some days are more challenging than others and require patience and a calm demeanor,” he said.
‘In this particular case, I let my emotions get the best of me. But that’s no excuse.
Antony admitted that “no one deserves to be talked to” because of the way he confronted Mrs Pickles.
“My behavior was unacceptable and I feel deeply ashamed and ashamed,” he said.
“It is my hope that the Mount Gambier community will see that I am a human being who has made a mistake and give me, and by extension my team, another opportunity to serve them.”
Ms Pickles said she returned the pizza (pictured) because she thought it looked like two pizzas had been merged into one.
I had ordered The Lot, which comes with ground beef, bacon, bell pepper, pepperoni, Italian sausage, chicken, smoked ham, pineapple, onion, and olives.
Pickles told WhatsNew2Day Australia he ordered the pizza called The Lot on Friday night.
It comes with ground beef, bacon, bell pepper, pepperoni, Italian sausage, chicken, smoked ham, pineapple, onion and olives, but Grandma asked not to put pepper on her pizza because it gives her “terrible reflux.”
The fact that the pizza arrived with pepper was just one of many complaints.
‘There’s ground beef in half, two slices had mushrooms, the cut of the pizza didn’t match at all. It was just a disaster,” she said.
The grandmother claimed she was called a liar when she called to complain and ended up not eating anything that night.
She said she was told they would send a driver to pick up the pizza and issue a refund, but when that didn’t happen, she went to the store the next day.
In the full video, Ms. Pickles appeared frustrated as she entered the franchise and tried to explain the situation to the store manager.
She told the manager she had called the store a day earlier to complain to someone about the pizza, but added, “He called me a liar and I wasn’t impressed.”
Katherine Pickles (pictured right with another family member) attempted to return her home-delivered food from the Mount Gambier store on Saturday.
Mr. Antony finished serving another customer before serving Mrs. Pickles and said, “Yes?”
Mrs Pickes said: “Don’t just say ‘yes’ to me, you’re meant to be a manager.”
‘Yes?’ she asked.
She said, “Then you need to be a little more professional, thank you.”
He asked, ‘About what?’
Mrs. Pickles became angry and asked, ‘I beg your pardon? Really?’
He asked: ‘About what, excuse me?’
“About your phone call last night,” she replied.
He said, ‘Yeah, how are these two different pizzas?’ Can you tell me that?’
She clarified, “I said they look like two different pizzas, not that they were two different pizzas,” and then raised her voice while telling him not to argue with a customer.
The situation escalated when he asked, ‘Are you serious?’
Antony (pictured) told WhatsNew2Day Australia he was deeply sorry for the incident and said there was “no excuse” for his behaviour.
“As anyone who has worked in customer service knows, some days are more challenging than others and require patience and a calm demeanor,” said Mr Antony (pictured left).
Mrs Pickles then shouted: ‘You’re serious!’
She told 7News she cried the entire way home and had a hard time sleeping since the incident.
“I’m pretty shocked by this,” she told the show.
“People should not be afraid to make a complaint when something is not acceptable, when they have paid for it.”
A Domino’s spokesperson told WhatsNew2Day Australia it had launched an internal investigation into the incident.
“Domino’s takes safety and well-being very seriously and has a zero-tolerance approach to assault, harassment or abuse of any kind in our stores,” it said in a statement.
‘As soon as we became aware of this incident, we launched an internal investigation, including the circumstances leading to the recorded interaction. After this investigation, we will take appropriate action.
‘We have attempted to contact our customer through multiple channels, including through the information provided with her order, and encourage her to contact us so we can discuss this important matter further.
“This customer’s experience does not reflect the high standards and values we pride ourselves on, and we are sincerely sorry.”