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Pizza Hut is a great place to work. I've been there at least three and a half years (at least during this point as of writing this). I've seen a fair share of fuckshit, and by "fuckshit", I mean some shit that happens so quickly and it's way beyond the status quo of what goes on in a normal day.

This is one of those times.

About a year ago, there were two Pizza Hut stores around where I lived; the shop where I worked and one in the next town over. The store in the next town ended up closing because of -- well, I'm actually not certain. There were rumors that it was because of lack of sales, and some rumors said that they were just renovating and they would open again real soon. Anyways, the store in the next town ended up closing, and when they did that, our store ended up picking up their delivery area and some of their employees.

One of the employees was a guy named Richard. That's his real name; I'm not gonna censor it because he's the fucking dumbass of this story. His name was Richard.

This guy was a fucking loon. First off, the guy had a high, lispy-esque voice. He sounded like one of the Looney Tunes on cocaine. And he was just very... off-putting. He mostly just glared at people, didn't really say a whole lot. From the first day he worked there, I knew in the pit of my stomach he was going to be fucking trouble. But, I don't like getting involved in trouble, so whenever he was around, I kept my head down and just didn't acknowledge his existence.

Now, apparently he's worked at the Pizza Hut in the other town for a few years, but he was in his late 30s/mid-40s. He looked around my dad's age. So, of course, he probably knows his way around the shop, right?

Wrong.

This son of a bitch wouldn't do anything for most of his shift! Whenever he waited on a delivery to go up, he would mostly stand by the delivery rack and dabble on his cell phone. He was little to no help at all. Every time his delivery involved wings, he would go over to the wing station and say, "Where are my wings at?" And even if they were cooked, he would stand there and glare at the fryer folks until they put the wings in the buckets and put the sauces on them, even though drivers can do that too. He just refused to do anything if other people could do it instead of him.

But hold on, there's more.

After some time working there, Richard somehow got the night manager's password -- we'll call this lady Karry -- which I have no idea how on earth he did that. But now all of a sudden, he has her password. Manager passwords have a lot of power: they can tag drivers out on multiple orders at once, they can add or remove drivers from the driver list. Pretty much they can override the computer and program the deliveries in different ways.

Of course, this was going to lead to trouble.

One day, I was making boxes in the back since that's what I usually did whenever I finished my morning duties, and for some reason, it was taking two hours for a delivery to come up for me to take. My gut told me Hey! Something's wrong out there. I went up front to the main computer, and saw there were a few deliveries up, but my name was no longer on the list. I told my manager Karry that I was somehow taken off the driver list. She immediately goes, "Oh! I'm sorry; it must've been me. I had no idea you were here."

Now, this isn't that strange considering I do in fact stay quiet. And when I'm in the back, you're pretty much out of view of the rest of the store. However, when I saw that Richard was working that day and he was tagged out on a couple orders, I just knew. I knew that this son of a bitch had taken me off the list. At the time, I had no idea why, but as of writing this, of course I know why: I worked twice as many hours as him and made way more money. And he was jealous of that, so he took me off the list so that I wouldn't get as many tips that day.

I brought this up with the morning manager -- whom we'll call DeeDee -- and since then, an incident like that hasn't happened since. And before you go and think it was a one-time thing and it was all a coincidence, bruh, this happened five times before it stopped. And every single time, guess who was working that day? Richard. So... duh, of course he's guilty as hell.

After that fiasco, Richard was put on the closing shift alongside another co-worker, David. And for the most part, nothing happened. Even though I knew this guy was a jackass and completely untrustworthy, I continued to keep my head down.

I eventually changed hours from working 30 per week to 40 after I decided to drop out of school. My new hours were from opening time until 9pm at night for four days a week. But of course, working as a driver for Pizza Hut, unexpected things can happen. A dinner rush happens at the last second and they need me to stay over for a couple more hours. I was cool with it, because of the overtime laws in Ohio. Sometimes, I ended up staying until closing (11pm), and because I was scheduled to clock out earlier, I was usually the first to go once business was down for the day.

Now, fast forward a couple of months. It's the middle of August. One of these nights happens where I'm stuck there until closing, but since I'm scheduled off at 9 o'clock, I'm the first to go. My new manager -- whom we'll call Ben -- helped to tag me down. However, there was a slight issue with clocking me out. After all the tips and credit card slips were added up, it turned out that they owed me more money than what was in the register. Ben had the idea of cashing out a couple other drivers first in order to accumulate more money in the register. And since I just worked my ass off for 12 hours, I sat to the side and waited for him to do so, he was cool with that.

Now, once Ben was able to get enough money, he was able to cash me out and I could go home. As this happened, one of my coworkers saw me waiting to cash out and said, very loudly, "You know you could help me refill the pop machines while you wait? What's your excuse this time?"

I was taken aback. Because this guy -- Jeremy -- was usually one of the coolest people in the shop. And out of nowhere, he was yelling at me. I didn't respond to him, obviously, because I didn't know where this was coming from. But of course what I wanted to say to him was, "What do you mean excuse? I've been here all day, bitch. I helped by taking extra orders 2 hours after my shift ended. You're welcome."

He continued to gripe the rest of the time I was there. He kept saying shit like, "Unbelievable, [Richard] has to come in here to do dishes on his day off while this guy gets to leave? He doesn't do anything!" I ignored his ass; he was not worth my time nor energy. As I left the store, Jeremy shouted behind me, "Goodbye, lazy!"

Words cannot describe how much he deserved a swift kick in the face. I was this close to doing that too, but I didn't. I left, went home. I told everybody what the heck had happened. My mother told me to just keep ignoring him, it'll all go away eventually.

I ordered delivery from the shop later that week. Luckily, my buddy -- whom we'll call Jace -- delivered my food to me. Now, Jace is Ben's partner, but he's also a night manager as well. So I asked Jace, "What the heck was wrong with Jeremy on Sunday? Why did he pop off like that?"

And Jace, being the good friend that he was, explained everything. "Oh he kept going off like that all night. Apparently, Richard's the one telling everybody to say those things because he believes that since you're there until closing, that you should be helping to close. This guy is out of control."

I said to him, "Don't worry, I can handle this, he's not going to do anything."

"He's already threatened to shoot one of the other drivers; he keeps a gun in his car." I continued to tell Jace that Richard wasn't going to do anything, but in the back of my mind, I was beginning to panic. If he really did have a gun, then there was no telling what this guy was capable of.

During the next weekend, that's when their behaviors were reaching a boiling point. Not only Richard's, but David was starting to become agitating too. I remember an incident where I was making boxes, talking to a girl who worked up front who was also on their break. David came to the back, asking about Parmesan packets since the delivery he was going on requested them. When the girl said they didn't have any in stock, David threw one of the empty boxes and growled, "Well, that would've been nice to fucking know." Me and the chick looked at each other confused like, The hell is your problem?

Then there was another incident. Later that same day, I was helping one of our new guys on the cut table, and I overheard Richard and David in the back doing dishes, talking shit:

"I hate that he goes into the back and does nothing."

"Yeah, he just hides all day, maybe doing some boxes, but that's it."

"I'm fucking tired of his lazy ass."

"I'm gonna beat him the fuck up if he does nothing tonight again."

And that's when I snapped. Nobody threatens Toni Q. McAlister and gets away with it.

I told my parents everything they said and they immediately told me to go to DeeDee and tell her everything and demand that if she didn't fire their asses right then and there, then I would find a job somewhere else. Because unlike Richard and David, I was rather valuable to that company. I was not only good at driving, but I could handle myself in fast-paced situations and was able to jump into a situation and knew immediately what needed to be done. Plus, I handled making dough, pastas, sauces. I was a lot more than those two will ever think of me.

So that Sunday, I did exactly what my parents told me to do. I went straight to DeeDee and said, "You need to do something about Richard." I then explained all that happened that weekend, and that if she did not do something about it, I would leave right then and there.

I was expecting some blowback. Usually things don't work out for me, so I was mentally prepared for the worst. But, luckily for me, DeeDee was on my side. She said that she knew Richard was a problem. Apparently, Jace had told her that Richard threatened to beat me up (he was also stupid enough to do so right in front of Jace's face) and when she heard, she told her boss -- let's call her Mandy -- and she (Mandy) told DeeDee to make a case against Richard.

I wasn't going to let any of this go. I told DeeDee that I wanted to speak directly to Mandy about this. Since I didn't have her phone number, and DeeDee wasn't about to just give it away, she let me write a letter to her. And I did. I spilled the beans on everything, everything the man ever said and did, David's aggressive behavior, Jeremy's random outbursts, everything. Jace and the girl who worked up front did the same thing when I urged them to. There was no way in hell I was going to stop until they were all gone.

Once I showed DeeDee my letter to Mandy, she pulled up next week's schedule and took all three of them off the list. A temporary suspension, she called it, just until Mandy looked through the case where she would decide what would happen to them.

I was thrilled. It was a small victory. Even though it meant I would be closing all four days I worked, it was a little price to pay. And hey, I made over $700 in just tips that weekend, so who am I to complain about that? But, the war wouldn't be over for me until all three of them were fired. Permanently.

Throughout that next week, things got a bit scary. As each shift came to a close, I noticed Richard's white car always parked outside in the parking lot. And since I knew he had a gun in his car, part of me thought Was this son of a bitch really gonna try to shoot me at work? Over a petty feud that he started? Of course, I continued to ignore him. He wasn't worth my time. If he didn't want to confront me directly, then it was because he's too much of a coward to do so.

I eventually found out why he kept waiting outside work every night. It was because his girlfriend worked there and she didn't have a ride. But, let's be real people, does it take 20 minutes of sitting in your car to drop off your girlfriend or pick her up? Nope.

The next week rolled around, and DeeDee pulled me aside in the middle of my shift to give me an update on the case. She told me that Mandy looked through everything, even the camera footage, and concluded that nothing any of those men did was considered a "fireable offense". I was pissed off; that wasn't the answer I was really looking for. However, DeeDee wasn't finished. She told me that even though she couldn't fire any of them since we were short staffed, she was willing to put Richard and David on different shifts than me so I wouldn't have to see them again.

Me, being the sane one in this situation, obviously wanted to see them fired. However, I knew that if I pushed, life would throw another curveball and they would somehow be able to make this situation go away. So, I took the offer to put Richard and David on different shifts. I suppose I should've been grateful, considering that they wouldn't be able to work the best days of the week anymore (Fridays and Saturdays are big money in the delivery business).

However, there was still one issue.

Jeremy was still able to work during my days. During the week of their suspension, he tried to show up to work, but DeeDee turned him around, telling him not to come back until the next week. And sure enough, the next Friday I worked, he was there. Only this time, he said absolutely nothing to me. Homie didn't even have the guts to look me directly in the eye. I later found out that he tried to issue a formal apology, citing that he was "frustrated" and "tired" because they'd been working hard that night. I might've accepted it, but I didn't. Why wait until after you received your suspension to apologize to me? He had his time window, and he missed it. Whatever happens to him now, I have nothing to feel guilty for. That Sunday, he worked again, but he left in the middle of his shift (something that he did frequently), this time saying that his stomach hurt. That was over six weeks ago. I have not seen him since.

The week after they were allowed to go back, David quit his job. Jace overheard him grumbling, saying that he was "no longer going to work the night shift". I said, "Good. How about you don't work any shift while you're at it?" Not to his face; he wasn't there. But boy did I want to. What's messed up about David was that I've known the kid for over a year. And he let go of a good job because he was so easily manipulated by a man he knew for less than five months. That's the sad thing about people like David: he was incapable of thinking for himself. So much so, that he was willing to fight a losing cause when all of this could've been avoided if he had just said something sooner instead of reacting with anger. Don't get it twisted, though, this company is way better off without him. Everyone kinda knew that him and Richy half-assed those dishes they did and that's why they frequently found mold on some of the pans and had to throw them away.

And that leaves poor old Richard. The sad and pathetic redneck also quit soon after, probably because he wasn't making nearly as much money anymore without Fridays or Saturdays. And since I told Mandy that he was using Karry's password to cheat and take extra deliveries (especially ones that would never go together in a million years; news flash: Londondale and Bryce roads are on opposite sides of town, you fruit loop), Richard was also not allowed to work with Karry anymore. Since he could no longer cheat, his income less than halved. All because of me. Now, I continued to see him parked outside the shop for weeks to pick up and drop off his girlfriend. But last week, I noticed that she's been taking her own ride to work, so I haven't seen the man in a while. (Just in case, though, I still have pepper spray in my back pocket and a sleeve of metal in the toes of my shoes.)

I'm not worried about any of them anymore. Not only are they banned from the premises, but I figured out that there's literally nothing that they can do. Even if they tried to corner me and beat me up, I can take them on easily, and if I get hurt, well, that's enough ground for my family lawyer to put them away for a long, long time. Either way, I win. And they lose.

The moral of this story is: If someone is bullying you, don't back down. But also, be patient. All villains slip up eventually and when they do, you'll want to be there to take any action you can. Also, make sure the store you work at has surveillance tapes; it'll make things so much easier to incriminate your co-workers.

They say that the pen can be mightier than the sword. And in my case, all it took was one letter to cause this chain of events to where I am today: I'm still one of the top drivers and I'll soon be considering going for a manager position.

If you're still reading, thanks for listening to my story. You have no idea how much it means to me.

Toni Q McAlister

October 20th, 2021