by Dwayne Phillips<\/p>\n
I was in a northern suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. It was midday and I was hungry.<\/p>\n
There was a pizza place in the end unit of a shopping center. It wasn’t a chain of any kind, just a local place – perfect.<\/p>\n
They sold pizza by the slice. I looked at their pieces of pizza behind the glass case, judged the size of the pieces, the time or day, how I felt, what was ahead of me (all parameters in a complex model), and told the guy behind the counter that I wanted two slices and a soft drink. After paying, the guy gave me a cup for my drink and I stepped to the side to start filling it.<\/p>\n
Before the guy behind the counter could serve my two slices, the next customer stepped up to the counter and announced, “I need a large pizza, fast.”<\/p>\n
“We only sell pizza by the slice, sir,” replied the guy behind the counter.<\/p>\n
“I need a large pizza, fast,” repeated the customer.<\/p>\n
“We only sell pizza by the slice, sir,” replied the guy behind the counter.<\/p>\n
These statements were repeated a few more times. I lost count as the exchange didn’t make any sense to me, and besides, I was hungry and still waiting for my two slices of pizza.<\/p>\n
The exchange took a different direction, “These are the slices we have now,” said the guy behind the counter as he pointed to the assortment of slices in the display case.<\/p>\n
“Well, give me all these slices,” said the customer.<\/p>\n
“This man,” said the guy behind the counter as he pointed to me as I was drinking from my cup, “has already bought two of these slices.”<\/p>\n
“Well, give me all these slices,” said the customer.<\/p>\n
I started to pay closer attention to the previously mundane conversation. It hit me that this customer was trying to take my lunch, and I was hungry. I slid sideways so to be close to the display case and my two pieces of pizza. I counted the slices in the display cases. “Let’s see,” I thought. “There are eight slices in a pizza. There are 11 slices in the display case. This guy can have eight of them, I get two, and there is one to spare.”<\/p>\n
I was relieved, until the thought hit me, “Maybe they cut their pizzas into 12 or 16 slices.”<\/p>\n
“I need a large pizza, fast,” repeated the customer.<\/p>\n
“How many times does he have to say that?” I questioned silently.<\/p>\n
“I want one of these and one of those,” I said aloud while pointing to a piece of pepperoni and a piece that had everything in the place on it.<\/p>\n
“I need a large pizza, fast,” repeated the customer for what must of been the tenth time.<\/p>\n
This guy was really getting on my nerves. Thankfully, the guy behind the counter put the two pieces I had noted on a paper plate and handed it to me. Saved.<\/p>\n
I sat down, ate my pizza, and drank my Coke (plus a few refills as it was a hot day in Alabama).<\/p>\n
I am not sure what happened to the customer who needed a large pizza, fast. I think the guy behind the counter gave him every slice he had in the place and charged him for a few extra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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