Restaurant owner 'fires' customer for berating autistic employee

In the service industry, there’s an expression that bosses preach like gospel: “The customer is always right.”

But in one recent incident involving an Italian restaurant in Alaska, the owner decided to throw that expression out the window and defend his autistic employee when one customer did something very, very wrong.

It all started on the evening of Nov. 7, when a customer of Little Italy Restaurante in Anchorage, Alaska, called to complain about one of the delivery drivers. According to owner P.J. Gialopsos, the customer was enraged, swearing and accusing the driver of being a drug user simply for bringing him the wrong container of food, reports the Alaska Dispatch News.

Gialopsos’s daughter, Emily, took the call, and says she explained to the customer that the driver was autistic and had a speech impediment, but was not on drugs. Though other customers have called to complain about the driver, Gialopsos says that once they learn he is disabled, they understand.

Not so with this guy. When the driver returned he was visibly upset and said the man had yelled at him and called him names.

So Gialopsos made an executive decision and “fired” the customer, telling all of her employees to refuse any orders coming from his number. Then she took it a step further, posting an epic rant to Facebook describing the incident.

Here is a choice excerpt:

“Therefore, we have fired this customer. That address, that name and phone number will be tagged with a DO NOT DELIVER DO NOT ACCEPT ORDER message.

…… And won’t that customer be surprised later in life to learn that his “idiot strung out” delivery driver long ago turned out to be the physicist, microbiologist or chemical engineer who could quite possibly make a discovery that will save his sorry *** someday.”

The post went immediately viral, and to date has received more than 31,000 likes, almost 8,000 shares, and more than 3,000 comments. The story has also received quite a bit of news coverage, and all of the attention has taken both Gialopsos and the driver by surprise.

Though he doesn’t want to be identified, Gialopsos says the driver is a successful student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and that he’s been working hard at her restaurant for two years. And boy, is this young man getting a lot of love in the world of social media. Individuals from around the world have been taking the time to comment positively on Gialopsos’s post, encouraging him with his work and education.

People have also been coming by the restaurant in person to applaud Gialopsos’s actions in person. Two women even stopped by to drop off roses, and Gialopsos posted a photo, along with these inspiring words:

“As cynical as I have been the last few years over the course of what was seemingly dark and depressing times, this has shown me that isn’t true. Our human spirit thrives…is generous….is compassionate and will overcome all obstacles. We just have to take them on…one situation at a time….do it with a light and positive heart and mindset….and let the dark side go where it belongs….elsewhere.”

Who would have thought that so much good could come from a customer being so wrong?