I love the headline I read yesterday: “Prank Caller Tricks Ohio Pizza Shop with Large Order, Local Businessman Steps In”. Subtitled “Joke's Over as Maumee, Ohio, Pizza Shop's Hard Work Didn't Go To Waste After All”, the piece, written by Ashley DiMella and appearing on Fox Business News’ website, was dated June 5, 2024.
According to the article:
A pizza shop in Ohio was saved by a local business owner after a prankster apparently placed a large food order and never picked it up.
PizzAroma in Maumee was reportedly the target after a woman submitted the order for 16 large pies – eight cheese and eight pepperoni – to be picked up the following day.
Rocky Keefer, manager of PizzAroma, told Fox Television Stations his shop sometimes caters events, so he and his staff thought there was nothing unusual about the order.
Keefer said that the following day, the woman called back to ask when the pizzas would be ready. Keefer said he told her that they were being placed in the oven.
The 16 pizzas, which totaled $112, were expected to be paid for upon pickup.
But as time passed and no one arrived to pick up the order, the pies became old, and the shop had to toss them. The prank had delayed other customers' orders as well, Fox Television Stations reported.
PizzAroma reportedly traced the woman's phone number back to an app that allows people to make prank calls using a fake number.
"I can't believe this happened because we took time out to make sure it was done. I just don't understand why people can do that to somebody," Keefer told Fox Television Stations.
In a turn of events, a local business owner heard about the prank through social media and footed the bill.
Travis Truesdell, a U.S. Army veteran and owner of True Aerial Signs in Toledo, not only compensated the pizzeria but purchased additional pizza pies to share with his own employees.
"It just automatically resonated with me. I understand how hard it is sometimes to make ends meet," Truesdell told Fox Television Stations.
"Doing the right thing is so easy, and it really makes a difference to other people," he said.
PizzAroma staff said after the experience they have changed their policy, and customers who order 10 or more pizzas will have to pay upfront – either over the phone or in person.
Keefer said he hopes humanity was restored by Truesdell's kindness. "It's nice that we have other small businesses looking out for us. Small businesses looking out for each other and have each other's backs. It makes me proud," Keefer said.
Now, how does one respond to such a story? My response is first to say shame on anyone who deliberately deceives and thereby obligates another. And yet, I would also say kudos to anyone who voluntarily steps up and rights a wrong they discover has been committed.
More to the point, it was the the timing of the story that intrigued me most. You see, it was posted on June 5, 2024 – one day prior to the eightieth anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, on which occurred the World War Two Allied invasion of Axis-Occupied Europe.
I trust you see the parallels. In the 1930s and 1940s, an entire continent of people (along with much of the rest of the world’s population) was first deceived and then ensnared by the malevolent Axis forces of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Oppressed and subjugated therein, they found themselves desperately in need of help from beyond.
Arguably June 6, 1944 best represents the day that the Allied forces of the rest of the world voluntarily stepped forth and began to right that terrible wrong.
To be sure, it would have been easy enough for England, having survived the so-called “Battle of Britain”, to have sat back and cared only for her own.
It would have been even easier for America, an entire ocean away, to have remained a distant and seemingly disinterested observer. And yet, to their eternal credit, both nations voluntarily and willingly stepped forth and began the costly process of leading the charge to right a myriad of obvious wrongs!
And so I say, some eighty years on: “Kudos to all those involved in the Allied efforts on that Day of Days, June 6, 1944, to bring liberty, irrespective of the cost, to all those who were being held captive!”
In all of this, of course, I am reminded of yet Another Individual Who voluntarily stepped forth and paid the price to right a myriad of terrible wrongs. By this I mean that I am reminded of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who chose of His own volition to come to my aid, and then to do battle to set me free.
And He did this, not just for me. For i am only one of untold billions of individuals just like me, all of whom were originally created in His image, but who thereafter found themselves deceived and ensnared and subjugated by the Evil One.
In the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 15, verse 13), Jesus Himself proclaims the following truth: “Greater love hath no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” The Apostle builds upon this statement when, in his New Testament Epistle to the Romans (chapter 5, verse 8), he says: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In light of this, may D-Day, 1944 A.D. forever live as a testament to mankind’s willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others. In like manner, may Good Friday, 33 A.D. forever serve to remind us of the Son of God's Own willingness to sacrifice Himself on behalf of each and every one of us!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/prank-caller-tricks-ohio-pizza-shop-large-order-local-businessman-steps.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/john/15-13.htm;
https://biblehub.com/romans/5-8.ht.
According to the article:
A pizza shop in Ohio was saved by a local business owner after a prankster apparently placed a large food order and never picked it up.
PizzAroma in Maumee was reportedly the target after a woman submitted the order for 16 large pies – eight cheese and eight pepperoni – to be picked up the following day.
Rocky Keefer, manager of PizzAroma, told Fox Television Stations his shop sometimes caters events, so he and his staff thought there was nothing unusual about the order.
Keefer said that the following day, the woman called back to ask when the pizzas would be ready. Keefer said he told her that they were being placed in the oven.
The 16 pizzas, which totaled $112, were expected to be paid for upon pickup.
But as time passed and no one arrived to pick up the order, the pies became old, and the shop had to toss them. The prank had delayed other customers' orders as well, Fox Television Stations reported.
PizzAroma reportedly traced the woman's phone number back to an app that allows people to make prank calls using a fake number.
"I can't believe this happened because we took time out to make sure it was done. I just don't understand why people can do that to somebody," Keefer told Fox Television Stations.
In a turn of events, a local business owner heard about the prank through social media and footed the bill.
Travis Truesdell, a U.S. Army veteran and owner of True Aerial Signs in Toledo, not only compensated the pizzeria but purchased additional pizza pies to share with his own employees.
"It just automatically resonated with me. I understand how hard it is sometimes to make ends meet," Truesdell told Fox Television Stations.
"Doing the right thing is so easy, and it really makes a difference to other people," he said.
PizzAroma staff said after the experience they have changed their policy, and customers who order 10 or more pizzas will have to pay upfront – either over the phone or in person.
Keefer said he hopes humanity was restored by Truesdell's kindness. "It's nice that we have other small businesses looking out for us. Small businesses looking out for each other and have each other's backs. It makes me proud," Keefer said.
Now, how does one respond to such a story? My response is first to say shame on anyone who deliberately deceives and thereby obligates another. And yet, I would also say kudos to anyone who voluntarily steps up and rights a wrong they discover has been committed.
More to the point, it was the the timing of the story that intrigued me most. You see, it was posted on June 5, 2024 – one day prior to the eightieth anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, on which occurred the World War Two Allied invasion of Axis-Occupied Europe.
I trust you see the parallels. In the 1930s and 1940s, an entire continent of people (along with much of the rest of the world’s population) was first deceived and then ensnared by the malevolent Axis forces of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Oppressed and subjugated therein, they found themselves desperately in need of help from beyond.
Arguably June 6, 1944 best represents the day that the Allied forces of the rest of the world voluntarily stepped forth and began to right that terrible wrong.
To be sure, it would have been easy enough for England, having survived the so-called “Battle of Britain”, to have sat back and cared only for her own.
It would have been even easier for America, an entire ocean away, to have remained a distant and seemingly disinterested observer. And yet, to their eternal credit, both nations voluntarily and willingly stepped forth and began the costly process of leading the charge to right a myriad of obvious wrongs!
And so I say, some eighty years on: “Kudos to all those involved in the Allied efforts on that Day of Days, June 6, 1944, to bring liberty, irrespective of the cost, to all those who were being held captive!”
In all of this, of course, I am reminded of yet Another Individual Who voluntarily stepped forth and paid the price to right a myriad of terrible wrongs. By this I mean that I am reminded of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who chose of His own volition to come to my aid, and then to do battle to set me free.
And He did this, not just for me. For i am only one of untold billions of individuals just like me, all of whom were originally created in His image, but who thereafter found themselves deceived and ensnared and subjugated by the Evil One.
In the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 15, verse 13), Jesus Himself proclaims the following truth: “Greater love hath no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” The Apostle builds upon this statement when, in his New Testament Epistle to the Romans (chapter 5, verse 8), he says: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In light of this, may D-Day, 1944 A.D. forever live as a testament to mankind’s willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others. In like manner, may Good Friday, 33 A.D. forever serve to remind us of the Son of God's Own willingness to sacrifice Himself on behalf of each and every one of us!
STORY SOURCE:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/prank-caller-tricks-ohio-pizza-shop-large-order-local-businessman-steps.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/john/15-13.htm;
https://biblehub.com/romans/5-8.ht.