Farewell to Jioio's.

Jioio's has been my favorite local pizza place since before I moved back to Greensburg in 1995.

They're truly one of a kind. They use a pastry crust and a sweet sauce for a pizza like nowhere else. It's gotten expensive, so it's become a rare treat that I look forward to.

I honestly don't remember what happened the last time I got Jioio's, but I remember being very disappointed with the way I was treated.

Tonight we got Jioio's to go. I ordered three pizzas and an Italian Sampler. We get there on time, and the pizzas are ready, but it'll be a few minutes for the sampler. No problem. Then they bring us the sampler and it's a Fried Sampler, not an Italian Sampler, but they treat it as they simply almost gave me someone else's sampler so my Italian Sampler is still coming. Lots of other people come and go. My pizza is getting cold. After about 20 minutes, I ask if they had to remake the Italian Sampler. No, the kitchen is just backed up, they answer. More and more people come and go, others having ordered pizzas with pasta as well. After 35 minutes, my Italian Sampler is finally ready.

I. Am. Furious. I'm envisioning throwing every jar of sauce, smashing every cooler window. I struggle to maintain my calm, and ask that, since my pizza is now cold, if I can get some kind of a partial refund. The manager shakes her head and says "Sorry," with a half-smile that says "not a chance."

What upset me wasn't so much that they made the mistake, it was the attitude of "Well, we're Jioio's. Do you want it or don't you?" They seem to have reached a point where they know they're hot stuff, and so people will put up with being treated poorly to get their fix.

So I came home, gathered up all my Jioio's t-shirts, and burned them.

It was very cathartic. I was even able to relax and enjoy the pizza while I watched the t-shirts burn. I was letting go of my hopes and expectations for Jioio's. They were no longer my #1, my something special to look forward to. I was denying them the power to let me down again.

I'm not going to be a baby and stamp my feet and scream "no!" any time anyone else wants to have their food -- my family included, because Joy really does love their Italian Sampler -- but someone else will have to handle dealing with them. If they had acknowledged the mistake, offered to keep my pizza warm, offered a partial refund, offered a discount for a future order... heck, any basic PR appease-the-customer tactic, it would have helped. And they won't notice I'm gone. But for me, it's time to let one more hero go.