There weren’t a lot of restaurants in Snellville, Georgia when I was a kid. The All-Star Drive-In and Huddle House had cheap eats covered, Dairy Queen was the only fast-food restaurant, and two locally-owned restaurants (an Italian place whose name escapes me, and “Country Manor”, a down-home cookin’ place) rounded out the culinary options. There wouldn’t be a McDonalds in Snellville until I was in grade school. The town was so hard up for new places to eat that the first week the Del Taco was open the restaurant had to have a hostess and waiting list!

There was one other restaurant on the outskirts of town: Ken’s Pizza. In my mind’s eye, I can remember the place like I was just there yesterday. There was nothing fancy about it – you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between Ken’s Pizza and a 1970s-era Pizza Hut. It had the same checkered tablecloths as Pizza Hut, the ones that Yassir Arafat would wear on his head later on. Beer and soft drinks were served in the same clear plastic pitchers that Pizza Hut used. The restaurant was full of dark wood, a jukebox, and – later on – those table-style video games. I fell in love with Tempest at Ken’s.

But the thing I remember most about Ken’s is the pizza. Which was the point of this story, of course. I’m pretty sure that Ken’s was the first pizza I ever had. It was certainly the first pizza I remember. And to this day, I can still remember what it tasted like. Ken’s pizzas came on a thin crust… but not that tasteless, crackery thing that Pizza Hut sells. It was a yeasty dough with a hint of cornmeal in it, which made the crust paradoxically thin and strong at the same time. Then there was the sauce… so different than what’s on pizzas today. It was much thinner than the glop on most chain pizza today, and was also slightly more spicy that what you get from Dominos and Pizza Hut too. And Ken’s didn’t bother with all that “novelty pizza” crap that the chains sell these days. They didn’t have “Hawaiian pizza” or “Thai Chicken pizza” or “The Big New Yorker pizza”… or anything like that. They had a few selections, but most people just read the toppings list and picked a few of their favorites.

Sadly, Ken’s is gone now. The chain is still around, but it changed its name to Mazzio’s and contracted a lot (at least in the Atlanta area) since the 80s. There used to be Mazzio’s all over the metro Atlanta area; I just checked the company’s website and they only have two remaining locations in Georgia: one in Columbus and another in Winder.

But rather than be sad about it, the memory of Ken’s pizza actually amazes me. Humans tend to think of “memory” as a visual thing. When you think back to early birthdays, vacations, or your Dad taking you to see the Harlem Globetrotters, we tend to think of it in a visual sense, that is, remembering what we saw. But my memory of Ken’s Pizza is overwhelmingly based on taste. I can instantly recall it, and in fact, I do compare any new pizza place to Ken’s. And it’s just not the same.

(Note: Do you have ANY idea of how hard it was to find the logo and mascot from a pizza place that changed names over 25 years ago? Also, there are apparently six Ken’s Pizza restaurants still operating in Oklahoma, where the chain was born. Dude, if I’m ever within 400 miles of one, I’m TOTALLY going!)

UPDATE!

My family still lives in the Atlanta area, and I still visit for holidays and concerts and such. After Christmas 2020, I stopped at the Mazzio’s Pizza in Winder, GA (the last Mazzio’s in the southeast!). This is from my Instagram post about it:

Some say we spend our lives chasing our first high, whether that’s whiskey, weed or women.

I’m happy to report that “Ken’s Supreme” looks, smells and tastes EXACTLY as I remember, and for a few glorious minutes yesterday it was 1977 and I was six years-old again, and happy in a way that only a childhood favorite can make you! 🍕♥️

Remember that post from a week or so ago when I linked to an MSN article about silly academic studies? Well it seems that Captain Obvious has struck again!

According to this study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, girls that post pictures of themselves on personal web pages or social networking sites are (wait for it…) far more likely to be contacted by strangers than either boys or girls that don’t post their pictures.

I suppose that researchers need actual hard evidence of this to confirm their studies or justify their budgets or whatnot… but come on people! You mean dirty old men might stop and leave a nasty\unwanted message on a teenage girl’s MySpace profile, but that same person would skip over boy’s profiles or profiles with no pictures? Really? Seriously?

Color me shocked. (/sarcasm)

As you are all too aware, customer service in this country sucks. Some companies simply grow too fast too quickly, and customer service gets lost in the shuffle. Some companies expand by buying other companies, and it simply takes a long time for the existing systems to be “connected” properly. Some companies simply grow too large for customer service to be effective. Other companies see customer service as a drain on profits and farm their support services out to the cheapest offshore company. And lots of companies just don’t care about customer service.

At one time or another, most of us have been trapped in a customer service nightmare of endless phone trees, service reps that offer ineffective solutions or try to get you off the phone as quickly as possible, repeating the same information over and over again… It’s like something Kafka might have dreamed up. But one company isn’t like that at all: Zappos.com.

Zappos.com is an Internet shoe store. I’ve ordered from them twice and found their service to be outstanding (although I never had reason to call them for anything). But then I read the story of Zaz Lamarr.

It seems that Ms. Lamarr bought a couple of pairs of shoes from Zappos and found that they didn’t fit. She arranged to return them, but sadly, her mother passed away and Zaz found herself busy with making funeral arrangements, settling her mom’s affairs, and well… mourning. After a few days had passed, Zappos emailed her to ask where the shoes were. Zaz emailed back telling them that her mom had died and that she would call UPS when she got the chance.

The next day, Zappos emailed her back, apologizing for her loss and informing her that they’d arranged for UPS to come out and pick them up – all she had to do was seal up the box and put the on her doorstep. And if that weren’t sweet enough, when Zaz came home the next day from running errands, Zaz says that “a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears.”

Now THAT’S customer service, people! Let’s hope that anyone from Comcast, US Air, Delta, Wal Mart and any of the other giant American companies read that article… soon!