Pizza is considered to be one of the most popular food items in the world. In fact, in the United States alone over 3 billion of these delicious and cheesy morsels are sold each and every year.
That’s a whole lot of pizza!
For one man, pizza was an integral part of his diet, and he ordered from Domino’s almost every single day for ten years. Then one day…he stopped. You won’t believe what happened.
Living alone in Salem, Oregon, Kirk Alexander was a 48-year-old man with a deep love for pizza. Kirk had been ordering pizza almost every day from his local Domino’s and was quite well-known with the manager and delivery drivers.
However, one day Kirk simply stopped placing an order. At first, the employees didn’t think much of it, but after a few days passed, they began to worry.
According to the store’s general manager, Sarah Fuller, Kirk was one of their best customers. “His order pops up on the screen because he orders online,” she told the local news.
“So we see it come across the screen and we’re like, ‘Oh, Kirk’s order.’” When Kirk’s online orders stopped coming in, the staff weren’t alarmed at first. Some thought he might have gone on vacation.
However, as the days passed, even the delivery drivers started to notice the lack of Kirk deliveries.
They quickly approached the manager, Sarah and she was shocked to discover that Kirk hadn’t placed an order in over 11 days! What could have happened?
Since Kirk had been ordering from the same Domino’s for years, the staff had grown quite fond of him. They knew him as a quiet, friendly guy and over time they had become good friends.
Some of the staff even considered him to be family. Talk about taking customer service to the next level!
Sarah knew that Kirk didn’t normally take vacations, so his lack of orders was of some concern. Is it possible he’d simply grown sick of pizza?
She didn’t think that was likely, because Kirk never ordered the same thing. “Kirk is a very well-known customer, but he doesn’t have a regular order – he’ll order anything from pasta or pizza to sandwiches or wings.
It’s never the same thing every time.”
So where was he? The employees soon began to think something horrible could have happened to their favorite customer.
With everyone growing increasingly worried, Sarah decided to send a delivery driver, Tracey Hamblen over to Kirk’s to check on him. As he approached the house, the driver noticed that the lights were on in the house and the TV was on.
All signs pointed to Kirk being home, but Tracey wanted to make sure everything was okay so he knocked on the door. Unfortunately, there was no answer.
Tracey knocked several more times, hoping that Kirk would come to the door, but that didn’t happen.
As a last resort, Tracey called Kirk’s cell phone yet it went straight to voicemail. At this point, the delivery driver had a really bad feeling.
There were too many things that were not adding up.
He quickly rushed back to the store to fill in the manager and the rest of the team on the situation. After speaking with his fellow employees, it was determined that they should call the police.
With the dispatcher on the line, Tracey filled them in on the situation. “Well, I need some help on what to do, it could be an emergency,” he began.
“This is Domino’s Pizza and we have a customer that usually orders like every night from us. And he hasn’t ordered in 11 days.” Thankfully, the operator promised to call into the sheriff’s department to check on their missing customer.
Several deputies were sent to Kirk’s home to investigate the situation. When they arrived, they knocked on his door and began to call out his name.
They kept calling his name as they circled his property and tried looking through the windows to see if they could see anyone inside. Would Kirk finally answer? Suddenly, the deputies heard a response.
The weak voice of a man calling out for help. Realizing he was in trouble, the police broke down the door and found Kirk incapacitated on the floor.
Kirk looked in bad shape, but was holding on. Hopefully, they weren’t too late.
The police immediately called for an ambulance that whisked Kirk away to the nearby hospital. It was revealed that Kirk had unfortunately suffered from a stroke.
Since he had been alone at the time, and no one knew how long he had been unable to get off the floor, the doctors couldn’t determine if his condition would improve. Thankfully, after a few days in the hospital being treated for dehydration and his stroke symptoms, Kirk began to return to his old self.
In fact, the doctors determined he would make a full recovery.
The employees at his local Domino’s were so happy to hear the news. “We’re like a family here, and we were glad we were able to do something to help. We hope he’s able to fully recover from this,” said Sarah.
Thanks to their selflessness and inspiring actions, the media picked up the story and it soon went viral. People praised the staff at the Domino’s for being heroes, but Sarah the manager disagrees.
“I think we were just doing our job checking in on someone we know who orders a lot.
We felt like we needed to do something.” With the word of their team’s kindness catching national attention, both Sarah and her assistant manager, Jenny, were interviewed by Good Morning America!
The staff of the show congratulated them both on using their instincts in the situation and doing the right thing for Kirk. The management team gave the hosts of GMA an update on Kirk, revealing that while he was out of it at first, he was slowly on his way to recovery.
At first, he had only been able to give yes or no answers, but now was moving into a rehabilitation facility.
Robin Roberts thanked the women once again and then surprised them with tickets to the new Marvel movie, Captain America: Civil War. In fact, the whole Domino’s team would be enjoying a night out thanks to their good deed.
But that wasn’t all… Roberts also surprised Sarah and Jenny with the news that they would be heading to Domino’s Worldwide Rally, a convention that took place every year thanks to the Domino’s corporate office!
To say Sarah and Jenny were both shocked and grateful would be an understatement. As for Kirk, he was on a long road to recovery but was so appreciative to his local Domino’s for checking in on him.
If it hadn’t been for their attention and perseverance, he may not have been found in time.
Who knew a love for pizza would make such an impact on this man’s life?