Talking about the Pizza Uncle incident – Miss, what you’ve lost is the “face of Taiwanese people.”

ByKami Travel Talks, Photo / Taken by reporter Hsu Wen-bin

Today’s “Pizza Boss News Incident” has been making waves all day, which makes me especially want to share the scene from that day when our group ate pizza at this little shop by the main road in Taitung. I vaguely remember it was near evening when we arrived at this already quite well-known pizza shop in Taitung called “Pizza Uncle.”

“Pizza Uncle” is actually not what you’d imagine — the pizza maker is a young boss named Pete who came from the United States. He got into surfing, got to know Taitung, fell in love with Taitung, settled down here, and even met and fell in love with his Taiwanese wife, Sophia. The two have a lovely mixed-race child together.

Six years ago, “Pizza Uncle” opened in Taitung. Pete, his wife, and a few employees happily sold pizzas here. The walls, painted in warm, saturated colors, are adorned with paintings of “cows,” all created by Pete himself. Flipping through the pizza menu, it turns out every pizza name in the shop was personally thought up by Pete, and each has a story behind it — it’s hard not to notice that both Pete and his wife are sentimental people. Indeed, even when they ended up in the news, they still responded with the humblest of attitudes.

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I remember vividly how Pizza Uncle was doing great business but insisted on making pizzas to order.The small space was often packed. We had come to fill up before covering the hot air balloon light show, and our group felt somewhat “in the way” in the shop. Although Pete knew we were journalists, he didn’t forget about the rights of the customers waiting.I noticed that the other customers in the shop were all willing to wait for Pizza Uncle’s freshly made pizzas. Many regulars played with Pete’s child while waiting for their orders. Just from my first visit to Pizza Uncle, I could already feel that the people of Taitung love this shop and love this pizza uncle.

When the pizzas were served, a bunch of us journalists naturally took photos first. But Pete was worried the pizzas would get cold and urged us to eat. Yeah, cold pizza definitely doesn’t taste as good. If I were the one baking the pizzas, I’d probably hope the customers ate them while they were hot too.

I also remember there was a wooden piano in the shop, and Pizza Uncle had a lute. After all the pizzas were finally served,Pete’s first move wasn’t to rest but to pick up the lute and start an impromptu performance, instantly turning the warm atmosphere lively. Upon asking, I learned that Pete does this whenever he has time because he believes interacting with customers is a joyful thing. No wonder even locals recommend this place as the “best pizza shop in Taitung.”

Why, after the video was posted online, did Pete not get attacked by netizens but instead receive overwhelming support? I’m just thinking that many things are built up bit by bit. “Pizza Uncle’s” delicious pizzas and polite attitude have long been well known in Taitung. I don’t know if the female customer in the video was a tourist, but as a Taiwanese person, I felt deeply ashamed — because all I could recall was how gentle and kind Pete and his wife were that day in the shop, yet firm about the pizzas they served to customers. At the very least, I’d like to believe Pete definitely didn’t mean to make customers wait or give them a hard time.

In the video, the sharp voice repeatedly insists: “You’ve already caused us a loss！You’ve already caused us a loss！” The person on the other end of the line seems to only think about their own loss and not about how the shop was trying to ensure customers get their pizzas hot. They even snapped: “He probably couldn’t make it abroad, so he came to Taiwan. He probably couldn’t make it in his own country, so he came to Taiwan to earn Taiwanese money, then treats Taiwanese people like this. If you’re so tough, go back to your own country. Don’t be a loser here, a foreign beggar in Taiwan.” I found it really upsetting after watching.

If the YouTube video spreads to the U.S., wouldn’t people think, “Taiwanese customers are awful”?Pete loves Taiwan so much, is so polite, and treats Taiwanese customers so sincerely — is this how Taiwanese repay him?

Let’s talk about Taiwan’s “rude customer culture.” I seriously think back — when did Taiwanese start believing that paying means you’re the boss, this unacceptable notion? In my not-so-short time in the tourism industry, I’ve heard flight attendants say more than once that foreign airlines, before flying to Taiwan, specifically remind the cabin crew: “This flight has mostly Taiwanese passengers, so please be extra cautious when serving.” Hearing that actually made me ashamed. Have we been labeled as “difficult Taiwanese”? Then crew members dread flight delays or cancellations the most, because that’s when many passengers go crazy, yelling like maniacs — just like the customer in the video who wouldn’t let it go, feeling their rights were violated, feeling they suffered losses, and wanting compensation.

Maybe this article goes a bit off-topic, but having actually met Pizza Uncle and then seeing the video of the boss being endlessly insulted, I truly want to tell those Taiwanese who only think about their own rights being violated and want to take it to the extreme: this is not an era where complaining gets you candy, nor is it a society where whoever pays calls the shots.Especially because what you might be losing isn’t just your own face — but the “face of Taiwanese people.”