Cutting In Line At A Pizzeria Is A Bad Idea, Here’s Why


One man reportedly got stabbed and another knocked out cold in an alleged dispute over cutting in line at a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor.

The pizza-etiquette violation allegedly occurred at about 4 a.m. Sunday morning outside Jumbo Pizza in the Nation’s Capital.

According to the Borderstan website, this is what happened in the pizzeria throwdown.

“Two people got into an argument over skipping line to order pizza at the restaurant, according to a police report. The two people then took their argument outside, where one of them took a knife out of their backpack and stabbed the other. The person who was stabbed, a man, retaliated by punching his assailant, knocking him unconscious, police said. One of the victim’s companions then kicked the suspected stabber in the head.”

The alleged knife-wielding man, identified by the Washington Post as Jose Nelson Melendez Rodriguez, 20, faces a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. “The man who allegedly kicked him, Justin Anthony McKinney, 20…was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault.” The victim of the stabbing received treatment for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital. Police also took Rodriguez to the hospital for treatment.

“In an effort to preserve drunk democracy, the man who was cut confronted the line-cutter, who took a knife out of his backpack, and, you know, cut him (literally),” Washingtonian quipped about the incident that fortunately did not involve anyone seriously injured.

“Three pizza shops in Northwest D.C., within walking distance of the crime scene, lay claim to inventing Washington’s signature oversized slice, Washington City Paper reported,” NBC Washington detailed.

“What exactly is it about Jumbo Slice that drives people wild? Is it the 5 dollar price tag? If drunk people were offered socially-acceptable amounts of pizza for $2.50 would they be less tempted?…Unlike other drunk crimes committed by the Ryan Lochtes of D.C., this one has been solved. But it has yet to be explained,” Washingtonian wondered.

Almost the entire U.S. population eats pizza regularly, and about three billion pies are sold each year in America, according to the Visually website’s top 10 listing of American’s favorite foods. Each person in the country supposedly consumes approximately 46 slices each year, Pizza claims.

More than 1 billion pizzas are delivered to consumers each year, according to Pizza Delivery, and there are approximately 62,000 pizza parlors open for business in the U.S.

In an unrelated incident last month that nonetheless required law enforcement intervention, a Florida judge banned a man with an alleged history of prank calling pizza parlors from ordering any further deliveries over the phone. The suspect faces charges of petty theft in the first and second degree as well as four counts of making harassing phone calls, all of which are misdemeanors.

Elsewhere, a dispute over pizza toppings resulted in a 911 call to the Hartford, Connecticut, police department in April. The unhappy customer called the cops to ask if they could do something because a local pizzeria wouldn’t give her a refund for an incomplete pie that lacked the requested bacon topping. The dispatcher politely reminded the woman that 911 is for life-threatening emergencies only.

In a Los Angeles-area incident that occurred in January, a late-arriving pizza delivery driver allegedly stabbed a customer after they got into an argument over the amount of the tip. Fortunately, the victim avoided serious harm in the encounter. Cops charged the driver with suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

On a much more positive note, a New York City pizza chef claimed that he lost about 100 pounds by eating one of his Neapolitan-style creations every day for lunch.

Do you ever think it is ever a good idea to try to cut in or jump ahead in line at a pizza shop?

[Featured Image by Hans Geel/Shutterstock]

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