RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc?

RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (Full Version)

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Sundowner -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:26:06 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TotallyDude Where do you fall between the two extremes? Do you tend to be extremely demanding about receiving excellent customer service in all situations or are you more inclined to let things slide especially if it's pretty clear everyone is doing their best under stressful circumstances? <bows to the OP who has managed to posted without using the dreaded "d" word - I thank you> I find life easy these days, partly because I go places where the service will always be good, but mainly because over time I came to the realisation that, as others have said above, ppl are ppl. I am the most wonderfully important person ever, but in essence I am the same as a waiter. In business I provide services for money - sheesh we all do. It may be a different service but the concept's the same - I have clients, I serve them, I try to please them, I strive hard to be good at what I do and to be liked, I seek to make friends of my clients and I expect to be paid for my services. I am no different from the average waiter or prostitute. If one can have this mindset, and particularly if one does not need to try to impress, relationships with waiters or any service-provider are simple and fun. I do find that insecure middle managers are awful - the need to try to impress, to show how important they are, leads them to be a total pain with those who are trying to serve them. And I'm so with Holly - "Does the waitress have a sick child at home and is devastated that she cant be with him? Marital or health issues?". Life becomes easier if one allows for kinder possible answers; is the lunatic who's just cut you up in his car desperately trying to get to hospital to tend his dying wife? Probably not, but my life's easier if I allow for the possibility and let him go. There is of course a dark side too. If I don't like bad service I don't call the manager; I write to the owner (or CEO of the company involved). And I write MD to MD, more in sorrow than in anger and with some constructive suggestion for improvement. Invariably one receives a helpful apology and often some recompense and one can be reasonably sure that the offending party has a shit day as a result. I never said I was nice.

LadyPact -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:26:48 AM)
I'd have made reservations at a hotel that wasn't pet friendly if that was My issue. Problem solved. Funny thing. I generally don't have trouble ordering in restaurants. I don't even bother with things like onions coming in My salad. I just toss them on MP's plate. For everything else, I read the menu. Oddly enough, I have had more problems with pizza being delivered than anything else. That is one area where I will ask that My order be replaced. Yes, I will tip the guy who has to bring Me the correct one after there was a problem with the first.

GreedyTop -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:29:11 AM)
well, Lady P. you are an extraordinary human :) SunnyD.. come check out the delights of my hotel :) toad. I hate you.

LadyPact -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:30:32 AM)
Nah. I just know what it's like to have tips be a serious part of My income. [:)]

GreedyTop -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:33:17 AM)
yeah.. but ya KNOW. Sadly, too many folks forget once they start making $$ on a non-tip based income.

Moonhead -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:36:18 AM)
So shitty service and the waiter spending as much time as he can staring at your date's cleavage is acceptable because his employer is taking the piss, then?

GreedyTop -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:53:35 AM)
huh? how the fuck did you get THAT out of what I had posted?

Moonhead -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 4:58:42 AM)
The comment about tips being a significant part of the front of house staff's pay? It's an irksome and irritating job, and the fact that a lot of employers weasel out of paying a living wage on the assumption that patrons will make up the shortfall doesn't help. Sadly, there's plenty of stuff that might make you forget that...

Sundowner -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 5:00:56 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: RapierFugue < < I said to add that to my bill, with my compliments. By god I had some amazing service in there from then on. I mean it’d always been good before, but I got treated like visiting royalty afterwards :) Nice one RF (the intention, not just the result). I was once told that the clever thing to do in a restaurant is on first visit to be the awkward customer from hell and be difficult about everyhting but then to tip hugely afterwards. A bit like the technique of being tough and highly critical of a new employee's performance for the first few days and then to be wonderfully complimentary of a bit of good work and thank them. The theory being they'll worship you for life. I've tried neither trick but I get the idea.

RapierFugue -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 5:12:59 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Sundowner I was once told that the clever thing to do in a restaurant is on first visit to be the awkward customer from hell and be difficult about everyhting but then to tip hugely afterwards. I've tried neither trick but I get the idea. I'd never try that in case they pissed in my soup. My favourite “employee revenge” was done by a Scottish mate of mine who, in his student years, worked at McD’s. He was in the habit, in those days, of being stoned pretty much 24/7, so rather than put him onto serving customers (which would have been a disaster) they had him making burgers. This generally went well, but due to his somewhat “relaxed” state of mind he sometimes left a bit of this or that out or, more usually, added things. The Big Mac especially was, due to the full gamut of bits & pieces in it, a particular challenge. One day he accidentally left out some small thing (a bit of pickle or whatever), but instead of just politely requesting a replacement, the customer went apeshit, insulting all and sundry and demanding not one, but 2 replacements, on account (my mate presumed) of being “fatter than a fucking space-hopper”. So my mate developed the BWMD (burger weapon of mass destruction) – a.k.a. the “Mac In The Box”; this was a Big Mac so overstuffed with burger and centre bun section that it would, upon release from its captivity, spring out (sadly without a comedic “BOING!”) and deposit its payload of burger hither and thither, thus effectively calling the customer a fat bastard, without actually using the words “fat” or, indeed, “bastard”. IIRC his record was something like 7 patties in one burger. The device deployed successfully, passing field trials, and from then on became the de rigueur response to abusive customers.

GreedyTop -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 5:15:57 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Moonhead The comment about tips being a significant part of the front of house staff's pay? It's an irksome and irritating job, and the fact that a lot of employers weasel out of paying a living wage on the assumption that patrons will make up the shortfall doesn't help. Sadly, there's plenty of stuff that might make you forget that... I said no such thing. I said I work HOTEL RECEPTION, which is NOT the same as wait staff.. which is why I prefaced my initial post with soemthng along the lines of "leaving aside food service ..etc" I have worked food service (albeit, almost 30 yrs ago..).. I would never presume to compare hotel recption to wait staffing.. (and as I am sleep deprived and off to bed , I will give the caveat that I am not making as much sense as I should be, I think... but fuck it, I am SLEEPY...)

Aynne88 -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 6:50:03 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Moonhead The comment about tips being a significant part of the front of house staff's pay? It's an irksome and irritating job, and the fact that a lot of employers weasel out of paying a living wage on the assumption that patrons will make up the shortfall doesn't help. Sadly, there's plenty of stuff that might make you forget that... You haven't worked in the restaurant business I take it? I bartended for years and it was at a fairly high end place and let me tell you, if the restaurant industry were to revamp it's way of doing business and pay a regular wage to employees, that $30.00 dinner you have will skyrocket. Not only that but most servers and especially bartenders I know would never ever work in the industry for an hourly wage, not when on a busy night behind a slamming bar you can walk out with 300 to 500 hundreds dollars cash. It's exhausting, grueling, dirty work, but the tips more than make up for it. Getting ten bucks an hour does not. It's even more demanding in high end places where it's easy to drop 2 or 3 bills on a great dinner. I expect my server to know fine food, proper wine service, be educated in culinary knowledge, and be a professional server as opposed to the person doing it for a summer job or working at the food court at the mall. There is a reason why they chose serving as a career, it pays hugely on most occasions, and around here we have people that have worked at the same place for well over a decade because of the gratuity being so large making a very very nice income. None of them would do it for an hourly wage, and honestly the price of the meal would go up so much it wouldn't even be feasible for the customer. Just something to think about.

RapierFugue -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 6:53:49 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Aynne88 You haven't worked in the restaurant business I take it? I bartended for years and it was at a fairly high end place and let me tell you, if the restaurant industry were to revamp it's way of doing business and pay a regular wage to employees, that $30.00 dinner you have will skyrocket. The French manage to pay their staff a decent wage, and their restaurants are usually pretty good VFM, so it must be possible. I think it possibly has something to do with how much money establishments are expected to make though - the French consider bringing good food & booze to the masses to be a messianic calling, whereas in Britain and the US it's viewed more as a way to make money.

GreedyTop -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 6:56:22 AM)
agrees with RF

RapierFugue -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 6:58:02 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: GreedyTop agrees with RF "Sensible policies for a happier Britain".

GreedyTop -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 6:59:52 AM)
snorts at RF. goes to cuddle with SD, because he hates me intensely

Icarys -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 7:00:31 AM)
quote: None of them would do it for an hourly wage, and honestly the price of the meal would go up so much it wouldn't even be feasible for the customer. Just something to think about. I tip for the service so it wouldn't make a difference if they made $15 an hour as I'm sure many would. My mother worked as a waitress for hell more years than I can remember a number for..She'd come home worn out physically and emotionally from dealing with people all day. I always have that in mind when I give tips. I wouldn't want to do it for work!

Aynne88 -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 7:02:48 AM)
That's okay but as someone that has been in the industry for frigging ever it seems like, no way in hell would I tend bar for what you might call a decent wage. Unless it's 30 bucks an hour, I am not doing it. Even that wouldn't be what we make on a busy night. Example. Usually we are behind the bar alone, and the register take is about $2,000.00. We average 25 to 30% tips, always, it's a given, so do the math. Even if they put on a cocktail waitress and I tip her out 10% I am still walking with about $500.00 for working 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. I really don't think it would work here, not when so many of us are used to making that kind of money. Best blog ever for describing the hell that is food/beverage service. http://waiterrant.net/ ETA..Icarys you rock.

kalikshama -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 7:14:08 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: soul2share I've told management before when I've gotten excellent service in places...and not just restaurants. There is a lady who works the door at 6am at the Wal Mart I frequent, and she's always smiling and happy and friendly.....definitely a morning person! I gave her an atta-boy with the manager one morning.....she just really made my day walking in....maybe it's not much, but it sure beats some sullen grouch! There's someone at my gym who knows me by name and is always very welcoming - on our annual satisfaction survey I gave him kudos by name.

GreedyTop -> RE: Have you ever complained about service in a store, restaurant, etc? (2/3/2011 7:14:41 AM)
Aynne.. is that before or after the policy of most places to "tip out" the busboys/DJs/etc? most places I worked skipped the waitress tipout, but fucked ya on the 'outside' staff.. busboys./..valets.. cooks..hell many places I worked included basically anyone else that wasnt on the floor. again, this has been YEARS ago.. so things may have changed...

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