Pet Peeve, Upset then redeemed

thcri · Feb 11, 2005

I have this stupid Pet Peeve about going into a restaurant and then watching people that have come after me get their drinks, salad and other stuff before I even see a waiter. And you know Murphy's Law it happens all the time. No different tonight. We sat down and the person seating us gave us water. Three couples came in, sat down, and two of them had their drinks and almost finished their salad before we even saw a waiter. Well a waiter came by and finally asked if we were waited on and I said no. She recognized we had been there a while. She took our order and when I was finished eating she said she was going to go and get me another piece of fish for free since we waited so long. So she redeemed herself even though I was too full to eat another piece so I had to decline. However she did give my wife our drinks free which added up some. But it is a Pet Peeve of mine.

murph

JayC · Feb 12, 2005

That's why I prefer buffets. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

CtRick · Feb 13, 2005

I'm in the restaurant business and I share the same pet peeve. My employees think I'm crazy because I won't let my customers wait for anything. Sometimes we are a little too aggressive, but that is the price we pay for incredibly prompt service. On top of that, when someone waits even just few minutes longer than what I think is acceptable, I give free drinks or, if they are not drinking, I'll take some money off their bill. Many times the customers try to decline but I won't take no for an answer. My philosophy has always been that I will not give any customer any reason to bad mouth me to anyone. I am always amazed when I will go out to eat somewhere else and get bad service. There is no excuse for a bad server. Sorry for ranting, this topic gets me fired up.

Rick

Egon · Feb 13, 2005

If the restaurant has good food I'm quite willing to wait. It Has been my experience good food and good service go together. Usually the places with good food have waiters that stay for years and recognize you after your second visit.

I have also noticed that very expensive places with all the pomp and flair do not usually have the best food. The smaller Ethnic restraurant with limited menu selections are the ones I like.

But those days are long gone for me now. Retirement income maychange one's income disembursement drastically.

Egon

Bird · Feb 13, 2005

Egon, if the food's good, you might now mind waiting a reasonable length of time, but there are limits. My wife and I went into one restaurant once, were seated and given our coffee, but no one ever showed up to take our order. We finally finally got up, paid the for the coffee, and left. Needless to say, we'd never go back there again. However, once in Ohio, we went into a pizza place that only had 3 other customers at the time, ordered a pizza, my wife got a glass of iced tead and I got a beer. Then I got a second beer, two other people came in, ordered, ate, and left, so when I went to the counter for a third beer, I asked about our pizza and they said they "forgot" to make it, but would do it right then, and did. They were most apologetic for the error and said, "No charge" for anything. Everyone's entitled to a mistake now and then, so I left a nice tip, and we'd still be customers for a place like that.

On the other hand, I think I once met the world's best waiter several years ago in an Italian restaurant in Chicago. I'm sure you've met waiters who tried so hard, they were a nuisance coming to ask if there's anything else you want. Well, this waiter was a very small, older man and I don't think he ever asked anything after he took our order, and you just never noticed him at all, but if you finished a dish, it was gone and a fresh one in its place, drink glasses stayed full, a cigarette put out in the ash tray, it was gone and clean one in its place. My boss and I ate there one night and were so impressed with both the food and the service, we went back the next night, along with a couple of other guys, and we asked for the same waiter. We just had to ask, and learned that he'd been a waiter in that same restaurant for 51 years. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

AndyM · Feb 13, 2005

That's why I prefer buffets. 

That doesn't always work either. We went to Ponderosa the day after Thanksgiving. The place was packed, and apparently all of the waitresses called off except for one. She was trying her hardest to keep everyone's drinks refilled and their dishes cleared from the tables, but there was only so much she could do.

The manager was standing in the corner of the restaurant with his arms crossed, barking orders at her... We left a ten dollar tip for her.

PineRidge · Feb 13, 2005

Be very weary of how you handle your silverware, spoon story /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

YanmarFever · Feb 13, 2005

Rick, I wish you were closer I would eat at your place all the time. You are right on the money !! time time time is what mostly matters and good food. Nobody likes to feel like they have been forgotten when they are paying for it.
Keep up the good service & you will be in bussiness for a long time & have happy customers. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

DannyD · Feb 13, 2005

Kudos to you on the tip. I would have taken this one step further. I used to date a waitress in a high class steak house, tips were OK, but the customers treated them like slaves. A waiter or waitress that does their work and makes me feel like special gets at least 20%. I would have been tempted to take my dishes etc to the back to help her out. I would have for sure found out the mgr boss, or if he was the only one, found out the corporate contact and reported his actions, and my displeasure.

I was in a buffet restaurant once where the mgr was doing as you stated, even to the point of jumping on those that were on breaks. I was in the area and heard some of this, so I promptly went to the store mgr, who recognized me as a patron, and told him how offended I was at the way he treated the waitresses. He took care of it immendiately, and all the waitresses thanked me for taking up for them. Seems this mgr thought of them as waitresses not people.

Poppa · Feb 13, 2005

( Be very weary of how you handle your silverware, spoon story /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif )

Will never order soup again. In fact might stick to burgers and fries where I don't need silverware at all.

still LMAO

Mike

PineRidge · Feb 13, 2005

I'm still eating with my hands..... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Junkman · Feb 13, 2005

I heard that you have been eating with your hands and fingers your whole life!!!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Sometime while traveling I will stop a a McD's or BK and what really frosts me is that you will place your order and they have to make the sandwich, and then a drive through order will come up and they will put your sandwich into the paper bag for that customer and leave you standing waiting for the next one. If it is near noontime, this can happen quite frequently. I have found a quick solution, I just say "that was supposed to be my sandwich..... I have been standing here at the counter for 10 minutes.". This will usually get all the other people that are standing in line waiting for there food to start thinking of what is taking so long. The same thing happens at the auto parts store. You go to the counter and he starts to look up your part and the phone rings. He drops what he was doing and takes care of that phone customer and then when finished, he comes back to you.

Moon · Feb 13, 2005

A few years ago we were in a big retail establishment (initials JCP) in the ladies apparel section. My wife was asking the lone salesperson a question about a coat. The phone interrupted, and the salesperson greeted the caller and asked if they would hold, that she would be right with them. Sure impressed us and we told her so. To bad other clerks can't figure this out. Never seen that happen before or since. To bad that is not standard operating procedure for all businesses.

Wingnut · Feb 13, 2005

Since my group is a service group, I have always tried to impress on my people that there is NOTHING worse than interrupting service for one customer to answer the phone or answer a co-workers question. Answering the phone when you are speaking with/servicing one person and then stopping to answer the phone says, in very loud terms ... "I have no idea who this is but it's sure to be more important or interesting than you are!"

DannyD · Feb 13, 2005

I hate it when the car in front has 5 orders with something changed on each one.........come on folks it is a drive thru for a reason, drive thru, dont change the menu. If you must get your hamburger different than offered, walk in please.

I have at times, placed my order only to be held up by a special order. I simply drive around the car, and out the parking lot.........makes the "order" of things out of whack. If the person at the window is really not with it, someone is going to get my number 2

Libertine · Feb 14, 2005

thcri:

Three couples came in, sat down, and two of them had their drinks and almost finished their salad before we even saw a waiter. 

Well, that would be very unlikely to happen in a French restaurant!

hmmm, hope you got the humor in that . . .

jeh

(The French eat their salad AFTER the main course - to clear the palate before cheeses etc. So it is unlikely you would be kept waiting that long.)

Varmintmist · Feb 14, 2005

I only really had one time that I got ignored. It was at a unFRIENDLY restaraunt.

It was on my honeymoon, and we both were tired and didnt feel like a big meal so we hit the chain store. The burgers came up in a reasonable time, then we ordered ice cream. A bus came in, the bus people ordered ice cream, ate, got coffee, and I had had enough.

Normaly I am pretty easy going and understanding because I work in a service industry also. But it was just ice cream, nothing special and they were apparently able to make it because the bus folks got served.

Anyway, a penny tip was left. I shouldnt have paid for the meal but I did. The manager wanted to give me coupons for a meal in the same chain restaraunt and I told her I didnt need them because I wont be eating at any unfriendlys again. Havent since.

I can understand slow, crowded, understaffed, or theat good food takes time. I cannot understand being dropped down in priority after the order is taken.

HammerFour · Feb 14, 2005

I've got a 10 minute rule no matter how good the food is at a place. If I get seated and haven't seen a server in 10 minutes, I leave. I won't sit there and sit there, getting hungrier by the minute.

My wife is an angel, she tolerates this, bless her heart.

I also won't wait in line for anything anymore unless it is something we HAVE to have. To much waiting in lines in the
Army.

- Tim