Will you tell the manager, or seeth in silence?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

If you go to a restaurant and your food's cold, your waitress is a bitch, or something equally horrible, will you tell the manager, or will you just sit there pissed?
Last weekend we went to a local Italian restaurant. We all ordered the same thing, and we proceeded to joke with the waitress. She turned her nose up at us and SNORTED! Then, we didn't see her again until it was time for us to pay the little snot. Someone else refilled our drinks, someone else brought our food, and still someone else got me a to go box and cleared our plates. So, I called the manager over. As I was talking to him, she brought me change. My little sister went to give her her money, and the waitress turned and walked away. The Manager freaked. We got our meals free(I got my money back), plus we got $15 worth of gift certificates, and the waitress lost her job. That was the best night. Always complain at restaurants...most of them will at the very least give you a dessert for free.
Duckie

[WillParkinson]

1. Um...

Proceeded to 'joke' with the waitress?

What do you mean by 'joke'? I'm hoping it wasn't something that offended the waitress.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. All I said...

I said, we're making it easy on you tonight aren't we? I thought that was very acceptable. We all ordered the same thing, so I smarted off...I don't find that at all offensive. I used to be a server myself, so I tread lightly.
Duckie

[peacefreak]

3. I agree with you

I work in a retail situation--a bookstore. It is my job to give service. I feel it reflects badly on me when one of my co-workers behaves in a similar fashion.
Yeah, we all have bad days, & yeah, the person I dealt with before you was a real asshole, but the fact is it is not YOUR fault. The slate is clean as soon as I turn my attention to you.
One of my former co-workers was so bad, she forced people out of the store. When she was finally fired our customers THANKED us for getting rid of her. I try to remember that even though the boss signs my check, my money really comes from the customer.

[newyawker99]

7. Congrats peasfreak!! 200 posts

:toast:

[SoCalDem]

4. Not necessarilty "complain", but if there is something that is not right

I will tell the manager.. I never ASK for a comp, but most of the time if the problem is BIG, they will offer.. They have fewer customers these days, and want you to be happy..

One time, we had ordered an appetiser, and the waitress never brought it to us.. Twice we asked if the appetiser was coming soon, since our food would soon be ready.. She said she would "check",,

Finally AFTER we had received out meal, she commented>>"oops, you never got your appetiser., I'll go get it".. I said never mind, just take it off the bill..

When we got the bill, it was still there, so we called the manager over and he took care of it.. We did not ask for the meal to be comped, but he did comp one of the meals..

I don;t know what her problem was that night.. they were not that busy :shrug:

[sham]

5. As a long-time retail worker,

I try to have a little perspective. Retail/restaurant work SUCKS, and sometimes you can't help but get cranky. If it is a minor infraction, especially during a busy time (like Christmas, or "Back To School" week) I will usually let it go, because I know how stressful it can be, and I also know that these people are getting paid shit wages to deal with customers who can be real assholes sometimes. So in situations where the waitress just gets a little bitchy, I'll seethe in silence and my anger will be reflected in the tip.

BUT if there's a major problem, or if I talk to the offending person and nothing is done to correct it FAST, I will go to the manager. I understand they are getting shit wages, but they are getting those wages for working, and I expect them to do their jobs. And I can think of a time or two when it was the manager who was the problem, and I have gone over their heads to complain to corporate. Once was with one of the larger movie theater chains. I had a problem with one of the managers, contacted corporate, and received an apology and 4 free passes for my troubles. :)

[SoCalDem]

6. an "oldie" but goodie.. a friend of mine actually did this..

I think he probably had read about it, because this guy was not noted for creativity, but he had been shopping in a men's store for some suits & ties & stuff, and the employee who was "waiting on him" was totally snotty and rude, as as much as called HIM an idiot.. He told another friend about the experience and the friend said... Was his name ,,,,,,,,?.. It was the same guy.. He was an assistant manager who thought he was god's gift to the world..

aanyway.. my friend wrote a letter to the OWNER of the place and told him about the asset he had in ........ He mentioned how when he bought a shirt ...... would GIVE him an expensive tie or sometimes even a second shirt for free ,and how he would "mark things down" that were not on sale.. He "congratulated" him for assertive marketing..


The next time he went in, ..... was GONE :evilgrin:

[Kamika]

8. GOOD!

Im the hostess for our family restaurant and i definetly think you should call the manager over. The customer is always right never forget that.


I remember we had a waitress once who took a table reservation by phone so poorly the family that made the call talked to my dad about it. He told me to personally serve them that night and they all eat for free. Next day she got fired.

But Ive seen that family over a bunch of times after that.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. Great stories, guys...

I don't agree that the customer is always right. Some customers are bitchy little cry babies and no matter how good the service, they're going to bitch about the service. I hostessed once for the TGI Friday's chain. I loved that job. But at night when we had large parties come in, they were bitchy and rude because we couldn't seat them right away, but we kept seating parties of 4 and under. They just couldn't understand why we couldn't move heaven and earth to find them a table. We were waiting for two or more four tops to open so we could put them together. And I wouldn't sit a lot of people in certain sections because the servers in those sections were either bad, slow, or we'd had a lot of complaints about them. Anyway, The customer isn't always right. As hostess you have a lot of power and some servers are better than others at handling a large amount of tables. And people have left the restaurant thanking ME for puting them in that section because the server was so awesome.
And I agree that we shouldn't ASK for a comp. The only time I ever take comps is if they're offered because of something horrible. And I like to talk to the manager, even if the server is doing great because at the Olive Garden where I was a server, we got extra off the meals we ate if we had people complimenting the manager about us. Anyway...I'm going to shh now...Have a great day!
Duckie

[karlschneider]

10. Gosh, I've been in restaurants in over 50 countries and very rarely been

subjected to that sort of behavior. Maybe I'm just lucky...?
Shlepping trays of food out to people doesn't strike me as being a very enjoyable way to make a living, so I tend to cut those who do a little slack. Plus, I'd rather not take a chance on having the waitperson taking a pee on my baked potato, knowwhatImean?......

Probably my take on this is colored by some experiences I've had in other lands...as in observing American tourists being complete assholes in dealing with (mostly young) waiters trying to do a job: "what's wrong with you, can't you speak plain English?" is a question I have heard far more than too many times.

But your comments are obviously directed more domestically...all I can say is that a bit of simple politeness goes a -very- long way in these
situations, and most all others as well.
:eyes: