At what point does the COVID excuses end.....
 

Decided to go out to eat this evening, and went to Cody's Roadhouse at Lake Sumter.

Got seated, and waited and waited and waited for our server to come and even ask us for drink order. I would say it was at least 15 minutes, but hey, everyone is short staffed...so we just enjoyed waiting. Came and took our drink order, wanted a bottle of wine and 2 waters. Another 15 minutes LITERALLY before the water was served. Oh, no wine, what else do you want (claims they only had ONE of the bottle selections listed....ok, no problem, hubby has a beer and I stick with my water). Order was taken at that time. Hubby asked for his steak cooked rare.....she responds cant promise that buy will request.) Now, at what point does the customer not have the right to request the temp they want their steak cooked?? I ordered chicken wings. Literally, another 20 minutes passed and when she waltzes by to serve the people that have come in way after us, I ask about the beer. "Oh, I put the order in, I have to wait for them to serve it" was her response. No apology, no let me check on it...basically, "not my fault". Beer finally arrives about 10 minutes later....still no food. We actually watched people come in, get seated, get served and enjoying their meal being waited on by other servers as we sat and waited. Never offered to refill water, just kept asking "everything alright here" every time she passed by. Finally, food arrives. Hubby orders another beer since he has been drinking the other one during the extended wait....never comes. Bottom line, I have been the person preaching patience as we deal with these staff shortages...but it was apparent this particular server was NO hurry, not my fault, get there when I get there mode.

I actually was so unhappy I seriously considered leaving no tip. I could not bring myself to do it and tipped the 20% minimum we always leave (And for exceptional service we have left as much as 100% of the bill....trust me, CHASE credit card sends me constant email notifications, "did you intend to leave this percentage as tip?"), but gotta wonder....think we will be eating at home a lot more this winter as the snowbirds return.

At what point does the "short staffed" issue start to allow incompetence to rule the day?? There HAS to be a limit, where do you draw the line???

Sorry to say, this has really turned us off to Cody's. The entire experience was actually that sad.

I have walked out of restaurants for those very same reasons.

Maybe take a deep breath, go back again, and see if things are better. If they aren't, then scratch Cody's from your list.
We went to Cody's a couple of weeks ago, sat at the bar. Food was okay, service was so bad my wife said maybe we should scratch LSL Cody's from our list. We stopped in a few days ago, food was good, service was excellent.

You are right....need to give it another shot. But gotta tell ya, for the first time in this entire COVID nightmare I was the one that was ****ed....vs being the one trying to tip very well and encourage staff that was working and heap praise on those that are willing to come and work vs collect free money. You could have knocked ME over with a feather I was so unaware I could get so ****ed about this, but it was honestly the worst possible lack of service we have ever had. We might give them another shot, but it will definitely be a while.

When you have policies that reduce the incentive, reason and necessity to work you get less work, why be surprised. I don't do too much fast food but Burger King was in the past my choice. Since the covid experience I have taken that franchise off my list. Not only have they reduced the size of the whopper, its now a woper but the last three out of ten visits they have gotten the order wrong

Surprised you did not ask to speak to the manager. We have been tipping 20% or more these days but for the service you got the tip would reflect the service.

We have now learned how to get paid not to work.

And what's worse is that we have a model to follow-------Greece

We had dinner at ChopHouse across the street last evening. They were busy, had plenty of staff and the food and service were excellent.

Chop house has good reviews but I found it to be over priced for what you get. Just my impression.

I think their food is excellent and worth the price. we eat there weekly.

No one is getting paid to not work anymore.

We go out to dinner 2 to 3 times a week, all over the north of 44 Villages and off the reservation from time to time. We have never had an issue with wait staff or getting timely service. Occasionally the bill gets screwed up as we will split the cost over 2 to 4 couples, but we always get it sorted out without getting nasty.

It's not just Cody's that are short staffed - its everywhere
 

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My wife and I recently traveled to New England area on our first vacation since this whole Covid thing stopping in Myrtle Beach along the way. All during our trip, many hotels and restaurants had signs posted that they were short staffed to had cut back on service due to COVID. If you go into other returns here in The Villages like Beef O'Brady's or Bob Evans or Darrell's Dinner or... the list goes on - there will often be a "short staffed" sign on the door. And not to mention - there are "help wanted" signs everywhere. No one wants to work for service industry wages as long as they can collect unemployment. The solution, in my opinion, is to reduce unemployment payments the longer a person is on it (assuming they are physically able to work) so they will go back to work. We can't continue to reward people for not working when there are plenty of jobs out there.

My take on this tale.
 

First. If service, food, beverage, anything is unsatifactory, LET THE MANAGEMENT KNOW. They would (or should) want to know before they lose customers over something correctable.

I was taught that "tip" was an acronym for "To Insure Proper or Prompt service" and is given in advance to someone so they will perform task or service quickly, correctly and to make sure you will be happy when job is done. A "Gratuity" is a Thank You given after you have received a satisfactory or better service than just average or minimum. The term "tip" is now a gratuity that is NOT the "thank you"gift that it was intended to be and is now expected, sometimes even demanded, for just doing basic job functions. Everybody seems to expect to be tipped for just doing their job. Entitlement?
I have been many places in my life were tipping is not the norm, even frowned upon and considered an insult. They are proud of the work they do and offering a tip makes them feel that you do not value their work and that you pitty them.
In this country many establishments, like reastaurants, have even successfully transferred much of the burden of paying their employees a decent wage to the customer. As a larger part/% of an employees pay becomes made up of tips, the less the employer needs to cover. And the customer (out of guilt or peer pressure) slowly is induced to increase the percentage of the tip. Anyone here old enough to remember 10,15,18% as being the norm? Now, even 20% is just standard and more if you think it is deserved or you just feel sorry for them. In many places, if not most, tips are devided, not just among wait staff, but by ALL the employees. So that Very generous tip you leave your fabulous server probably only adds a few cents to his/her take home since everyone from the chef to the bartender to the dish washer gets a cut. Who knows, since establishments are different.
Oh, for the day when the price on the menu is the price you pay and everyone is happy with that. Never happen.
I forgot about the taxes...

I've traveled and lived in many countries and found that a large amount of places placed the gratuity in the bill, so you really didn't have much choice.