Huh? Be Nice!

chatbrat all over again.

Servants
 

Who do you folks think are working in such establishments? :-) The whole "eating out experience" has evolved over our adult lifetimes, varying plenty over various "price points". Lots of students, with great variation in studentry.

My early "consumer" involvement was at the "sub-blue collar" level. The standard "complaints" were generally different back in that era and in our "stratum". Brings a smile to my face thinking of how my mom saw and reacted to her perceived "slights". :-)

I then worked as a waiter a bit during professional school. Eye opening experiences. Got a few pointers from more "sophisticated" classmates. Could have some fun asking folks how they wanted their "duck à l'orange" cooked as you rotated it over the Sterno flame for a few seconds in your fancy, Jeeves butler outfit. :-) You did *not* want to know about that "chef" in the back. :-)

I also worked a bit at a "horsey" country club as a waiter not far from Justin Thomas's early stomping grounds. Got to play their golf course on Mondays! They even dragged me out one Sunday to judge their springboard diving competition. :-) Folded a *lot* of cloth napkins. Bet I could still do it. Now that I think about it, it might even be said that the shape was that of an enantiomer! Google now suggests that it might've been "The Bird Of Paradise" fold! We also dressed rather butlery there. Learned a *lot* about (many) country club "wives" there, too. :-)

But, back to the subject at hand - not writing down food orders. It has kept me up nights trying to figure out how he did it. This particularly personable old, black fellow at "The Cloister" got our large family table at one gathering (a dozen of us?). He wrote *nothing* down as he went around our table taking the orders. Had the delivered meals been anything short of *perfect*, I can assure you that this former MIL of mine would have made certain that everyone in that large dining room would have known about her exquisite taste and her total disgust with such a shortcoming. (Her "dining experiences" were generally unsuccessful if the waitress didn't end up in tears). He remembered it all, perfectly. How did he *do* that??

What I did learn from fellow fancy dining staffers is that one probably doesn't want to be overly disrespectful towards certain individuals who are handling one's food and drink. Think Penny and Sheldon at the Cheesecake Factory. . .

I was thinking of this thread today. I was at a restaurant on Lake Harris and the waitress did not write down the order, for 3 people. She did have to come back one time to confirm. As for reason, youth. Remember how great your memory was when you were 20. I think it’s that simple.

When a person grossly exaggerates claims such as servers get the orders wrong 50% of the time, it completely invalidates their argument.

Me too! And one time I caught the server removing the lemon and bringing it back. (She should have also removed the lemon seed that had fallen into my glass.)

I've always been an avid reader. When I was a very young boy, perhaps 12-13, I read a biography of Joe Louis, the boxer.

He told of running over to a hill every afternoon, to watch the 2:00 pm train come by and blow it's whistle, when he was a little boy. Joe said he was astounded, at how inefficient the train was, because it seemed to be late, every day.

He then started noting the time the train came through, every afternoon. Turns out, the train was only "late" about once or twice a week.

We only notice, that which doesn't meet our needs or expectations.

One of the greatest lessons I've ever learned.

I called this the 'curse of invisibility' when talking with my staff about customer service. When you operate a facility the only thing that gets noticed is when something goes wrong, the nicer the facility the more absurd the complaints. If there's not a problem they don't even know you exist.

Try making 15,000 people in a class A facility happy with food service, impossible. I used to quip that one customer in the café line would complain 'there's a fly in my soup', the next person in line would complain 'wait a minute, I didn't get a fly with my soup!'. Same with for snow removal, you could get a foot of snow overnight, have it all cleaned up by 6am and if someone slipped on a little snow or ice that was missed they would raise Cain. Of course when they left home the snow was still stacked 12" deep in their driveway.

I guess if it was easy anyone could have done it :)

Don't start me with snow removal. I oversee a very extensive commercial real estate portfolio (not mine). When I'm in Florida through the winter, the calls come all day. The ones that get my goat, are the jackasses who manage national retailers, from their comfortable offices in Dallas.

"Our manager from our NH store has sent a message, that there's ice in their parking lot, please advise when this situation will be rectified".

I asked him to give me some suggestions, on how to prevent the snow from falling and ice from forming, in New England.

I can tell you from personal experience when they get a little ice in Dallas they flip out, shuts the town down. I worked in the Facilities Dept. of a company that had 25.8M sq. ft. of space, 19.5 owned the balance was leased. I've heard it all from lizards in the lobby in Phoenix to a bum sleeping in an elevator in Brownsville to rats in the kitchen in Ballston Spa to an alligator in the parking lot in Winter Haven. It would feel great to send a nasty note back when someone complained with their hair on fire but my reply most often said I'll take a look and get back to you. After I hung up I'd go get a coffee and flirt with the girls in the call center.

I'm certainly enjoying retirement and making fun of people on a silly forum :)

Interesting.
If sitting in Dallas while asking about an icy parking lot in NH makes one a jackass then what can you say about someone sitting in Florida while telling someone that it snows in NH and to just suck it up? But at least the answer was in writing in case it needs to be referenced in the future.

Customer service is a tightrope walk, if both parties could see it from the other guys perspective the disagreements would be fewer and further between. That said the customer is right, if he's made to feel he is not right eventually he will find a provider that thinks he is.

I don't know if I am an exception, but I have greatly reduced the number of meals that I eat in restaurants because of mediocre food and service and higher prices.

It might not be a gross over exaggeration. I knew a fellow many years ago. It seemed as if he was the born loser. If anyone in the restaurant was going to get their order wrong, their food spilled in their lap, or any other possible kind of problem, it was him. He seemed to be truly cursed. He seemed a human lightening rod for all sorts of unfortunate things. Thank goodness he was gifted with a great sense of humor and never got visibly angry.
Just saying one person's experiences may be vastly different than someone else's.

Meant as a light hearted comment I know, but honestly, way too many can't write, can't read, can't spell or make change, but by far the most disturbing is the number who can NOT concentrate even when looking directly at someone ? Don't know the root of that, too use to ear buds ? I have noticed way too many people who do, as someone else commented, look directly at you, take an order or, "seem" to listen to a request, or question about an item you are considering purchasing, and then ASK YOU the very same thing, it is concerning that so many appear to listen but nothing "registers". At a recent fast food visit, I very clearly ordered a plain chicken sandwich, which my understand has always been that would mean no condiments, sauces, etc. Took the order and then asked if I wanted anything on the sandwich... apparently I was wrong to use "plain", out dated term. Should have spoken clearly, NOTHING on the sandwich please ? Or,LOL, would that have indicated I did not want the chicken on the "sandwich" ? This whole "new speak" has us old folks confused... LOL !