I had to work today, which was fine with me. Now if my work place had been Hell Whole, well, maybe I would have minded a little bit. But that's neither here nor there. I'm still in the rowdy food business and no matter where you go, the guests are sometimes difficult to deal with, especially when they perceive themselves as having a problem.
Case in point # 1. A guest calls out the manager. Not me but I had a ring side seat. Isn't it nice to sit back and see how someone has to deal with the problem, er, guest? Here's the dialogue!
Manager: "You have a problem, m'am?"
Guest: "Yes, I do. The food and service at your eatery are going downhill. I eat here a lot and have noticed the decline. I bought Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup the other day and a piece of the chicken was burnt. Today I asked to have my burger cooked with some pink in it, and they cooked it well done. Well? And when I returned it the team member wanted to know what was 'wrong with it?' It's none of their business."
Manager: "I'm sorry, blah, blah, blah. You don't have to pay for it, yadi, yadi, yadi. Here's the number to the Manager, the General Manager, the Asst. General Manager, the Corporate Chef, the Owner, the Stockholders, the Trash Collector, yadi, yadi, yadi."
Afterwards, I told the manager she may have gone too far with the number's, hindsight being 20/20. While I'm watching this-having been there so many times myself- I wanted to tell the guest [ ? ] to "Shut the Fuck Up." There's people dying in storm-ravaged New Orleans. Thousands have no homes, belongings, water, food, shelter, etc. and you're worrying about some burnt chicken and a well-done burger. The guest used the classic complainer's line: "I'm in customer service, too, so I know [ what the fuck ] I'm talking about." Sure you do. And if I were a betting man, I would bet your service is lousy as hell.
Case in point two: A customer purchases some food, and the team member hands him some change and a ten dollar bill. A perfect tiny square [ maybe 1/128 of an inch ] in the bottom left hand corner was missing. The guest wanted another bill. I couldn't open the drawer w/o a sale, so I told Susie to find the supervisor who could. I looked in my wallet to see if I had a ten but only had twenties.
Guest: "I didn't know it was going to cause so much confusion," as he was becoming visibly annoyed. The supe finally came, opened the drawer, and removed a ten dollar bill that was perfect. And the guest went on his way.
I wanted to say: "Shmuck, there are people who have been through an ordeal this week that you and I may never encounter. So, please shut the fuck up and get your banal/anal ass outta here."
Hopefully, the two aforementioned people will read this foray and will take my advice: "And shut the fuck up!" But it's very doubtful.
1 comment:
Don't hold back, Cat. Tell us how you really feel.
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