Giggle Goose
01-31-2009, 08:46 PM
This could go in Sightings as well, but since it has a lot of my personal thoughts I just put it here in OT (mods, sorry if I was wrong)!
Last night brought to mind a thread that someone started recently (I forget where) about whether or not customer service was going down the crapper. I would like to think not, but after my experience last night and today I'm thinking I might reconsider!
First of all, not a lot of people are out spending money these days. But my mom, sister, good friend, and myself decided to buy tickets to see the Gin Blossoms (from Arizona, word to Jester)! because we really needed to have some fun. It's a big deal for us to go out like that because we usually don't have a lot of money to spend, and we don't go out unless we can afford to leave a good tip. I know this because my friend and I both worked (she still does at her SECOND job) in the restaurant industry, as did my mom.
So we made dinner reservations at the tavern that GB were playing at, and the waitress just asked us what we wanted to drink, no "Hi, how are ya" no nothin.' After waiting what seemed like forever to get them, we had to call her back to order an appetizer because she immediately ran away from the table after she plopped the drinks down. The appetizers came fast, and we cut her some slack because it was kind of busy. But while other servers were hustling around, she just kinda moved slow and rolled her eyes a lot. After we put our order in, it took forever to come out. Instead of coming out and explaining that the kitchen was backed up, offering us more drinks (sitting empty), etc., she just avoided eye contact and glanced over at us from afar. When the food finally came it was cold, and my friend never got her salad or the jalepenos that she requested as a side. But by this time we had to get going to see the show, so we just waited forever for her to come back with the check, not finishing the food because it was cold and gross. We let the manager know in a polite way, and we got a discount off of the check. But seriously, I wasn't fishing for a discount, although it was nice. I just wanted them to say they were sorry and would do their best to do better in the future, but I guess they just assumed we wanted free shit like everyone else, right? We left her $20 off the $80 check and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the most she made that night.
Since we were still hungry when we got our table in the concert area, we ordered appetizers, but those never came and we found out when we got the check they were never put in. I think we only saw the waiter when he brought our drinks and check. We didn't really want to talk to the manager again since we considered it a lost cause; but I'll still give them a chance.
So today my friend and I decide to go out to lunch at a place in the mall before she has to work tonight. This was also a bit of an upscale place, so we were hoping to have a better experience. Sadly, no. It was crowded and we sat at the bar. The service was slow and people around us were getting our food before we did. I think the waitress messed up, but she at least apologized.
Seriously, what is wrong, people? I know servers might be a bit depressed and pissed off that MANY customers are being cheap, but that's no excuse to give bad service to EVERYONE. We weren't expecting anyone to kiss our butts, just semi-friendly service at a reasonable pace. Even if mistakes were made, we were understanding if they would simply apologize and do what they could to fix the problem in a timely fashion. It just burns me up because I live off of cheap fruit, soup, and PB&J most of the time trying to get my bills paid, and I get treated like a generic bad tipper if go out once in a month (if that)!
Am I just being a bitch? Or do you think maybe this was a series of bad coincidences? I'd love to hear from my fellow CSers.
Last night brought to mind a thread that someone started recently (I forget where) about whether or not customer service was going down the crapper. I would like to think not, but after my experience last night and today I'm thinking I might reconsider!
First of all, not a lot of people are out spending money these days. But my mom, sister, good friend, and myself decided to buy tickets to see the Gin Blossoms (from Arizona, word to Jester)! because we really needed to have some fun. It's a big deal for us to go out like that because we usually don't have a lot of money to spend, and we don't go out unless we can afford to leave a good tip. I know this because my friend and I both worked (she still does at her SECOND job) in the restaurant industry, as did my mom.
So we made dinner reservations at the tavern that GB were playing at, and the waitress just asked us what we wanted to drink, no "Hi, how are ya" no nothin.' After waiting what seemed like forever to get them, we had to call her back to order an appetizer because she immediately ran away from the table after she plopped the drinks down. The appetizers came fast, and we cut her some slack because it was kind of busy. But while other servers were hustling around, she just kinda moved slow and rolled her eyes a lot. After we put our order in, it took forever to come out. Instead of coming out and explaining that the kitchen was backed up, offering us more drinks (sitting empty), etc., she just avoided eye contact and glanced over at us from afar. When the food finally came it was cold, and my friend never got her salad or the jalepenos that she requested as a side. But by this time we had to get going to see the show, so we just waited forever for her to come back with the check, not finishing the food because it was cold and gross. We let the manager know in a polite way, and we got a discount off of the check. But seriously, I wasn't fishing for a discount, although it was nice. I just wanted them to say they were sorry and would do their best to do better in the future, but I guess they just assumed we wanted free shit like everyone else, right? We left her $20 off the $80 check and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the most she made that night.
Since we were still hungry when we got our table in the concert area, we ordered appetizers, but those never came and we found out when we got the check they were never put in. I think we only saw the waiter when he brought our drinks and check. We didn't really want to talk to the manager again since we considered it a lost cause; but I'll still give them a chance.
So today my friend and I decide to go out to lunch at a place in the mall before she has to work tonight. This was also a bit of an upscale place, so we were hoping to have a better experience. Sadly, no. It was crowded and we sat at the bar. The service was slow and people around us were getting our food before we did. I think the waitress messed up, but she at least apologized.
Seriously, what is wrong, people? I know servers might be a bit depressed and pissed off that MANY customers are being cheap, but that's no excuse to give bad service to EVERYONE. We weren't expecting anyone to kiss our butts, just semi-friendly service at a reasonable pace. Even if mistakes were made, we were understanding if they would simply apologize and do what they could to fix the problem in a timely fashion. It just burns me up because I live off of cheap fruit, soup, and PB&J most of the time trying to get my bills paid, and I get treated like a generic bad tipper if go out once in a month (if that)!
Am I just being a bitch? Or do you think maybe this was a series of bad coincidences? I'd love to hear from my fellow CSers.