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This should probably go under "Praising customers and good service," but I'm more focused on the observation than on the kudos themselves, because it made me question how far down we, as a society, have slipped in terms of basic decency.
I was at an Uno's yesterday, and, since I like to try new things if they don't look like they'll poison me immediately, I decided to try one of their specials. The pizza was revelatory, so I called over the server to ask if she could give a comment card so I could cast my vote to have it added to the regular menu.
She actually seemed shocked by the request - you could see that half-second before she realized that her service, food, and restaurant were about to receive a compliment, where she was just trying to parse what had just happened...
A few minutes later she returned with the MANAGER in tow, who was himself beaming like the rising moon, and I told him that I thought the pizza was incredible and that I wanted to send a comment card to ask that it be put on the regular menu. Now, the restaurant didn't actually have comment cards, but he steered me towards the spot on the website where I could make my comment. (Later that night, I did.) The manager actually started BABBLING. It was kind of weird.
On the way home, I realized that this restaurant probably didn't receive that many compliments. Then I realized that a LOT of restaurants probably don't receive that many compliments. I could guess, from what I'd read here, that earlier that week he'd had to comp at least a dozen meals, six from scammers who were sticking their own hair in the food or eating the whole thing and complaining that it had maggots all over it or something. And that might be true of any mid-range family restaurant.
In fact, they'd probably gotten rid of the comment cards company-wide to prevent having to dole them out to irate customers looking to scam free coupons or something. "Go home and use the comment section on our website" probably cuts down on rash or undeserved complaints quite a lot.
As veterans of the service industry, often the highest compliment we're paid is when our customers go away quietly. My roommate and I both drew the conclusion that maybe the good places should get more than just our money - they should get our respect, too. We're a society that's not afraid to bitch, and we shouldn't be, but when simple positive reinforcement knocks people completely off the rails, maybe we should try to balance things out.
Maybe not in every situation; I worked at a crappy restaurant serving crappy food, so the highest compliment I ever received was when the customers didn't actually throw things at me...
I was at an Uno's yesterday, and, since I like to try new things if they don't look like they'll poison me immediately, I decided to try one of their specials. The pizza was revelatory, so I called over the server to ask if she could give a comment card so I could cast my vote to have it added to the regular menu.
She actually seemed shocked by the request - you could see that half-second before she realized that her service, food, and restaurant were about to receive a compliment, where she was just trying to parse what had just happened...
A few minutes later she returned with the MANAGER in tow, who was himself beaming like the rising moon, and I told him that I thought the pizza was incredible and that I wanted to send a comment card to ask that it be put on the regular menu. Now, the restaurant didn't actually have comment cards, but he steered me towards the spot on the website where I could make my comment. (Later that night, I did.) The manager actually started BABBLING. It was kind of weird.
On the way home, I realized that this restaurant probably didn't receive that many compliments. Then I realized that a LOT of restaurants probably don't receive that many compliments. I could guess, from what I'd read here, that earlier that week he'd had to comp at least a dozen meals, six from scammers who were sticking their own hair in the food or eating the whole thing and complaining that it had maggots all over it or something. And that might be true of any mid-range family restaurant.
In fact, they'd probably gotten rid of the comment cards company-wide to prevent having to dole them out to irate customers looking to scam free coupons or something. "Go home and use the comment section on our website" probably cuts down on rash or undeserved complaints quite a lot.
As veterans of the service industry, often the highest compliment we're paid is when our customers go away quietly. My roommate and I both drew the conclusion that maybe the good places should get more than just our money - they should get our respect, too. We're a society that's not afraid to bitch, and we shouldn't be, but when simple positive reinforcement knocks people completely off the rails, maybe we should try to balance things out.
Maybe not in every situation; I worked at a crappy restaurant serving crappy food, so the highest compliment I ever received was when the customers didn't actually throw things at me...
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