Stupid El Chico Occurance

[kerrisan]

After last night I'm wondering . . . how does El Chico train their servers?

My friends and I went to El Chico last night for an "end of the semester" dinner. Everything went fine from being seated to getting our drinks. But the waiter just didn't cut it the rest of the time.

***My friend C ordered a baked potato with fajita meat. The waiter had to come back 3 times to get her order right. First:
W: "I'm sorry ma'am, what was it you ordered? The fajitas, right?"
C: (All of us thinking "Baked potato=$5. Fajitas=over $10. Big difference!") "Umm, no . . . I wanted the fajita baked potato."
W:"Oh, ok, sorry."

Second:
W:"Sorry, ma'am, did you want beef or chicken on that potato?"
C: "Beef, please."
W: "Ok, sorry."

Third:
W: "Sorry, ma'am, did you want the regular or spicy cheese?"
C: "Regular."
W: "Ok, sorry."

***I had ordered the taco dinner with the puffy beef taco. When our food was brought out, I had rice, beans, and a puffy corn shell. EMPTY. I picked it up and shook it just to make sure (I'd never ordered it before so I didn't know) and sure enough . . . empty.

W: is there something wrong, ma'am?"
K: ". . . . yes, my taco is empty."
W: "Oh, well, you said you didn't want any cheese . . ."
K: " I'm sorry, but never said anything about not wanting cheese. I order the beef and cheese taco."
W: "Oh, sorry."

***It took absolutely forever (I didn't time it, but I've been to El Chico before and know how long it should take, and they weren't busy) for the guy to come and ask how we wanted our bill split (our plates were empty; it was obvious that we had been done for a while). Then it took another "forever" for him to actually bring the checks. We had all forgotten that we pay up front (a booboo on our part ), but then it took a 3rd and final "forever" to bring my change and my other friend B's check card back.

I was the only one who tipped (waiters get like $2.50/hr; they need tips!), but I also left him a note saying that it would be beneficial to work on his timing. Yes, I was that polite because . . .

-maybe he was training and just wasn't in the swing of things yet? But if he's training, shouldn't he have a mentor with him at all times?

-maybe it was his first day on his own. But if so . . . he needs more training.


Either way something was wrong. So how does El Chico train? Is it El Chico's fault for the crappy service or was this guy just having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? (A cookie to the first person to get the reference!)