Restaurant failure...

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Yesterday my wife and I decided to treat ourselves to a good dinner in a proper restaurant (instead than going with fast food or PizzaPlace all the time). Bad choice, though. I will not complain about having to wait REALLY long, as I know it can happen. But I had ordered a certain main dish (a risotto with mushrooms) with grilled vegetables as a side, and I was served a chicken risotto (which I got exchanged) and no side... and the waitress had a seriously unpleasant case of body odour, which is not nice when you are eating... and was not too nice, in general (maybe because we only drunk a Coke each and my wife only had a starter and a side?).
Still, not happy.
I didn't complain but I'm not planning to go back - even though the risotto was quite ok.
(expected question: was *I* sucky?)

[bainsidhe]

You weren't sucky, but why didn't you complain? An honest complaint is the best kind because without it, the restaurant will never know you're unhappy and won't be able to improve your experience. A corrective action can do wonders to make you feel better about the restaurant and ensure you return, instead of silently stewing about an unpleasant experience.

This board is a wonderful catch-all for many types of suck. At the same time, it's both interesting and sad how we're are programed to think that we're sucky for expressing a valid complaint. Those of us here know what it's like to be on the receiving end of a sucky customer. Suckiness involves attitude, tone and unrealistic expectations, none of which you displayed.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Oright, thanks for the validation... I did point out that I hadn't received my side, but the man who was ringing my bill (also a waiter I'm afraid) only double-checked that I was not billed for it...

[chainedbarista]

no, you weren't sucky by any means; the waitress was, however. there's also the hygiene issue; i realise that eating certain foods can leave a person with an odor about them (usually, temporary) but in the case of real body odor, that may be a health reg issue.

you had every right to complain about the lackluster service and wrong order.

[EvilEmpryss]

You were not sucky. It is important that a valid complaint in polite terms is made so that things can improve. The other day I took the family to a steak house for lunch. As we were eating my 11 year old daughter found a hair on her steak that was definitely not from her blonde head. She mentioned it in a bit of an "eeew" tone, flicked it off the plate, and then proceeded to finish her steak. I waved out waitress down to let her know about it (quietly, and with a suggestion that the cooks might need to fix their hair nets or step outside and give their hair a good shake so no one else would find one in their food). She immediately offered to comp my daughter's food, but we told her it was no big deal. We only said something so it wouldn't happen to another diner.

Then the manager came over, apologetic for the unexpected addition to the meal. He also told us he'd be happy to comp out daughter's meal or provide us with desserts or something, but we reiterated that it wasn't necessary. These things happen when real people are working over food. No big deal. When the check came the waitress told us that the manager had comped the meal anyway, since he didn't believe that it was right even though our daughter wasn't bothered by it and ate her entire meal! I just made sure to tip the waitress based on the total bill if the fourth meal had still been on there. I think neither the waitress nor the manager could believe that we weren't going to put up a fuss and insist on the discount... at the top of out lungs so that all the other diners could hear about it.

[greek_jester]

I think neither the waitress nor the manager could believe that we weren't going to put up a fuss and insist on the discount... at the top of out lungs so that all the other diners could hear about it.

Accidents happen, & you did the reasonable thing. Maybe things would have swung differently if the waitress/manager had been sucky, but everyone involved acted like reasonable adults. What a nice change!

In the town we used to live in, we'd been going to the same Chinese take-away since before I was born. I used to chat to the daughter when we went in to pick it up, so they knew us well.

One day I had a foo-yung dish, & discovered a house-fly underneath the foo-yung. Wasn't part of it - obviously the fly had just settled in there while the chef's back was turned to grab the pan to dump the food in. Rather nauseating, but easily done - the containers were deep foil trays, so you couldn't see unless you were right over them.

All we did was quietly mention it the next time we went in so that the chef would know to glance in the box before dishing up. They offered to refund the dish, but we refused. A few weeks later when we had another take-away, we got home to discover a whole duck's worth of crispy Peking duck that we hadn't ordered in addition to our meal. We phone up & asked (thinking they'd put the wrong containers in), but it turned out to be a gift from the owner for being decent about the fly thing. Enjoyed it thoroughly, as we couldn't afford the duck under normal circumstances!

[PepperElf]

?... how were you sucky at all?


all you did was have them exchange the meal they gave you for the one your ordered.

that ain't sucky.



as for her smell... you didn't complain to them, so i don't see how you could possibly be called sucky there either.


only suckyness i see is ... THEIR suckyness.
they gave you the wrong food, they didn't give you food you asked for, and they smelled bad.

at least they didn't charge you for the side but... yeah they should have done that properly.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

no, you weren't sucky by any means; the waitress was, however. there's also the hygiene issue; i realise that eating certain foods can leave a person with an odor about them (usually, temporary) but in the case of real body odor, that may be a health reg issue.

Believe me, it was not the smell of somebody who has been eating (or cooking, or carrying around the restaurant) garlic-based dishes. It was body odour. If at least she had used some anti-odorant or deodorant?

[Whiskey]

there's also the hygiene issue;

When I waitressed, I smelled like shit for the last hour of my shift because my deodorant lived its life and died and I ran my ass off all night.