This Applebee's is asking for trouble

[greensinestro]

I ate at the Applebee's with my family and in-laws last weekend in Delray Beach, near King's Point and Century Village. Now, for those who need a refresher, these two places are retirement communities. The majority of the business Applebee's gets are these people who do nothing but come in and cause trouble.

On our table, there was a sign that said "Today's margarita. If your waiter does not mention today's margarita, please have our manager paged for a free order of mozarella sticks".

Now, in truth, our waiter actually did not mention it, but I noticed this halfway into our appetizers and had said something to my wife about it. We decided not to say anything being we were afraid we would not want to eat our main meals.

We wonder how many times a day Applebee's deals with this dilemma. With the trouble many of these retirees with buttloads of money cause, there's a pretty good chance at least fifty or more times a day this Applebee's gives away free cheese sticks.

Why would a restaurant near these two places want to open the door to trouble from the rich seniors who drove up in their shiny new expensive luxury cars by offering something like this?

[Aisling]

It's probably a corporate decision, made without consideration to how much money it'll cost the company/franchisees (I dunno if this chain is franchised?).

[EvilEmpryss]

You could have done the server a favor and quietly let him/her know about the lapse. I'm sure they probably get reamed daily over the number of times they forget.

And yeah, it's probably a corporate decision. Some dimwit may have thought that giving away the free cheesesticks would be balanced out by all the people who wouldn't normally have tried them and will now buy them the next time they visit. "Corporate" always seems to underestimate the number of SCs that are out there.

My question would be how many times do customers tell a manager that the server didn't mention the drink special when the server actually did, just because the SCs are trying to scam free 'sticks.

[Greenday]

I thought this was at every Applebees. At least, I've seen it at everyone one I've been to.

And yes, I did score free apps once. The life of a starving college student is a rough one.

[surreal20]

I don't know about Applebees, but when I worked at Red LObster, we had a whole speal we had to go through when serving.

And every week, a manager would watch you do this speal to a table and then access how you did it. Sometimes it would be simple and you'd have done it right. Other times, ppl would get in real trouble over it.

The main reason we do the speal if bc it's been done through extensive research that if you State you name, tell them that you are going to serve them and make it as pleasant as you can, and explain to them what kind of featured menu items there are, the ppl will:

A.) Buy something they have never tried before and like it
B.) Think that their server really knows their stuff and like their experience
C.) Give a good tip because they were made to feel special.

And yes, sometimes we do make mistakes, but all in all that procedure has REALLY worked well for Red LObster.

So if, let's say, Red Lobster does a deal that if we don't explain to you our fresh fish menu or tell you about the special prep on our menu, you get a free drink/dessert/ or $5 off gift card, you bet your bottom dollar we will have more and more ppl trying to scam us. HOWEVER, our management would also be out there watching our employees doing their speal more and more.

It really depends on the company. I know Red Lobster has had it's fair share of SC's but I also have faith in the company that they anticipate said SC and do their best to try to stop them in their tracks.

[joe hx]

What if the customers are not of legal drinking age... Or if they explicitly ask for today's margaritas before they waiter has a chance to mention them?

[roothorick]

"Corporate" always seems to underestimate the number of SCs that are out there.

"underestimate" isn't the word I would use. "Ignore" is likely closer to the truth.

[greensinestro]

My feeling is some restaurants will eventually have two waiters at the table taking the orders, although I'm sure they wouldn't find that too economically feasible. They probably do not have enough manpower for that either, but then again, how much dough are they losing each day by giving away free stuff? Seems like two waiters is better than the "it's your word against mine rule".

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Urg.
I'm loath to trust people not to lie-- but maybe managers have spines/ believe their servers, and quite possibly, motz. sticks aren't that expensive?
Lol, yeah, still effects the $$ at the end of the day.
Eh! Corporate will either understand or the company will collapse. Tough cookies, I guess.
Poor workers.
EDIT: like Greensinestro said, i guess.

[Racket_Man]

that is almost as bad as the new Dominos Pizza promo. "IF" (alledgely) you get a "bad" or "wrong" or "weird" or "damaged" pizza just take a picture and send it to their Corp e-mail. you can see what that is going to lead to

the answer to world hunger ---->FREE PIZZA TO ALL PEOPLE IN WORLD (scammer style)

[blas]

OMG Racketman, I saw that commercial recently and just had pictures in my head of people and what they'd do for a free pizza.

This vampire can hardly tolerate that pizza anymore, since you guys are so heavy on the garlic

[greensinestro]

I have not seen that commercial, but I've read enough posts from those who have worked for pizza delivery places to last a lifetime. They seem to get the brunt of horrible and dishonest SC's.

[Racket_Man]

This vampire can hardly tolerate that pizza anymore, since you guys are so heavy on the garlic

do not blame me as I do NOT (nor would I even consider working for) work for Domiho's