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Possible self sighting?
Hello chaps,
I'm not sure if I handled this the best way or not?
Went for a catch up last night with one of my lovely friends, and we went to a restaurant that we have been to before, a chain restaurant that is normally fine - food is mainly pasta/pizza etc, but last night was a less than stellar experience.
It started when we first got there. The front of the place is large glass windows, and we walked up and stood outside the largest window while my friend was finishing her cigarette, and my friend found out she'd stood too near the window when she realised she'd gotten black paint on the back of her leg. We looked around to see there was a 'Wet Paint' sign, but it was in the doorway that was set back from the main window - and as we'd walked up from the opposite side, and didn't want to stand right in the doorway (which would have blocked it off, as it's a single door rather than a big double fronted job) while she was smoking, we hadn't seen it. I went inside and explained what happened to the 'greeter', and she gasped and said 'Oh! Let me go and get you a napkin!'. She then handed me a dry napkin and I went back outside and managed to get the paint mostly off. Luckily my friend was wearing a skirt, so none of her clothes were ruined.
We went back inside where another lady came to greet us (the other greeter off somewhere taking people to a table). My friend said that she'd just got paint on her leg, and before she could finish, the lady said 'Oh, well there are some signs, sort of, dotted about...' But we said actually, the sign was in the doorway - which you can't see from the front of the restaurant. She then said 'Oh well we'll make sure we get some more put up tomorrow.'
The other greeter came back and sat us in a corner of the restaurant, we ordered drinks, food, decided to carry on with our evening (after all, luckily the paint had come off - nothing was ruined, except perhaps our pride when we got odd looks from being stood outside, me crouched down behind her rubbing furiously at her calf with a tissue!)
I ordered a mushroom risotto for my main, and when it came it looked....less than appetising, to say the least. In fact my friend laughed when she saw my face, and looked at the food and said she thought it looked like something out of a bushtucker trial. (For none UK based persons unfamiliar with the TV show 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! - you might imagine something out of Fear Factor - basically, something you'd have to be dared to eat) I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, but it was very gloopy, and I kept finding big clumps of risotto rice. It was just generally not great, and I didn't eat a lot of it.
Even though the restaurant was not very busy, there was a large group sat near to us, and our waitress seemed pretty occupied with them - no one came to check on us to see if everything was ok with our meals, and where we were sitting was out of the main flow of the restaurant, so we couldn't really flag anyone down.
When the waitress came to collect our plates, she asked if everything was ok and I said that I didn't actually enjoy the food as much as I'd hoped. I was polite about it, after all - it wasn't her fault it wasn't great. She said she was sorry about that, asked what in particular what was wrong with it - taste, temperature etc - I explained that it was very gloopy and pointed out the lumps and she said she'd go and show a manager. She came back a few minutes later and said that the manager had said 'it could have been better' because it 'hadn't been stirred up properly' and wanted to take off one of our starters as a gesture. The starter she took off was my friends starter - not mine, which was the more expensive of the two.
We'd been here nearly an hour and a half by this time, so I just wanted to get out of there. I assumed (I know, 'ass out of u and me
) that because we'd declined the dessert menu, and agreed to take one of the starters off, that she'd go and get the bill. 15 minutes later, still waiting - I went and found her and asked her for the bill.
They sent another girl over with it - I'm not sure why that was, unless our original waitress was busy or on a break - I didn't see where she went.
At no point was I rude or shouty with anyone, but I have been told that sometimes my face gives away exactly what I'm thinking, and can be worth a thousand words
My self sighting comes in where I wonder if I should have asked to speak to a manager there and then - or was I right to fill out the customer survey online after the fact, because the manager had made no effort at all to come over when she knew we'd already complained? When the waitress came back to say that the manager had said she would take off a starter, it would have gone a long way with me that she'd taken those 2 minutes to come over herself and just check we were ok with that.
I suppose I'm just asking if I was expecting too much or was too passive/aggressive
I'm not sure if I handled this the best way or not?
Went for a catch up last night with one of my lovely friends, and we went to a restaurant that we have been to before, a chain restaurant that is normally fine - food is mainly pasta/pizza etc, but last night was a less than stellar experience.
It started when we first got there. The front of the place is large glass windows, and we walked up and stood outside the largest window while my friend was finishing her cigarette, and my friend found out she'd stood too near the window when she realised she'd gotten black paint on the back of her leg. We looked around to see there was a 'Wet Paint' sign, but it was in the doorway that was set back from the main window - and as we'd walked up from the opposite side, and didn't want to stand right in the doorway (which would have blocked it off, as it's a single door rather than a big double fronted job) while she was smoking, we hadn't seen it. I went inside and explained what happened to the 'greeter', and she gasped and said 'Oh! Let me go and get you a napkin!'. She then handed me a dry napkin and I went back outside and managed to get the paint mostly off. Luckily my friend was wearing a skirt, so none of her clothes were ruined.
We went back inside where another lady came to greet us (the other greeter off somewhere taking people to a table). My friend said that she'd just got paint on her leg, and before she could finish, the lady said 'Oh, well there are some signs, sort of, dotted about...' But we said actually, the sign was in the doorway - which you can't see from the front of the restaurant. She then said 'Oh well we'll make sure we get some more put up tomorrow.'
The other greeter came back and sat us in a corner of the restaurant, we ordered drinks, food, decided to carry on with our evening (after all, luckily the paint had come off - nothing was ruined, except perhaps our pride when we got odd looks from being stood outside, me crouched down behind her rubbing furiously at her calf with a tissue!)
I ordered a mushroom risotto for my main, and when it came it looked....less than appetising, to say the least. In fact my friend laughed when she saw my face, and looked at the food and said she thought it looked like something out of a bushtucker trial. (For none UK based persons unfamiliar with the TV show 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! - you might imagine something out of Fear Factor - basically, something you'd have to be dared to eat) I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, but it was very gloopy, and I kept finding big clumps of risotto rice. It was just generally not great, and I didn't eat a lot of it.
Even though the restaurant was not very busy, there was a large group sat near to us, and our waitress seemed pretty occupied with them - no one came to check on us to see if everything was ok with our meals, and where we were sitting was out of the main flow of the restaurant, so we couldn't really flag anyone down.
When the waitress came to collect our plates, she asked if everything was ok and I said that I didn't actually enjoy the food as much as I'd hoped. I was polite about it, after all - it wasn't her fault it wasn't great. She said she was sorry about that, asked what in particular what was wrong with it - taste, temperature etc - I explained that it was very gloopy and pointed out the lumps and she said she'd go and show a manager. She came back a few minutes later and said that the manager had said 'it could have been better' because it 'hadn't been stirred up properly' and wanted to take off one of our starters as a gesture. The starter she took off was my friends starter - not mine, which was the more expensive of the two.
We'd been here nearly an hour and a half by this time, so I just wanted to get out of there. I assumed (I know, 'ass out of u and me
) that because we'd declined the dessert menu, and agreed to take one of the starters off, that she'd go and get the bill. 15 minutes later, still waiting - I went and found her and asked her for the bill.They sent another girl over with it - I'm not sure why that was, unless our original waitress was busy or on a break - I didn't see where she went.
At no point was I rude or shouty with anyone, but I have been told that sometimes my face gives away exactly what I'm thinking, and can be worth a thousand words
My self sighting comes in where I wonder if I should have asked to speak to a manager there and then - or was I right to fill out the customer survey online after the fact, because the manager had made no effort at all to come over when she knew we'd already complained? When the waitress came back to say that the manager had said she would take off a starter, it would have gone a long way with me that she'd taken those 2 minutes to come over herself and just check we were ok with that.
I suppose I'm just asking if I was expecting too much or was too passive/aggressive
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