Craptastic Day at Arby's.

[repsac]

Ok, not a day; just a minor incident. This happened at my local arby's, and yes, I did complain to corporate about it since management wasn't willing to do anything.

Let me first give you a bit of background on my local Arby's. The resturant is clean, for the most part. Sure, it could be cleaner, but a nice C rating (health dept) never hurt anyone. The women that work there rather enjoy gossiping, and attitude wise have this very care free way of looking at things. Meaning that they freely care less about the customers. Management is good friends with them though, so they needn't worry about being fired. Again, getting past all that, I still eat there for the food.

The other day, I was in the drive through and opted to order a number one with no soda. Ninety nine times out of one hundred, they figure out this means just charge me for the sandwich and fries. This was the one time:


SAE=sucky arby's employee
R=well, me

SAE=Thank you for choosing arby's, may I have your order?
R= Yeah, uh...I'll take a...I'll take a number one, no drink.
SAE=Are you sure? (her voice sounded annoyed here)
R = Yes. I'm sure. Number one, no drink.
SAE= You want a....number one without the drink?
R = Yeah, you know just charge for a sandwich and fries.
SAE=(In a very snarky tone) WELL, you don't want a Number one then DO YOU?
R= Whatever.

Driving to the drive through, I sit and wait a bit before the girl finally leans out the window. Giving me this big yellow toothed smile she says quickly (and without any sincerity) I uh, wasn't trying to sound smart there." My only response was a soft "Sure you weren't." I didn't raise my voice, didn't say anything offensive, just that one comment. I did notice one of the girls in the back behind her that had a rather horrified look on her face. Either she knew a complaint was coming, or someone else in the store (DM Probably) heard that little exchange.

Either way, I took the girl's name from her tag, and when I reported the incident today I made sure to send that along. Maybe they'll have a chat with her about her tone of voice.

[Broomjockey]

Well, apart from tone, hardly sucky. Though tone creates a huge level of suck. But I missed where you tried talking to management first.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Never mind the suckiness. What are you doing eating at a place with a "C" rating?!

[MrSunshineState]

I also fail to see where you attempted to speak with management. Doesn't seem like they were too sucky. Maybe a little bit, but from what I read it doesn't look bad. Especially since the person semi apologized by saying she wasn't meaning to sound smart. It's entirely possible that she was trying to crack a joke and when she saw you didn't pick up on it she made an attempt at an apology.

Not trying to start anything, but it seems like you were determined to make a complaint. Especially since you made that crack about her appearance in your post.

[repsac]

I decided after reading a few things, to head in and talk with her manager. Unfortunately, that isn't happening. Apparently she is the manager. Now, I don't feel bad about writing their DM.

[Broomjockey]

o_O

Yeah, it's always bad when it's the manager pulling stuff like that. My "favourite" experience was when a McD's manager gave me a medium fries when I asked for large because they "don't have large, only small, medium, and extra-large."

[georgiab]

Then just order the sandwich and fries...I mean save ya the trouble of explaining over and over that ya do not want a drink.

[blueantoidgirl]

At Wendy's, the menu shows two prices with the meals, a small combo and sandwich only (not counting the chicken nuggets for some reason). Naturally, I'd rather just ask for a number 4, sandwich only instead of a Baconator. I hate the weird name and I get embarassed saying it.

Usually it's not a problem, but they've had a lot of new people come in lately and it screws them up when I say that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who asks for food that way, but they still get all freaked out when they push the wrong button.

[Boozy]

Naturally, I'd rather just ask for a number 4, sandwich only instead of a Baconator. I hate the weird name and I get embarassed saying it.

Agreed. I'll stop using the "Combo/no drink" format of ordering when fast food restaurants stop giving their sandwiches completely ridiculous names.

I've actually never had any problems with employees knowing what I mean.

[Listerfiend]

Honestly I think that it wasn't appropriate to make a complaint. From reading the post it sounds like you've overreacted, and especially since she apologized anyway. I mean, yeah, it was stupid of her to not be able to figure out what it was that you meant, but it was hardly worth whining about it.

But then again, I wasn't there.

[CancelMyService]

On the bright side, at least you weren't treated to a drunk vomiting in the corner like my personal favorite Arby's experience.

[iradney]

Honestly I think that it wasn't appropriate to make a complaint. From reading the post it sounds like you've overreacted, and especially since she apologized anyway. I mean, yeah, it was stupid of her to not be able to figure out what it was that you meant, but it was hardly worth whining about it.

But then again, I wasn't there.

I respectfully disagree. If she had said

SAE=(In a very snarky tone) WELL, you don't want a Number one then DO YOU?

without the snark, maybe even jokily, then it wouldn't have been too sucky.
But when you're in customer service, you need to be at the very least polite to your customers.
I don't see any indication that repsac was disrespectful or suck towards her. He simply requested a meal without a drink. It is not that hard, nor is it sucky. If he had requested a meal and then substituted everything in it, like so:

I'd like a Number 4, except I'd like a milk instead of soda, coleslaw instead of fries and duck l'orange instead of a sandich

then it would've been sucky.

An insincere apology is not an apology. It's lip service. It's window decoration. So, IMNSHO, that half-assed apology offered by the server doesn't count for much. She knew she stuffed up and wanted to make sure she wouldn't get in trouble for it. But she didn't feel bad coz she treated repsac the way she did, she felt bad because she'll get in trouble.


Quite frankly, repsac did nothing to warrant the bitchiness of the server. And yes, the server WAS bitchy. If it had happened to me, I would have complained too.

[matty]

Ah, combos! At the cinema I usually go to, I often ordered a regular popcorn and a bottle of water (yes, I know, it's kind of stupid buying a bottle of something that's free from the tap, but anyways). Recently, they gave a "name" to this order, calling it a "lifestyle combo", which I felt a bit silly saying the first couple of times: Come on, people, just because your popcorn is paired with a bottle of water, that does not make it "lifestyle" or "healthy"

[otakuneko]

It's a silly way to order, but that doesn't mean they have to be sucky about it.

[marty]

I can't go to my local Arbys anymore because I can't stand the service. After two sucky incidents in a row...the first with the food tasting like crap, complete withe the fries scraped freshly from the bottom of the fryer...than the second time in the drive-thru, having half my order taken, told to hold on, then no one ever came back. As I was driving away with no food, I saw someone standing at the window chatting on her cell phone and laughing. The bad food I'll let go, but that...

So I called and complained, got called back saying they would add me to the in-restaurant customer complaint list for a free meal...a free meal I'll never redeem. Once you say, "I'm on your customer complaint list, I want my free meal," you're not gaurunteed anything edible...