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No interesting stories from my own work so I thought I share a couple of old stories about bad service.
Story One - witnessed
I just witnessed this - and I cannot believe the person directly involved just calmly accepted this. I think I'd have made such a fuss that the place wouldn't have recovered a few months down the line (and I don't think that would be sucky either).
I had forgotten to eat lunch, and began feeling faint in the middle of the afternoon. I'd been wandering around looking at some shops, an exhibition and the river - and I had to have a snack so I ended up grabbing a piece of cake and a coke in a café attached to concert hall / exhibition centre. The sort of place where a pre-wrapped piece of cake was over £3.50
While I am paying for my overpriced cake a woman comes up to try and return a dessert she's bought. A pre-packaged dessert with some fruit and cream and other stuff in a plastic bowl covered by a clear bowl.
Why does she want to return it ?
The thing is filled with little black crawling insects
The customer is very calm and reasonable - and asks only for another dessert (at that point I'd have had my money back - I couldn't have eaten something identical after seeing the crawling thing). The woman behind the counter shrugs, doesn't even meet her eyes, and tells her to dump it on the counter and take another from the fridge.
As I pay up and head to my table the customer comes back. The second one is also crawling. The woman serving gives a big sigh and just pushes money back at her across the counter.
And that's it.
Now I would have wanted my money back first time, and I'd certainly have felt they should have apologised or at least be polite about doing so. I wouldn't have particularly blamed them though - things happen.
Except that they took no action whatsoever to check the other similar items or remove things from sale.
And that's when I would have hit the roof - and probably reported them to environmental health. Maybe I should have done just having witnessed it - but the customer was so eerily calm I thought maybe I was over reacting. Everyone I have told this story to says not.
I have never eaten food there again - though at that price I'm not sure I would have done anyway.
Story Two - when a tip really isn't appropriate
(really - and I'm not anti-tipping)
This is a place I used to go to regularly years ago. I can't remember why I stopped going - but now I think there was a very good reason.
I went to an Indian restaurant with my mother. The food was OK, the service not good but not awful. We finished the meal, got the bill and paid.
The bill clearly included a service charge - otherwise we'd have left a tip (probably less than average, the waiters we're hard to track down but they'd been polite enough when they'd actually served us). The service charge is 15% which is fairly high for the UK - but once it's included on the bill you feel things would have to be very bad indeed before you adjust it down.
They collect the money and we start packing up, and my mother goes to the toilet.
I'm sitting there when they come back with the receipt on a metal dish, with a couple of mints. I take the receipts and the mints (I do save my mothers for her !) and someone comes to collect the dish.
He's older than any of the other waiters and we haven't been served by him at all. He hovers in a really intense way, then he takes the time to explain to me that we could leave a tip on the plate. I explain I know this, but we do not wish to leave a tip in addition to the service charge.
He then tells me I have to leave the table because they have people waiting. I explain I will leave when my mother returns to collect her bags and coat and not before. 1 minute later I have to walk past 3 empty tables to reach the door.
I said to my mother that if I could have taken back the service charge I would have done !
I never intended to go back. However it is in the same street as a restaurant which does a vegatarian Indian buffet every lunch time, and all days on Sunday (but is a bit expensive for proper evening meals the rest of the time). I love that place, and go there at least a couple of times a month. Except that a couple of months ago we went and they were renovating
There's one other place that does buffet on a Sunday - the sucky restaurant.
So we went and had an OK buffet lunch (not as good as the other but not bad, and decent value). Everything is serve yourself except for drinks. We each had a drink. I wanted a second drink but gave up after almost 15 minutes of looking around for a waiter (I decided I'd get a drink elsewhere rather than get up and ask).
We pay up - and get our change back (at the cash desk) on a silver plate on which they have taped on a hand written piece of paper "Service not included".
We didn't take the hint. The nice restaurant is open again and I shall keep away from this one until I once again forget how they upset me.
Victoria J
Story One - witnessed
I just witnessed this - and I cannot believe the person directly involved just calmly accepted this. I think I'd have made such a fuss that the place wouldn't have recovered a few months down the line (and I don't think that would be sucky either).
I had forgotten to eat lunch, and began feeling faint in the middle of the afternoon. I'd been wandering around looking at some shops, an exhibition and the river - and I had to have a snack so I ended up grabbing a piece of cake and a coke in a café attached to concert hall / exhibition centre. The sort of place where a pre-wrapped piece of cake was over £3.50
While I am paying for my overpriced cake a woman comes up to try and return a dessert she's bought. A pre-packaged dessert with some fruit and cream and other stuff in a plastic bowl covered by a clear bowl.
Why does she want to return it ?
The thing is filled with little black crawling insects
The customer is very calm and reasonable - and asks only for another dessert (at that point I'd have had my money back - I couldn't have eaten something identical after seeing the crawling thing). The woman behind the counter shrugs, doesn't even meet her eyes, and tells her to dump it on the counter and take another from the fridge.
As I pay up and head to my table the customer comes back. The second one is also crawling. The woman serving gives a big sigh and just pushes money back at her across the counter.
And that's it.
Now I would have wanted my money back first time, and I'd certainly have felt they should have apologised or at least be polite about doing so. I wouldn't have particularly blamed them though - things happen.Except that they took no action whatsoever to check the other similar items or remove things from sale.
And that's when I would have hit the roof - and probably reported them to environmental health. Maybe I should have done just having witnessed it - but the customer was so eerily calm I thought maybe I was over reacting. Everyone I have told this story to says not.
I have never eaten food there again - though at that price I'm not sure I would have done anyway.
Story Two - when a tip really isn't appropriate
(really - and I'm not anti-tipping)
This is a place I used to go to regularly years ago. I can't remember why I stopped going - but now I think there was a very good reason.
I went to an Indian restaurant with my mother. The food was OK, the service not good but not awful. We finished the meal, got the bill and paid.
The bill clearly included a service charge - otherwise we'd have left a tip (probably less than average, the waiters we're hard to track down but they'd been polite enough when they'd actually served us). The service charge is 15% which is fairly high for the UK - but once it's included on the bill you feel things would have to be very bad indeed before you adjust it down.
They collect the money and we start packing up, and my mother goes to the toilet.
I'm sitting there when they come back with the receipt on a metal dish, with a couple of mints. I take the receipts and the mints (I do save my mothers for her !) and someone comes to collect the dish.
He's older than any of the other waiters and we haven't been served by him at all. He hovers in a really intense way, then he takes the time to explain to me that we could leave a tip on the plate. I explain I know this, but we do not wish to leave a tip in addition to the service charge.
He then tells me I have to leave the table because they have people waiting. I explain I will leave when my mother returns to collect her bags and coat and not before. 1 minute later I have to walk past 3 empty tables to reach the door.
I said to my mother that if I could have taken back the service charge I would have done !
I never intended to go back. However it is in the same street as a restaurant which does a vegatarian Indian buffet every lunch time, and all days on Sunday (but is a bit expensive for proper evening meals the rest of the time). I love that place, and go there at least a couple of times a month. Except that a couple of months ago we went and they were renovating
There's one other place that does buffet on a Sunday - the sucky restaurant. So we went and had an OK buffet lunch (not as good as the other but not bad, and decent value). Everything is serve yourself except for drinks. We each had a drink. I wanted a second drink but gave up after almost 15 minutes of looking around for a waiter (I decided I'd get a drink elsewhere rather than get up and ask).
We pay up - and get our change back (at the cash desk) on a silver plate on which they have taped on a hand written piece of paper "Service not included".
We didn't take the hint. The nice restaurant is open again and I shall keep away from this one until I once again forget how they upset me.
Victoria J
"tipped minimum") for regular service. It makes them much less vulnerable to the whims of assholes, and still lets them get rewarded for exceptional skill.
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