Tweet
This one's not really a sucky customer sighting, but would have still gotten on my nerves probably.
I was off work today, so it was a good day for me. My wife had to work today, but she loves her job. Anyway, she wanted me to meet her for lunch. We decided to head to our favorite local Mexican restaurant. It's located just down the street from my wife's office as well as the convenience store where I work. So, we've built up somewhat of a rapport with the staff at this restaurant. After all, I'm one of the people who sells them their beer when they're not working, and my wife and I are frequent customers at their place. The staff are always friendly to us, and they are generally faster than any fast food place about getting food out to the customers.
My wife and I had just finished our lunch. A man and two pre-teen girls had just arrived. They were seated in the booth behind me. I didn't pay much attention to them at first, but then I overheard them placing their order. One of the girls said she didn't want something on her food, but I didn't hear what. No big deal, it was none of my business, I just happened to hear it because they were seated right behind me.
The man ordered nachos, but he only wanted meat and cheese on it. I also disregarded that because again, not my business. I just happened to overhear it since he was sitting right behind me. What did strike me odd, though, was when he specified that he didn't want shredded cheese on his nachos. Apparently, I had one of those looks that I usually reserve for annoying/stupid people (especially when dealing with customers) on my face as I processed what I heard in the back of my mind. My wife was smirking at me. She apparently heard their food order, and read my mind. I could tell by the way she was smirking at me that she knew exactly what I was thinking. After years of customer service, nitpicky people just get on my nerves fairly quick, even if they're not inflicting their nonsense on me. Anyway, I just rolled my eyes at her with a half grin, and asked if she was ready to leave. Meanwhile, the guy was still nitpicking what he did and did not want on his nachos as we got up to leave. The poor waiter processed and repeated his order, and got away as quickly as possibly. I really felt bad for the waiter as I just had that feeling this guy was going to be one of those picky customers that I would have hated in my fast food days. However, since it was not any of my business, I just shrugged it off. Despite all rumors to the contrary, I do still sometimes feel a slight twinge of empathy for others, and I was feeling it for the waiter. Years of customer service has not totally turned me cynical and indifferent to the human race, just when I'm at work dealing with customers.
Anyway, as I was putting on my coat, I heard one of the girls tell the man sitting behind me, "God, Dad, sometimes you're so embarrassing! You should have just ordered a bowl of chips with some meat and cheese on it!"
I guess she realized I heard her, and got embarrassed herself. I just grinned and bit my lip to keep from smirking. She kind of hid her face, and grinned back at me. I then turned away, and my wife and I went to pay and left.
As we left, I made a comment to my wife about how that guy should have just stayed home and fixed his own nachos so they'd be done his way. We both laughed about it. She also told me the part I hadn't noticed. Apparently when they were seated, he asked if he could change the channel. Usually, when we go in, the staff is watching one of the Spanish channels on the satellite. They were watching some Spanish soap opera. The guy more less helped himself on changing the TV to ESPN because he wanted to watch some ball game. My wife said she did think that was rather nervy of him. I was sitting with my back to the TV, so I wasn't even aware of that part of it at the time. As an after thought, I did remember hearing a man's voice say something about wanting to sit where he could see the TV.
Still, not being a sports fan, that probably would have ticked me off a little. If it was already on when I got there, I figure that's just the way it is. However, had I been watching the program the staff was watching, I probably would have been annoyed at this guy asking to change the channel to a ball game. I still wouldn't have gotten up in arms over it because I was there to eat lunch, not watch TV. I guess it's just more of the fact that nitpicky people get on my nerves fairly quickly.
Like I said, not a sucky customer sighting, but certainly one I would have probably found annoying had we been there longer. Then again, I most likely would have just tuned it out with the rest of the background noise if we'd been there longer.
I was off work today, so it was a good day for me. My wife had to work today, but she loves her job. Anyway, she wanted me to meet her for lunch. We decided to head to our favorite local Mexican restaurant. It's located just down the street from my wife's office as well as the convenience store where I work. So, we've built up somewhat of a rapport with the staff at this restaurant. After all, I'm one of the people who sells them their beer when they're not working, and my wife and I are frequent customers at their place. The staff are always friendly to us, and they are generally faster than any fast food place about getting food out to the customers.
My wife and I had just finished our lunch. A man and two pre-teen girls had just arrived. They were seated in the booth behind me. I didn't pay much attention to them at first, but then I overheard them placing their order. One of the girls said she didn't want something on her food, but I didn't hear what. No big deal, it was none of my business, I just happened to hear it because they were seated right behind me.
The man ordered nachos, but he only wanted meat and cheese on it. I also disregarded that because again, not my business. I just happened to overhear it since he was sitting right behind me. What did strike me odd, though, was when he specified that he didn't want shredded cheese on his nachos. Apparently, I had one of those looks that I usually reserve for annoying/stupid people (especially when dealing with customers) on my face as I processed what I heard in the back of my mind. My wife was smirking at me. She apparently heard their food order, and read my mind. I could tell by the way she was smirking at me that she knew exactly what I was thinking. After years of customer service, nitpicky people just get on my nerves fairly quick, even if they're not inflicting their nonsense on me. Anyway, I just rolled my eyes at her with a half grin, and asked if she was ready to leave. Meanwhile, the guy was still nitpicking what he did and did not want on his nachos as we got up to leave. The poor waiter processed and repeated his order, and got away as quickly as possibly. I really felt bad for the waiter as I just had that feeling this guy was going to be one of those picky customers that I would have hated in my fast food days. However, since it was not any of my business, I just shrugged it off. Despite all rumors to the contrary, I do still sometimes feel a slight twinge of empathy for others, and I was feeling it for the waiter. Years of customer service has not totally turned me cynical and indifferent to the human race, just when I'm at work dealing with customers.
Anyway, as I was putting on my coat, I heard one of the girls tell the man sitting behind me, "God, Dad, sometimes you're so embarrassing! You should have just ordered a bowl of chips with some meat and cheese on it!"
I guess she realized I heard her, and got embarrassed herself. I just grinned and bit my lip to keep from smirking. She kind of hid her face, and grinned back at me. I then turned away, and my wife and I went to pay and left.
As we left, I made a comment to my wife about how that guy should have just stayed home and fixed his own nachos so they'd be done his way. We both laughed about it. She also told me the part I hadn't noticed. Apparently when they were seated, he asked if he could change the channel. Usually, when we go in, the staff is watching one of the Spanish channels on the satellite. They were watching some Spanish soap opera. The guy more less helped himself on changing the TV to ESPN because he wanted to watch some ball game. My wife said she did think that was rather nervy of him. I was sitting with my back to the TV, so I wasn't even aware of that part of it at the time. As an after thought, I did remember hearing a man's voice say something about wanting to sit where he could see the TV.
Still, not being a sports fan, that probably would have ticked me off a little. If it was already on when I got there, I figure that's just the way it is. However, had I been watching the program the staff was watching, I probably would have been annoyed at this guy asking to change the channel to a ball game. I still wouldn't have gotten up in arms over it because I was there to eat lunch, not watch TV. I guess it's just more of the fact that nitpicky people get on my nerves fairly quickly.
Like I said, not a sucky customer sighting, but certainly one I would have probably found annoying had we been there longer. Then again, I most likely would have just tuned it out with the rest of the background noise if we'd been there longer.
Comment