Sometimes NOT being an SC works in your favor!

[RammsteinGirl]

Isn't it sad that retail and food establishments are so relieved when a customer doesn't pitch a fit, that they feel they have to REWARD people for being nice and patient?

[Pezzle]

RammsteinGirl: Not sad at all I guess, human beings usually enjoy rewarding each other for kindness. Then again, when general kindness and patience are above and beyond normal behavior, I can see your point.

I've been comped a few times. My boyfriend is pretty vocal about his concerns, but always civil. He's prediabetic so he's always careful of what he eats, and sometimes they screw up.

The coolest comp I got was at Moe's. We wandered in about 15 minutes to close, since we had both just gotten off work. The workers there seemed so peeved that we came in and glared... one of them banged a lot of steam trays very loud, and I could hear the GM telling them to be quiet and that loud closing actions tend to drive away paying customers. Worker says don't care and continues throwing stuff around.

Long story short, worker is no longer there and I usually get discounts when I go there now. Never demanded them, never even said anything o-o; the owner guy just likes me I guess.

[JustADude]

But... they wouldn't let me pay for the meal, which bothered me.

Gotta remember, comping part or all of a customer's bill is one of the few tangible ways a restaurant has of showing gratitude to a customer.

[cinema guy]

My brother and I were in a pizza restaurant in London and he ordered a dessert that they didn't have. The waiter was apologetic and my brother chose something else. But they comped us both his and my desert, which was unexpected and very welcome.

Next time we were in there we joked about finding out whether there was anything they didn't have and ordering that.

[Becks]

Thanks, but seriously, where is it? I wanted to use it but couldn't find it on the list!

Look to your right. See the smiley list? At the bottom left, there's a link that say [More]. Click and scroll down.

*Another helpful moment from me.*

[Luna]

I bought new sneakers last week. When my turn on line came up - the cashier started to open the boxes and check the sizes for me. I told her she could relax b/c I already did it since I know how crazy customers are and how they enjoy hiding things and messing things up.

I only said this b/c the poor woman was extrememly stressed. She was very old and seemed to have difficulty concentrating. This made her stop and stare at me. Very slowly she realized I was serious and I wasn't trying to bait her into anything. She let out such a barking laugh that it actually startled me. Then she dig around and pulled a coupon for $5 off out of nowhere for me.

Yay! Being nice to cashiers has gotten me discounts many a times. I never expect it to happen, but somehow being nice makes coupons magically appear that didn't appear for the rude customer in front of you that demanded one.

[jayel]

Look to your right. See the smiley list? At the bottom left, there's a link that say [More]. Click and scroll down.

*Another helpful moment from me.*

Okay, thanks, I found it. It was lost amid all the others.

[Misanthropical]

We went to Applebees once and I ordered some sandwich, I don't remember what it is now, but it came with BBQ sauce on it, which I didn't read enough of the description to see. I hate BBQ sauce.

I told the waitress when she came back around that I was sorry that I hadn't read the description enough to see that it had BBQ sauce on it, could I get one made without the sauce. It was my fault after all.

She took the sandwich away and the manager came by and asked if everything was okay. I told her the same thing as the waitress, that it was my fault for not reading the whole description.

They brought me the sandwich without BBQ sauce and comped my meal and the dessert I had, which was totally unexpected, since it had been my fault.

[Arucard]

Only one comp story comes to mind for me. I ordered my usual at Subway, foot long roasted chicken on parmesan oregane, cheddar cheese, lettuce tomato, carrot, a small bit of BBQ sauce, and I said no when she asked if I wanted salt or pepper, but she had a bit of a brain fart and picked up the pepper anyway. I blurted out "No pepper, thanks" really quickly, so I only got a couple of shakes on half the sub, but she offered to make me a new one, but I said don't worry about it, it's just a little pepper, I don't mind, but she insisted on giving it to me free, because it was her mistake.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

www.preschoolians.com comped my ENTIRE ORDER of three pairs of toddler shoes, which came to about a hundred bucks, because they missed their 14 day delivery guarantee. I know I posted that on here before, but the service is so good, they deserve a little plug. I felt kind of bad about that, I mean, it was a hundred bucks! So I am an extremely loyal customer now, as you can see. And I talk them up among other moms, so I hope that hundred it cost them to make me happy was worth it to them.

I ordered a roast beef sammich in Atlanta once, and the meat was green. Yeah, green, you read that right. I said to the waiter "um...look here, this meat is....green."

He said something like "Well, that's where it was touching the plastic wrap."

I was kind of shocked, actually. I didn't get nasty or angry, but I was like "Dude, you can't serve green meat to people. I mean, c'mon here."

I had him bring me a turky sub. I was kind of afraid to eat it. And while I didn't ask to be comped, he didn't offer, either. I ate in the hotel after that. And for the rest of the con (Okay, you busted me, I was down there for Dragon) I was like, "Hey, don't eat at that dive next door, they brought me a green roast beef sammich."

[ColonelInTheKitchen]

When I worked at my other KFC, we ordered the Allen's Lake Cut Green Beans. Big industrial size cans, too. One of our customers found a CATERPILLAR in her green beans, and we offered to replace it with another small side, or some more chicken, but she wouldn't have it. She just left her plate, said she didn't feel like eating anymore, and disappeared into the parking lot. I guess she just wanted us to check it out... we did throw out the green beans since they'd been tainted and made new ones.

[Becks]

Okay, thanks, I found it. It was lost amid all the others.

Anytime.

Don't feel bad. I'm notorious for not seeing things.

[Broomjockey]

Two stories come to mind.
1. I was at a sub place near the university, forget which chain. Get my sub, start eating it, when I notice something odd. A speck. Moving speck. Moving speckS. The lettuce was infested with aphids. Pointed it out to the guy behind the counter, who happened to be the manager. He started apologizing a lot, promised to throw out that lettuce (which he did then and there) and gave me a fistful of coupons, for stuff ranging from cookies to chips to subs. I used the ones for the cookies, but it was a while until I could eat a sub again.

2. I was at a buffet (which has changed ownership several times in the past couple years), ate the meal fine, got some dessert, bit into a pastry, and there was MOLD! I spent the next 10 minutes in the bathroom throwing up from the taste and thought, while my parents talked to the manager. They took the tray containing those pastries to the back, but considering the things I've heard about the place, I don't know if they actually threw them out. My meal was comped, but I don't remember if they did anything else (It was a loooooong time ago. I was 12 or so.)

[wagegoth]

I don't scream when there's a problem, and I have had meals partially comped or items discounted because of problems. And it does bother me a bit to see the employees smile in a relieved manner that I didn't throw a freakin' insane fit over something that small.

That said, I did end up writing an email to In and Out recently. Not on PFB, and I made a point of saying how helpful the MOD was trying to be, but it was just a mistake by the order taker (even though I corrected her and restated my order) that snowballed and failure kept happening all the way through, from the time my order was taken until I finally left 40 minutes later (there were only six cars in front of me in the drive-thru, nothing for In and Out) from the lobby, where I finally went inside to get my order corrected because the girl at the delivery window wandered off and I didn't want the people behind me to wait. Nothing was comped (which was okay), but there was no real apology either, for either the mistake or my time. The one thing I get really pissy about is when people waste my time then don't seem to care.

If they had just said, "Sorry, " and gotten me the correct order, I would have been happy, but it took three tries after I came inside the restaurant for the right food to arrive. Mistakes happen, we're human. But it just seemed like nobody was really paying attention, and it didn't get better.

[JustAGirl]

Long but cliff notes below:

I had horrible issues with a certain cable company when my fiance and I were in the process of moving. On a Tuesday we called the cable company and said we planned on using the converter box at the new house, and requested the apt get turned off on a Friday and the house turned on on Saturday. They said "no problem". Big understatement. It was shut off that night, and it took a bit to get someone out there to turn it on. Next day, it was off again! We find that the converter was the problem so we watched cable without the converter box, figuring they shut it off and that it would work at the house. Get to house, guy doesn't show up till 1 hour past the time he said he'd be there (we sked it for noon, he shows up at 1pm, and it wasn't the "between 8 and 5" deal people usually hear). He gets us hooked up with what we need. Instead of waiting there to see the converter box turned on he told us it would be up by 5pm. That comes and goes, the whole day comes and goes, talks on the phone and getting four different answers the four times we've called, from "give it another hour" to "give it till 8pm" to "24 hours" to "we'll get someone out there for you.". Guy finally comes out after me taking off work (this was the 'between 8 and 2' timeframe, joy) and changes out the box, which would have been fixed if the first guy stayed there in the first place. THEN I get the bill for over $500!!! Here they charged for the converter box. SO I took another hour or so out of my work time to go to the company place, hot under the collar. The lady was very nice and I explained things very calmly. She got it settled for me. BUT we still get issues with our cable internet being a PITA, so another complaint (To PFB) and we get a call from the lady I talked to and someone comes out and does a test cable and everything. Things improve, the lady is in email contact with me. Things resolve.

CLIFF NOTES: horrible issues with cable company (cable guy not doing his job, being horribly over billed, and horrid internet service), explain things politely in a visit to the office and a complaint and things get resolved smoothly. No SC behavior. No "gimme gimme!".



Another one (short!):

Visit restaurant... Logan's. Gets waited on promptly. After a while we realize its been a long time since we ordered. Waiter talks to chef, gets things taken care of, order coming out soon. Ok cool. Food comes out, water says since the cook took so long he talked to the manager and comped our food (we only paid for drinks). No SC Behavior. No gimme gimme.