Don't you check the bag?

[agirlfromnowhere]

Do any of you that work at restaurants that do takeout ever get phone calls like this:

"I just got home and I was missing (whatever item). I'm really angry because I live 20 miles away!"

Okay, not really sucky, because yeah, we did forget some of their food. But if you live 20 miles away wouldn't you check everything before you left?

[bhskittykatt]

I used to live waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere and would pick up food on my way home from the city. I'd usually check. Once in I while I'd be in a hurry and forget, but I'd usually just shrug off the mistake. I mean, I certainly am not driving back to town, and they certainly aren't driving out to me, so there's no point in getting worked up over it.

I think this is happening a lot to my local pizza place. Every time I pick up my food, they've started opening the box and double-checking the pizza is correct before handing it over. They never used to do this, so methinks they were having customer complaints (though my pizza has always been right )

[HYHYBT]

My 'favorite', I think, was when we were doing the 39¢ cheeseburgers one day a week. He'd ordered the limit of fifteen, and of course nothing else. Called an hour later from South Carolina saying he'd just opened the bag and they were made wrong. If I remember rightly, he wanted us to fix it over the phone and pay his cell phone bill (this being the 90's.) Though it might have been that he wanted to come back and get the food replaced, plus the store pay for his phone bill, a tank of gas, and two hours of lost time; it's not a recent story. I do, however, definitely remember that he didn't like mustard.

I'm surprised he didn't complain about their being cold, too.

[Peppergirl]

I'm big on checking my bag before I leave. Sure - it *should* be right, but mistakes happen and it's a hell of alot easier to fix if done so quickly.

This could become an interesting thread, because I know of quite a few people on here who feel otherwise

[Stormraven]

Yes, it *should* be right. And I can see not checking if you live across the street, but I try to always check the moment I leave the drive through, or before I leave the restaurant.

[Athaelia]

At my restaurant, the hostesses () handle to-go orders. We'll ring in the order, and the foodrunner brings the food out. Then, we call the customer over, handle their payment, and check their food against the order slip. Now, some of my co-workers don't check the bags, and I advised them against this. I check EACH ITEM they have ordered, right in from of them, open the box and SHOW THEM THE MEALS! If something's wrong or missing, they don't leave till its right.
That way, if I have dealt with the customer, and the customer calls back and tries to pull some crap (lying, saying they didn't receive something when they actually did) I can call bullshit on them. Keeps my butt out of any trouble.

[simplyanother]

I've forgotten stuff. I usually drive back if it's close and then we all laugh at me. Last time I did it, they had my other sandwich waiting for me.

But I generally look before I leave because we get a couple of things special order--and well, god forbid there is mustard on my older kids burger...@@ at us.

[Emrld]

I went to the billons served clown resturant - ordered breakfast - looked in the bag - got the right packaging - got home - no pancakes - I was royally ticked
True I should have checked inside the "tray" itself but seriously - who puts the lid on a regular item that had nothing special about it.
This wasn't even the one near me - I had an early morning thing I had to go to a swung past - so because of lack of planning on my part what I did get was cold. Lesson learned - only do drive through close to home and check before pulling away.

(If there is a line behind me / high traffic time, I will pull away from the window and check before leaving the parking lot - no car behind me - I check while out the window)

[PCGameGuy]

I vote with my wallet as it were. If they habitually make mistakes, I just pick somewhere else to eat the next time. Most places are good at getting it right, and the ones that aren't around here tend to be _always_ wrong somehow.

[MrsEclipse]

This is my question: why would you do takeout if you lived twenty miles away? Wouldn't the food get cold, or warm? And isn't it too far away for convenience anyway?

Also, when it comes to fast food, always, always, ALWAYS check. Fast food is fast, and when you go fast you make mistakes. Unavoidable. Part of life. If you made a special order, open the packaging. It saves you from two twenty-minute round trips!

I know you all know this. I guess I hope that if I type loud enough, people like the customer in the OP can hear me.

[Julesy]

I try to check my bag.
Assuming that I don't forget my whole bag, of course. Wouldn't be the first time... (But I wouldn't blame the take-out employee for it if I did!)

[LadyAndreca]

This is my question: why would you do takeout if you lived twenty miles away? Wouldn't the food get cold, or warm? And isn't it too far away for convenience anyway?

Because nowhere local makes Yankee rolls...salmon, tuna, and eel...lightly tempura battered and deep fried... *bliss*

A friend of mine routinely picks up Vietnamese food for his wife at a little place by his work--and he works 90 miles away from home. Why? Because the tiny town he lives in doesn't HAVE a Vietnamese place. (Plus his wife is pregnant, and that is her craving of choice. )

[MrsEclipse]

Because nowhere local makes Yankee rolls...salmon, tuna, and eel...lightly tempura battered and deep fried... *bliss*

A friend of mine routinely picks up Vietnamese food for his wife at a little place by his work--and he works 90 miles away from home. Why? Because the tiny town he lives in doesn't HAVE a Vietnamese place. (Plus his wife is pregnant, and that is her craving of choice. )

The second one I'll give you- Hell hath no fury like a pregnant woman denied Vietnamese food.

The first one, I would eat somewhere closer, if not the seating area in a restraunt (which it may not have) then on a public bench or patio or in the car with the hearter/AC and radio on... I couldn't wait even 20 minutes for a food that would make me feel the real-life equivilent of typing *bliss*. That's some serious nummers. (I don't like anything sea food, but this is the girl who's siggy is currently about drining bleach.)

Of course, I just realized that I'm giving this rational thought, which SCs aren't physically capable of. Everyone on this board who does what I'm discussing, it's because you HAVE given it rational thought and decided that your course of action is the best.

[Argabarga]

Mistakes happen, and nine times out of 10, I just eat the evidence of the mistake, literaly.


It's a quandry

It's my job to double-check before I leave, but I think it's also rude to unwrap everything to do so while still in the store, call me over-sympathetic.

I'll just place my bets that they got it right and if they didn't, and except for those rare occasions where Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle kicks in, they are just the way I ordered them.

[HYHYBT]

I've gotten takeout from 20+ miles away before; in fact, I intend to do it tomorrow. On the rare times I have a reason to go to Athens, I tend to order two lunch meals from a Chinese restaurant near where we used to live. I'll eat most of one in the car, then bring the rest of it, plus the other one, egg rolls, etc home and warm them up over the next couple of days. Because it's something I can't get closer to home, and it reheats well. I've never gotten a wrong order, and if I did, it would probably be something good anyway. And if not, well, it's my fault if I didn't check the other box

But I never did understand the people who would come through McDonald's and call back extra mad because they lived half an hour away, or because they'd driven that far before starting to eat, and now their food was cold. Duh! But there was another McD's in every direction from us, and since you've told me where you are, I know you passed three of them. Why not order from one closer to when you're going to eat, so the food will be nice and fresh?