Bad lunch experience

jmcquown said:

[snip] What happened to the "customer is always right?"

But the food was good 🙂 Salsas, in East Memphis. I won't let this one bad experience keep me from
dining there again.

Jill

Nobody gets to be always right. I'm not saying you were wrong in this case, but that phrase is
amoung my many pet peaves. I do software service work, and when a customer has the attitude that
they are always right just because they are the customer, it makes it a lot more difficult to
actually fix the problem. I don't care who's right and who's wrong, I'm being paid to fix it -- and
an unreasonable customer takes away a lot of my options and wastes my time. There's one case in
particular that I have been dealing with since November; I cannot fix the problem on my side, it has
to be fixed on the customer's side and I've identified exactly what needs to be changed. We've spent
countless hours arguing (not just me; several levels of management too) because the customer says he
shouldn't have to change anything *just because he is the customer*.

[how did I end up on a soapbox again?]

BTW, we got great service and good food at a Mexican restaurant on the north side of Nashville a
couple of months ago. It was just off I65, and I think I could find it again but I can't remember
the name because it was something ubiquitous. The greasy white cheese melted with chorizo that I
ordered as an appetizer was especially good. The waiter, who barely spoke English, went to the
kitchen as we were about to leave and got a taco for our puppy that was in the car watching us
through the window. :-)

Best regards, Bob

jmcquown said:

He did come back just a few minutes later with my corrected check, but I did NOT leave him a tip.
On the check I wrote "Attitude!" What happened to the "customer is always right?" You don't stand
and argue about who screwed up an order. If I'd wanted mushroom quesadillas I'd have asked for
them, regardless of who I pointed or did not point to at my table.

You *did* speak to the manager about your experience, I hope?

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Usually when I go to this Tex-mex place with friends or co-workers, no problems at all. Quick,
courteous service. In and out in under an hour.

<snip story>

Quoted message said:

Oh, and while he was taking my check away to fix it, a gentlemen got up

from

Quoted message said:

another table and followed him, saying, "Excuse me.... EXCUSE ME?" Apparently I wasn't the only
one who had a problem with the service.

But the food was good 🙂 Salsas, in East Memphis. I won't let this one

bad

Quoted message said:

experience keep me from dining there again.

Jill

This reminds me of an experience I had at Chevy's, which is also TexMex style. I ordered fajitas.
Steak and chicken. He brought me chicken enchiladas. How do you mistake fajitas for enchiladas???
Then he proceeded to argue with me about what I ordered!? I politely told him that I would not have
ordered enchiladas as I cannot eat them, and that I wanted to speak to his manager. He then told me
that "The manager is busy, so if you want to wait around a while, I'll get him when he is out of his
meeting". And he walked away. So then the guy who replenishes the chips and salsa came over and I
asked him to get the manager. Short meeting I guess because the manager took about a minute to get
there. I explained the situation, the manager's reply was "Oh he's new. He doesn't know any better."
So that is supposed to make it ok?? Ha. I reminded him that I neither signed on to train his
waitstaff, nor was offered a reduced price for the reduced service. He assigned us another server
and offered us dessert, and went to the kitchen to get my fajitas. I left a tip, but I was sure to
put it in the hands of the replacement server, who was wonderful, and said I didn't want a dime to
go to the first one.

kimberly

Quoted message said:

What happened to the "customer is always right?"

"Customers get what they want" is the axiom better establishments follow.

Notwithstanding your experience here where you were wronged, customers are not always right, but
they do get what they want. Either from your business or your competition.

--
Think thrice, measure twice and cut once.

Sanding is like paying taxes ... everyone has to do it, but it is important to take steps to
minimize it.

There is only one period and no underscores in the real email address.

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zxcvbob said:

jmcquown said:

[snip] What happened to the "customer is always right?"

But the food was good 🙂 Salsas, in East Memphis. I won't let this one bad experience keep me
from dining there again.

Jill

Nobody gets to be always right. I'm not saying you were wrong in this case, but that phrase is
amoung my many pet peaves. I do software service work, and when a customer has the attitude that
they are always right just because they are the customer, it makes it a lot more difficult to
actually fix the problem.

Heh, I do software tech support myself. I have to pretend the customer is always right even when
they aren't. It's all about service, am I right?

Quoted message said:

with chorizo that I ordered as an appetizer was especially good. The waiter, who barely spoke
English, went to the kitchen as we were about to leave and got a taco for our puppy that was in
the car watching us through the window. :-)

Best regards, Bob

Ah ha! He got to you through your dog! Now *there* is someone who knows the meaning of
"service" ROFL!

Jill

MareCat said:

jmcquown said:

He did come back just a few minutes later with my corrected check, but I did NOT leave him a tip.
On the check I wrote "Attitude!" What happened to the "customer is always right?" You don't stand
and argue about who screwed up an order. If I'd wanted mushroom quesadillas I'd have asked for
them, regardless of who I pointed or did not point to at my table.

You *did* speak to the manager about your experience, I hope?

No, I didn't. By the time we left the lunch rush was in full swing (12:30 PM) and we didn't have
time to dally waiting for the manager to be free. Normally I would have. And I didn't want the guy
to lose his job, just to know he didn't do a good one in my case.

Jill

jmcquown said:

We left for lunch, were seated upstairs. The server took our orders. "M" ordered 1/2 plate of
nachos but only with the meat and the cheese, no lettuce, no sour cream, no guac. I indicated I
wanted the same thing. "S" ordered mushroom quesadillas with extra sour cream.

Our food arrived. The server gave me mushroom quesadillas. I said, excuse me, I ordered what *she*
did. He said, "Well, you didn't POINT to her when you ordered." I said, huh? )Keep in mind, no one
else had ordered at that point. Why would I need to point?) He continued, you didn't tell me you
wanted HER order, I just assumed... (that and $1 will get you a latte someplace).

You were there, and I wasn't so I'm not going to argue too strenuously.

I will point out, however, from the waiter's point of view that understanding what the customer
is talking about can be a wild and exciting challenge. I haven't waitressed in years, but when I
did, I could repeat back what the customer said, serve it exactly the way they said, and still
get it wrong. It wasn't unusual for different customers to say exactly the same thing and mean
something totally different.

This might sound farfetched, but I'll make my point with this example.

Earlier that day the waiter had a table in which one person ordered nachos but only with the meat
and cheese, no lettuce, sour cream nor guac. Another at the table ordered the same thing. He brought
2 plates of nachos with only meat and cheese, but when he got there, one customer complained because
she wanted hers with the lettuce, sour cream and guac and figured the waiter should have known that.
Then she said that he should have known because she pointed. Customers have made more absurd excuses
and gotten away with them.

With that in mind, as a customer, I'm careful to be as clear as I can be. I usually say what I
want while pointing to the item on the menu and say both what I want the item with and without.
"So that's only the meat, cheese and nachos, no lettuce, no sour cream and no guacamole." Usually
I try to order something on the menu and only ask for exceptions if I truly can't find something I
like as is.

You say this is a restaurant where you've gotten good service in the past. I'd forget about his one
bad experience-- unless it is repeated.

--Lia

Nexis said:

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Usually when I go to this Tex-mex place with friends or co-workers, no problems at all. Quick,
courteous service. In and out in under an hour.

<snip story>

Quoted message said:

Oh, and while he was taking my check away to fix it, a gentlemen got up from another table and
followed him, saying, "Excuse me.... EXCUSE ME?" Apparently I wasn't the only one who had a
problem with the service.

But the food was good 🙂 Salsas, in East Memphis. I won't let this one bad experience keep me
from dining there again.

Jill

This reminds me of an experience I had at Chevy's, which is also TexMex style. I ordered fajitas.
Steak and chicken. He brought me chicken enchiladas. How do you mistake fajitas for enchiladas???

You don't, any more than you mistake 1/2 order of plain nachos for quesadillas 🙂

Then

Quoted message said:

he proceeded to argue with me about what I ordered!?

That's what gets to me. Why stand there and argue? Just correct your mistake and move on. (And
then, in my case, why obviously and deliberately wait 10 minutes before returning to the kitchen to
get the correct item to the point where my friends were embarrassed to have to start eating in
front of me?)

I politely told

Quoted message said:

him that I would not have ordered enchiladas as I cannot eat them, and that I wanted to speak to
his manager. He then told me that "The manager is busy, so if you want to wait around a while,
I'll get him when he is out of his meeting". And he walked away. So then the guy who replenishes
the chips and salsa came over and I asked him to get the manager. Short meeting I guess because
the manager took about a minute to get there. I explained the situation, the manager's reply was
"Oh he's new. He doesn't know any better." So that is supposed to make it ok??

No it doesn't. Sometimes speaking to the manager is helpful, other times it is not. Guess it depends
on the restaurant.

Quoted message said:

kimberly

Having worked in restaurants, I consider myself to be fairly tolerant. I understand being "in the
weeds" and I understand mixups in the kitchen and demanding, unreasonable guests who stress you out,
and side-work and rolling silverware and all that stuff. But, that tolerance only extends so far. It
does not extend to being argued with. I mean, why in the Hell would you or I order something we
didn't want?!

Jill

Nexis said:

This reminds me of an experience I had at Chevy's, which is also TexMex style. I ordered fajitas.
Steak and chicken. He brought me chicken enchiladas.

Wow. You got service at that place? They opened one here and we decided to try it. Sat for ten or
fifteen minutes without anyone so much as taking a drink order. I mean bare table, not even napkins
let alone chips. All the tables around us got drinks, had orders taken, when the folks who got
seated AFTER us got their lunch we walked out.

I suppose I could have chased down a waiter and tackled one to get some service, but I doubt it
would have improved much.

Dawn

[email hidden] (jmcquown)Wrote:
Usually when I go to this Tex-mex place with friends or co-workers, no
problems at all. Quick, courteous service. In and out in under an hour.
Wednesday, we were tied up in meetings from 9:00 a.m. until almost
11:30. We left for lunch, were seated upstairs. The server took our orders. "M" ordered 1/2 plate
of nachos but only with the meat and the cheese, no lettuce, no sour cream, no guac. I
indicated I wanted the same thing. "S" ordered mushroom quesadillas with extra sour cream.
Our food arrived. The server gave me mushroom quesadillas. I said, excuse me, I ordered what
*she* did. He said, "Well, you didn't POINT to her when you ordered." I said, huh? )Keep in
mind, no one else had ordered at that point. Why would I need to point?) He continued, you
didn't tell me you wanted HER order, I just assumed... (that and $1 will get you a latte
someplace). So he removes my plate, then goes all around the room checking on everyone elses
drinks, taking orders, whatever. Not returning to the kitchen to correct my order. Meanwhile
my dining companions are going, should we go ahead and eat? Of course! I'm watching the
server. Maybe 10 minutes later he takes my 'refused' plate back downstairs. He came back in
record time with my nachos. So all would have been good... I was happy and very polite. We
had a good lunch, chatting and laughing. Then come the checks. He never bothered to change
my check from the more expensive quesadilla mistake to the less expensive 1/2 order of
nachos. He finally comes back to collect and I said, "This isn't right. I had the 1/2
nachos, not the quesadillas." He says, snotty-like, "It will take me 5-10 minutes to fix
this." I replied, "I don't *have* 5-10 minutes." He took it away. I noticed there was a
manager (someone I recall working with 14 years ago!) helping him out by refilling drinks,
checking tables. He would have been fine with a tip for the first screw up. But he should
have corrected my check with the correction of my order. In all the restaurants I've worked
in, you cannot submit another order without the change being on the ticket. He did come back
just a few minutes later with my corrected check, but I did NOT leave him a tip. On the
check I wrote "Attitude!" What happened to the "customer is always right?" You don't stand
and argue about who screwed up an order. If I'd wanted mushroom quesadillas I'd have asked
for them, regardless of who I pointed or did not point to at my table. Oh, and while he was
taking my check away to fix it, a gentlemen got up from another table and followed him,
saying, "Excuse me.... EXCUSE ME?" Apparently I wasn't the only one who had a problem with
the service. But the food was good 🙂 Salsas, in East Memphis. I won't let this one bad
experience keep me from dining there again. Jill
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After reading this post was thinking about the news clip last week talking about how fast food
restaurants here in metro Detroit area were reorganizing the set ups starting with McDonalds
Customer walks in machine takes their order customers pay at the ATM stand. They said it would
eliminate cashiers jobs-more profits- reduce robberies-reduced insurance premiums- and errors -
wasted food- Non fast food restaurant owners stated they will be watching these new set ups closely
. These people who have attitudes and don't take their job seriously might just want to have a
second thought because it looks like bad service might be a thing of the past.