Customer Service, Input Appreciated!?

Good Evening Everyone!

I have been mulling something over for a few weeks now. I had a horrible experience with customer service in a local restaurant; the place is irrelevant of course. The server was not very nice, the manager even less so desirable. My husband and I eat out once a week, we both work full time and like a night off from cooking. This particular night we had coworkers and friends with us, who also admit to very poor service.
None of them left a tip.

I'm angry because I have never been so disrespected. When I went to pay for my meal, I did address the supervisor / manager, as I didn't feel right not saying anything. However, when she snapped a response back at me and offered a half hearted apology, my blood pressure went through the roof. I paid and left, instead of speaking my mind. I'm sure if I had responded with anything else, it would have been inappropriate.

The owner of the establishment wasn't there (I was told), or I would have spoken to the owner. Being that it's now two weeks later and I still think about it, I just wonder if it's worth addressing? Would you want to know?

The sad part is we are limited to restaurants here. We usually have great service/ servers there. My husband vows to never set foot in the place again, he's not a picky man, very laid back. We often have family birthdays with large groups there, I'm guessing there won't be any more of that unless I want to eat without my husband, which I don't.

Do you think it's too late to complain? Part of me wants to, part of me doesn't. Small towns, would hate to have my name attached to something and have to deal with negativity afterwards! It continues to rent room in my head, so I think I may do something.

Any input appreciated.

Thank you.

quite frankly, if the owner isn't aware of a problem, he can't address it. I would speak to the owner, any good business person would WANT to know if they have an unsatisfied customer, and to have an opportunity to remedy the situation.

Don't go in guns blazing, just explain that you didn't have a good experience your last visit, bad enough that is has bothered you this long, and what happened, and why you are reluctant to visit that establishment again. I would also tell him/her as you mentioned here that you normally have a pleasant experience there.

I have to agree with Tamriel on this, especially since it is a small town. If you had this experience, you probably aren't the only one, and if the owner isn't aware that his or her employees are behaving this way, their business could be in jeopardy without them even knowing it. If it was me, I would want to know.

Thank you for not identifying the business. This is between you and them, not appropriate to damage a local business over this type of thing on an internet forum.

Here's my two cents, take it for what it's worth.

Restaurants are one of the toughest businesses to operate and succeed in. I frequent many in Montreal and in Ottawa every time I go. If you read reviews on them, you'll always find a negative review, yet your own experience might be fun filled. The opposite can be also be true of course.

Since it's been a few weeks as you say since the unfortunate experience it tells me that your feelings or response would be thought out, and not just out of random anger. If I were the owner of an establishment, I would appreciate a well written concern that one of my customers may have. It would give me as an owner the opportunity to correct the matter, and you the chance to have your say. You may receive an answer that satisfies you both, or maybe no answer at all. But I would think that at least being able to express yourself to the owner would in itself offer some relief that you've done your best to be fair.

I'm going to add my voice to the choir. I agree with Tamriel, if they don't know they can't fix it. Sad to say that sometimes when the cat's away the mice will play. I would find out when the owner is available and have an intelligent, rational conversation, much as you spoke on here. Let them know what happened. If they value your business they will handle the situation in a way that is mutually beneficial. I know I would want to know what happened so that I could do my best to rectifiy it. Word of mouth is one of the fastest ways to kill a business.

I also agree with Easy that it's good that, while you had a beef, you didn't name names. Forums are great ways to vent and get input but there is no need to be petty.

I totally hear you!!

My husband and I eat out more than we cook at home....we frequent chain restaurants in the area. We usually get good service and have found that if you sit at the bar you get exceptional service since the bartenders are not super slammed and they are always there, very attentive since they are used to actually working for their tips instead of just dropping off food. (also less chance of annoying kids at the bar lol)

So the other night we went out (not in elliot lake heh) and the bartender was in a an obvious pissy mood. She seemed like she realllly did not want to be there, was slamming stuff around, it was kind of pissing us off actually. She had no business being on the floor in that mood.
My husband realized after he ordered that she hadn't asked how he wanted his potatoes so he flagged her over and told her he wanted mashed and she goes 'o i think that comes with redskins' he goes 'well i get it all the time with mashed so i would like mashed' her response rather than changing the order was 'when it comes out i'll make them change it' Really? so when the food comes out you will send it back to the kitchen rather than pushing the buttons on the POS to change the order or go the 10 feet to the kitchen to tell them? We were like WTF ? and sure enough the food comes out and he tells the server who is bringing it to us that he wanted mashed sand the bartenders response was 'ya'...so the server took it back to the kitchen and he had to wait while they fixed it.
We both ate our meals without beverages and when hubby asked for Heinz 57 she slammed an empty bottle on the bar and walked away LOL
So it comes time to cash out and all of a sudden the charm gets turned on and she tries to get all chatty with us. She knew it was time for the check and the tip...ya I don't think so hunny. And trust me, both of us having been bartenders we are very generous tippers...when it is deserved.

The good news is that being a chain restaurant they have websites where you can leave feedback The bill always has the servers name on it or the time and date stamp so they can know which of their servers suck....and we are never shy to put in a complaint. Its the only way the bosses know what is going on in their restaurants.

So if you are nervous or concerned about lodging a complaint on phone or in person see if they have a website with an email address or write the owner a letter.

I agree whole heartedly with previous posters. If the owner of an establishment isn't aware of problems with their Management and front line staff then they can't address it. Rather than rule out this business (and we only have a few in EL) I'd be speaking with the owner, either verbally or in writing to let them know of your experience. If nothing else it will make u feel better, rather than "stewing" about it and hopefully next time you go back you will be treated royally. Let us know what you decide and what the outcome was.

Owning a few small businesses in my life and all of them very different, it didn't take too long for me to understand how just one wrong employee, service or manager could hurt the product I was most interested in selling - customer satisfaction.

So talk or write to the owner and if he isn't interested, go elsewhere,
you're the customer. He's selling and you're buying, and it's always the buyer's market, any competition at all, and there nearly always is.

We had a similar experience a few months ago. The owner was there and just shrugged it off. Like Oh well. You can't run a business like that.. I was in the restaurant business for nigh on 20 years & would never think of treating the patrons the way they do now. It is almost as if it is , if you don't like it attitude. Bad attitude . We definately won't go back. Restaurants aren't what they used to be.Back then you wore a uniform and hair tied back. Now they wear anything. Times have sure changed. If they want to stay in business they had better change their attitude. I wish them luck.

I think customer service in general is becoming a thing of the past. I had the oddest experience. I went to a store and made a purchase. The total came to 9.99 and I handed over a ten dollar bill. The person serving me actually said do you want your penny? Now it was just a penny and really who cares right? But I was so shocked I just said no and left. Once I was in my car and driving home I started to think about it and thought what nerve? How dare you ask me that? It's the same as going to a restaurant and having your server ask you if you need any change when you pay your bill in cash. I find it puts you on the spot. One should, in my opinion, always return the customer's change and allow the customer to then have the option to do what they wish.

I feel better now..lol

Funny you should mention the change thing. I do find it inappropriate of a server to ask the customer if they want their change back. Of course I want my change back. Unless I clearly speak the words " Keep the change" I fully expect to get my change back. I can only guess it's because the server doesn't want to do any more walking then is necessary.

Well if they carry their own float then there's no extra walking involved. I think it's their not so subtle way of asking for a tip...

Being asked for tips is almost expected in third world countries, in most cases 1 American dollar usually satisfies.

Lol justin a dollar bill goes along way.. but driving to the resort take a look out the window.. brought my girl to tears!

I'm a little late responding to this post but I haven't had much time to come into the forum for a while. I have to add my comment to this. I am a restaurant owner in Elliot Lake and I'm praying that this experience wasn't at my place. If it was, I truly would like to know about it. My motto is number 1 = customer service, number 2 = Clean, number 3 = great food. We opened September 23, 2011 and mostly I have heard very good reviews; unfortunately we have had a few complaints but as soon as I hear about them, I try to make it up to the customer. If you don't tell me it's broken, I'm not going to be able to fix it and that goes for other business owners as well so I do encourage you to let the owner know about the service you received.

As a server in one of the local establishments I would like to add my 2 pennies in to this thread, to which I would never ask to keep..

servers are humans also, we do have bad days but most of the times we have good days

I am very fortunate because first and for most I love my job and where I work..and most important I enjoy all the great customers that come in to the restaurant...customers always come first..yes hair is in a bun and uniform is always clean..



but as I say we have our moments also...being mean to a customer is never acceptable and should be dealt with between employer and employee and complaining custopmer should go right to the top management or owner about this...when my boss takes me aside and says something has happened I accept it as the customers good judgement and hey as I said above we are human after all...


and even at the grocery store,retail outlet and lottery kiosk you can get treated like crap...they are all human also

grocery store clerk yelled at me that I could only use 4 coupons for an item and I had 6, and basically was put to shame because I tried to use the six and that this store had the right to limit anything they pleased andtime they pleased..no matter what the itme or coupon was or said..

retail stores asking for an item and where it might be and staff member turns around and just shrugges shoulders and says I don't know

lottery kiosk when someone purchasing nevada tickets is given special treatment by being told if there is a big winner left in the box and the staff member sorting through the tickets,to give said buyer the good ones(each box has a certian amount of tickets and they are numbered with a series on the back) the staff member was sorting through the tickets to make sure the one favoured person was getting the series with the winning ticket and the junk ones sold to unsuspecting cutomers(yes complaint was filed and nothing was done)

these other ones I refer to do not have to depend on tips to suppliment their incomes,so even if they have a bad day,they do not get deducted from their pays like servers do

in closing I will just say that we are all human and as a server I try to make your visit to the place I work at ,the most enjoyable,but we gets busy sometimes,we get tired also..and yes once and awhile we do have a bad day..we as servers have accepted this as our jobs,but we should as severs never ever take it out on our curtomers...they are our bread and butter ...

My point above is that any Customer Service position can have an off moment and a complete and total off day....

One off day, could have a huge impact. Although I may not initially say much, it could cause me to just never return.

It sounds harsh, but it's true Justin. Yes we can all have a bad day, but we shouldn't bring it to work. If Justin "has a bad day", one of his guys could get hurt or worse, if I have a bad day, something could get really exciting in a natural gas kind of way. So yes we can all have bad days, but it shouldn't effect our work.

I can understand where you are coming from Kelee and what you're saying. It is hard to always have a smile, to take the crap that you get from customers and there is crap sometimes. But when you work in a restaurant, or in CS in general there are always those customers that make your day. The ones that come in on a regular basis and always put a smile on your face. They are the ones that make up for the others.

It's true that servers do not make the same minimum wage that everyone else makes. The government expects your customers to suplement your income and then pay taxes on that as well. It's not fair and it's not right. It kind of takes the pleasure away from the customer as well. Used to be a tip was a gift. You gave it because you truly enjoyed the experience. Now the customer is expected to bump up that wage with their gift.

Some servers, unfortunately, have a lousy attitude about that. If you're working for the tips then you need a different job because you won't always get tips or good ones at that! Regardless of your hourly wage you should still consider the tip as the gift it was intended to be and be thankful that the customer thought enough of your service, the food and their experience to leave you anything at all. Now that wasn't directed at you Kelee...that was my own opinion and how I looked at it when I was serving and how I feel SOME servers should look at it.

Anyway I do hope the original poster did go to the owner and get some sort of resolution. Sure wish she would let us know. I've been wondering how it all worked out.

I have a friend who is a CEO for a hotel chain, mostly in western Canada, one of them however does happen to be in Thunder Bay. We were talking on this very subject one day over coffee in Saskatoon and since customer service is important in her business she was interested in what kind of customer I would be. She had a tool, which was in the form of a questionnaire that helped her in a previous consulting business she once owned. She would use this questionnaire on her customers to help them understand how people respond to services. She asked if I would take it only because she was curious, so I did.

The results were that I sit within a majority of customers who would most often not say anything, but the repercussion to that would be that I, and customers like me would follow that up with never returning to the same establishment. In the hotel business, where a room is most likely close to 200.00 a night, plus additional expenses such as meals, bar tabs. Loosing one customer could be costly. Add such websites as Tripadvisor where customers put their own reviews, and the cost of one employee who is having a "bad" day could reach out further than he/she thinks.

Being human isn't an excuse. You have a tough customer, then talk to your boss and let them handle it, or advise you on how to handle it. Sometimes the problem can easily be resolved, sometimes not, but at least the owner is fully informed and involved.

Yes and I agree...

One day off, can stop anyone from going to that place of bussiness again..I for one will never buy anything from (Edited by Moderator) again because of the bad attitude and cheating, if there were a better selection of grocery stores and because of the bad attitude of the cashier I would never go there again eighter...

I guess what I was trying to say above is that it is not just servers that can give back attitude to customers it is all people that deal with the public...

and if the person on the cash at the gas station or the retail store give you back talk or snotty attitude they are not punished with a wage deduction because of the way they treated you...yes tips are a gift but the way it is set up it is also a supplement for many servers as they do not receive minuim wage...

oh and ps don't forget the workman that comes to your house with his pants half way down to his knees and the odour that would repulse an elephant ...recks like alcohol breath and installs the equipment wrong and then never answers your calls again when it breaks again...yes customer service is balance act...

but the only job where one gets penalized for having that one bad moment is a restaurant/bartender server

Any sales person who works on commission would be in the same boat as a person working in food or beverage service Kellee. Not easy.

Bottom line, any service business with a rude employee(s) has a serious problem, smaller the business, bigger the problem. An employee is having a bad moment? Too bad, it happens to all of us, just try to avoid blaming a customer for it.

Maybe a different topic, but is anyone else irrritated by the growing use of a lackadaisical "no problem" when you thank a clerk for really just doing their job and that reaction seems to suggest they just did you a favor by doing their job?

What would you have them say Prewitt? Even "You're Welcome" seems to indicate that they did something special for you. I think it's just an acknowlegement to the "Thank You", just being polite

Language is an ever evolving form of communication. If the way we spoke didn't change constantly imagine how we would sound today.