Don’t Let Sub Par Restaurant Service Slide
Make Sure You Get the Restaurant Experience You Deserve
The other day I was eating out with my family at a local restaurant and must say we endured the worst possible service I could ever experience. The restaurant waitress wasn’t just inattentive, she was downright rude. Now I’m not usually one to make a scene, but I wasn’t going to let this behavior slide and you shouldn’t either. So what should you do when you experience horrible restaurant service?
Take a Stand
First and foremost, don’t ignore the poor behavior. If the person hates their job that much or can’t do their job properly, they should step aside and give the job to someone who can. However, there are proper and improper ways to handle this restaurant scenario.
Whatever you do, don’t cause a scene. While you may think that drawing the attention of other diners in the restaurant is the best way to make your point, you’re sorely mistaking. Instead, quietly ask to speak to the manager and explain your case to the one in charge.
If the restaurant manager isn’t sympathetic to your situation, ask for the contact information of the owner or if the restaurant is a chain, ask for the number to the corporate office and take your case to them.
What You Can Expect
Either the manager, the owner or the corporate office should at least give you a break off your total bill if they don’t give you the entire meal for free or give you a gift certificate for a return visit. If the restaurant does nothing to compensate you for your horrible experience, do yourself a favor and don’t return.
Comments
Our daughter is a retired waitress, and she gave us advice on how to respond to poor or rude service. We had occasion to apply her advice when we received both rude and poor service from a waitress in a very
'upscale' restaurant. Her advice was to leave one coin for each person in our party (preferably one-cent coins) to indicate to the waitress that we were very displeased and we wanted to leave a tip to convey our displeasure. As we walked back to our car, the waitress ran after us,
shouting, "Sir, Sir, You forgot your change." I told the waitress that it was her 'tip' with its message, and that if she didn't understand the message, she should ask an experienced waitress to explain it !
Posted by: Hal Newman | June 13, 2006 2:56 AM