Last week we had two major instances of disgruntled customers regarding service. Both resulted in zero gratuity for the service staff, but only one was truly justified, IMHO. I am not predisposed to assume our staff members are always in the right - I know we are all human and we mess up. But I also am not predisposed to assume that the customer is always right...we might let them think they are, but they aren't always.
In the interest of protecting the innocent, let me emphasize that the people in this story are fictional and any resemblance to reality is strictly coincidental... The first complaint arose on a very busy night when I was more than a little tied up with the bar. This has been happening a lot lately, since we don't have a "real" bartender on every shift, and soon we need to, these summer days of late. On this particular night, a customer approached me at the bar and said they had been waiting a long time for their food and they were not getting any satisfaction from the server. The server had already told me there were some timing problems at the table, so I was aware of something going on, but I just had not had a chance to get over to the table. By the time I did, the customer was most unhappy. (Part of my job, when I'm not schmoozing and gossiping, is to handle this sort of situation, and over the years I have gotten much better at it. I try not to take it personally and I rarely cry anymore.) This particular situation had festered mostly because I had not been able to monitor the dining room scene in a capable manner, being caught behind the bar instead. They were quite upset that the server had neglected to ask them if they wanted their daughter's meal to come out before theirs; in the meantime, as they observed other tables around them getting their entrees, they felt as though theirs were taking an unfairly long time to arrive. The fact that one member of the party had three courses didn't help bring the entrees out any faster either. There was not a whole lot I could do at this point - in fact, their dinners were on the way out soon after I began to listen to their tirade - and nothing I could do at this stage was going to change their opinion of the service or of the restaurant as a whole. All I could do was fill in a "zero" on the gratuity line on the credit card slip, which seemed to please them when I brought it back to the table.
However, I did not feel this party had a legitimate complaint: sure, the server neglected to ask if they wanted the young girl's meal to arrive before the others (and let me clarify here, we are talking about a 'tween', not a toddler, who had ordered the steak dinner, not a kid's pasta), but neither did the customer request it. And when the server didn't offer this alternate meal plan, don't you think that would be the time to say "Oh, could you bring our daughter out her meal first?". As a customer, being proactive could go a long way in assuring that your evening goes the way you want it to - as in, "We'd like a few minutes to enjoy our cocktails before our dinners come out", or "I'd like my salad before my soup". (In my case, when I order my steak very very rare, as in "it can't be too rare" I also add " I will send it back if it is not rare enough". I figure it's only fair to warn them, eh?) Our job is to make sure you have a splendid time in our dining room and we will do everything possible to make it so, if you'll let us.
But then there are the times when we really don't get it right: scene #2 (if you're still with me...)
In this case I again was not aware of a problem until the server brought the signed Credit Card slip to my attention with a big X where the tip should be. Uh oh. That was clear to all of us. They weren't happy. The server and I discussed it - unfortunately this was one of a few tables I never made it back to after seating, so I had no idea how their evening had gone - when she revealed that she had brought the wrong dinner to the woman in the party, believing that it was correct. When the guest said "This is not what I ordered", the server disagreed... Eventually the server offered to bring the right meal, the woman opted to keep the one she had, and supposedly end of topic. Sort of. The problem was, the server never went back to the table until time for dessert service. How do I know this? I called the customer the next day. That big X was such a clear sign, I knew something more than what our side was saying had happened. The tray runner had said that he couldn't understand why they were unhappy, that he'd gotten them everything they'd asked for - more tea, water, whatever, and this was verified by the customer, but it only served to emphasize the feeling of being totally ignored by the server who was supposedly the one waiting on them. If the server had only gone back to the table once, to see how the meal was, they probably would have been fine. And if she had told me that there was a problem, before it was too late to do anything, we could have made some sort of restitution. Probably the server didn't go back to the table after serving the dinners because she was worried about the confrontation and just wanted to avoid any further conflict. And perhaps she didn't mention it to me because she was worried I would be angry. In this second case, I agreed that the customer got short changed, and knew that I had a mini staff meeting to run very soon. Keeping those lines of communication open, on both sides of the table, is key to assuring a positive experience for all. We can't fix a problem if we don't know it exists.
Right or wrong, we always want our guests to arrive happy and leave happier. That's what makes this the Hospitality Industry.
In the interest of protecting the innocent, let me emphasize that the people in this story are fictional and any resemblance to reality is strictly coincidental... The first complaint arose on a very busy night when I was more than a little tied up with the bar. This has been happening a lot lately, since we don't have a "real" bartender on every shift, and soon we need to, these summer days of late. On this particular night, a customer approached me at the bar and said they had been waiting a long time for their food and they were not getting any satisfaction from the server. The server had already told me there were some timing problems at the table, so I was aware of something going on, but I just had not had a chance to get over to the table. By the time I did, the customer was most unhappy. (Part of my job, when I'm not schmoozing and gossiping, is to handle this sort of situation, and over the years I have gotten much better at it. I try not to take it personally and I rarely cry anymore.) This particular situation had festered mostly because I had not been able to monitor the dining room scene in a capable manner, being caught behind the bar instead. They were quite upset that the server had neglected to ask them if they wanted their daughter's meal to come out before theirs; in the meantime, as they observed other tables around them getting their entrees, they felt as though theirs were taking an unfairly long time to arrive. The fact that one member of the party had three courses didn't help bring the entrees out any faster either. There was not a whole lot I could do at this point - in fact, their dinners were on the way out soon after I began to listen to their tirade - and nothing I could do at this stage was going to change their opinion of the service or of the restaurant as a whole. All I could do was fill in a "zero" on the gratuity line on the credit card slip, which seemed to please them when I brought it back to the table.
However, I did not feel this party had a legitimate complaint: sure, the server neglected to ask if they wanted the young girl's meal to arrive before the others (and let me clarify here, we are talking about a 'tween', not a toddler, who had ordered the steak dinner, not a kid's pasta), but neither did the customer request it. And when the server didn't offer this alternate meal plan, don't you think that would be the time to say "Oh, could you bring our daughter out her meal first?". As a customer, being proactive could go a long way in assuring that your evening goes the way you want it to - as in, "We'd like a few minutes to enjoy our cocktails before our dinners come out", or "I'd like my salad before my soup". (In my case, when I order my steak very very rare, as in "it can't be too rare" I also add " I will send it back if it is not rare enough". I figure it's only fair to warn them, eh?) Our job is to make sure you have a splendid time in our dining room and we will do everything possible to make it so, if you'll let us.
But then there are the times when we really don't get it right: scene #2 (if you're still with me...)
In this case I again was not aware of a problem until the server brought the signed Credit Card slip to my attention with a big X where the tip should be. Uh oh. That was clear to all of us. They weren't happy. The server and I discussed it - unfortunately this was one of a few tables I never made it back to after seating, so I had no idea how their evening had gone - when she revealed that she had brought the wrong dinner to the woman in the party, believing that it was correct. When the guest said "This is not what I ordered", the server disagreed... Eventually the server offered to bring the right meal, the woman opted to keep the one she had, and supposedly end of topic. Sort of. The problem was, the server never went back to the table until time for dessert service. How do I know this? I called the customer the next day. That big X was such a clear sign, I knew something more than what our side was saying had happened. The tray runner had said that he couldn't understand why they were unhappy, that he'd gotten them everything they'd asked for - more tea, water, whatever, and this was verified by the customer, but it only served to emphasize the feeling of being totally ignored by the server who was supposedly the one waiting on them. If the server had only gone back to the table once, to see how the meal was, they probably would have been fine. And if she had told me that there was a problem, before it was too late to do anything, we could have made some sort of restitution. Probably the server didn't go back to the table after serving the dinners because she was worried about the confrontation and just wanted to avoid any further conflict. And perhaps she didn't mention it to me because she was worried I would be angry. In this second case, I agreed that the customer got short changed, and knew that I had a mini staff meeting to run very soon. Keeping those lines of communication open, on both sides of the table, is key to assuring a positive experience for all. We can't fix a problem if we don't know it exists.
Right or wrong, we always want our guests to arrive happy and leave happier. That's what makes this the Hospitality Industry.
Just think how interesting and fun business would be without patrons, clients, customers etc. :)
ReplyDeleteOh don't we know! That is precisely why we work so hard at being "hospitable"!
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me like you are training the customers to punish the server. Your solution to bring back the check with $0.00 in the gratuity line confirms to them that it was her/his fault. I would hate to be their next server because I would have not have treated their "tweens" steak dinner like a plate of buttered noodles for a toddler either, in fact, I would think the young one might become offended at being treated like a "baby". As a server, it feels really good when our managers stick up for us (when it is obviously not our fault) and take the cost of doing business with the public on themselves and maybe buy the unhappy customer's a round of drinks or dessert. I can only hope you compensated your server YOURSELF after the fact..however, the damage was done as far as I'm concerned by affirming to your customer that it was just punishment to withhold her/his tip.
ReplyDeleteI see what you are saying. I did compensate the server myself, but the guest probably thinks the staff was punished, justifiably or not. The problem was that things were already so miserable at the table, no amount of "discussion" was going to make things better. At the time, it just seemed that the best solution was to agree with the customer and move on. And from now on, to never assume that the youngest member of a party wants to eat with the rest of the group...
ReplyDelete