Sunday, May 20, 2007

Bee-yotches

One of my worst restaurant experiences ever happened in South Florida, North Miami Beach (Aventura) to be exact. We'll call it "Chin's Chinese Bistro" wink-wink. It was an everyday type of day, but there was a table of four African-American women who came in around 5:00pm. The waitress came up to me after the order was placed. Many exotic drinks were ordered, along with 7 entrees (many with modifiers) amongst the four women. The server was concerned, as she should be, about the number of entrees ordered, and the demeanor of the "ladies".

As any frequentor of "Chin's" knows, if you order that many entrees, they will not all come at once. Well, as soon as I got the warning, I went to the table to let the "ladies" know it might not all come at once, since we don't want the food to sit and "die in the window".

Well, you can see where this is leading. Out of the seven entrees, two came out wrong (not really since they didn't read the menu), so while those were being re-cooked, they all sat there and looked at the rest of the food going cold. Now, normal guests serve themselves family-style, and pass around the plates so everyone can sample everything, but these "ladies" sat there and stared at all this food going cold. Well, of course when the 2 "mis-cooked" orders came out, they complained that the rest of their food was cold. So of course, I went to the table and grabbed the plates that were there and told them that we'd heat it right up for them. While that was happening, they sat there and stared at the two hot plates like they were radioactive. The now hot plates were returned and of course they bitched. That was all I could take, so I excused myself to get the GM. She went to the table and tried to help them, but she couldn't take the bitches either. She told them to either accept the food or leave. They sat there and called the Area Director, who being a wuss, told them they were correct. Long story short, they got all 7 entrees (for 4 people) and their drinks for free, along with $100 in certificates. Altoghether, they received about $170 in free food. But that wasn't enough, they sat there for 2 hours and harangued us all about what a rotten experience they had, and we couldn't say anything, because the Area Manager told them that they were right.

Yes, the customer is always right. But, bitches looking for free food should be kicked to the curb. And Area Managers should back up their Managers when they say "NO!".

2 comments:

Lynx217 said...

You know that's the sad thing about retail. Half the time, managment doesn't have the spine - or the authority - to stand up for their employees. There comes a time though when you have to take a stand. An error once fine. Twice, maybe. But after that, sorry!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

I know this an old post, and you'll probably see more comments from me. I too was a restaurant manager for way too long. I came across your blog and wanted to start reading from the beginning.
This particular post brings back all the horrible memories of that job. I look forward to reading more.