Hurricanes Lounge XXX: The "Will I Stay or Will I Go?" edition

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Customers are the worst, I don’t care what industry you’re in.

Ugh. I dealt with a real piece of work the other day.

For context I work in a restaurant. We have a happy hour special, a fried rice dish with chicken and a drink for $5.95, advertised on our front door. It is very clearly marked as being Monday-Friday from 2:30-4:30. The regular price is ~$7 plus another $3 to add chicken so it’s a very good deal.

So this past Sunday a lady comes in around 7:00. Conversation went roughly as follows:

“I want the special on the door”
“I’m sorry, that’s only available during the week and from 2:30-4:30”
“I don’t care, I eat here all the time, give me the special”
(I have never seen this woman before in my life)
“Ma’am I’m sorry, but I literally can’t ring you in for the special, the button isn’t even there outside the advertised time”
“Well then ring me in for the regular price and add the chicken for free”
“I’m sorry ma’am I can’t give you free food”
“Well how much is it to add chicken?”
“$3. Comes to $10.50 total.”
“Fine, I’ll pay the $10.50”

People are so programmed that they can misbehave and walk all over retail/restaurant employees and it drives me up the f***ing wall.

 

[raynman]

Ugh. I dealt with a real piece of work the other day.

For context I work in a restaurant. We have a happy hour special, a fried rice dish with chicken and a drink for $5.95, advertised on our front door. It is very clearly marked as being Monday-Friday from 2:30-4:30. The regular price is ~$7 plus another $3 to add chicken so it’s a very good deal.

So this past Sunday a lady comes in around 7:00. Conversation went roughly as follows:

“I want the special on the door”
“I’m sorry, that’s only available during the week and from 2:30-4:30”
“I don’t care, I eat here all the time, give me the special”
(I have never seen this woman before in my life)
“Ma’am I’m sorry, but I literally can’t ring you in for the special, the button isn’t even there outside the advertised time”
“Well then ring me in for the regular price and add the chicken for free”
“I’m sorry ma’am I can’t give you free food”
“Well how much is it to add chicken?”
“$3. Comes to $10.50 total.”
“Fine, I’ll pay the $10.50”

People are so programmed that they can misbehave and walk all over retail/restaurant employees and it drives me up the ****ing wall.

Dealing with customers at a grocery store and pizza place forced me to get my shit together and go back to school.
I’ll never forget a lady going ape shit on us one night because her sub was wrong. She ordered it wrong but it was our fault. She screamed at us for 10 minutes until we could remedy the situation. On her way out the door I calmly thanked her for screaming at me, I really enjoyed it. I thought the other customers in the restaurant were gonna die haha

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Let's not act like establishments are always right though. Some examples:

- Recently, my wife ordered a Bruschetta Pizza from a Pizza joint while we were up north. The guy on the line didn't seem to be the brightest and she had to repeat it 3 different times. I clearly heard her say "A large Bruschetta Pizza" and she even asked how big the large was (no need for jokes here). She goes to pick it up, and they had an order of "Bruschetta appetizer" waiting for her. When she said that's not what she ordered, the guy was insistent that it was what she ordered, but I heard her say it 3 times and even ask the size of the Pizza. Needless to say, having to wait another 20 min. for them to make the right thing, she wasn't very happy and I'm sure the guy behind the desk was thinking what a bad customer she was, when in reality, he f***ed up.

- I took my son to dinner as a celebration a couple years ago. The waiter comes over with the drinks and dumps the tray sending a full 16 ounce drink onto my son's lap. He apologized profusely and we said no problem, accidents happen and he moved us to another table, although my son was a bit perturbed at being soaked. You would think that after this blunder, the guy would go out of his way to give us excellent service, but it was the exact opposite. The restaurant wasn't very full and he sat there chatting with other staff and we had to flag him down multiple times for the simplest of things. He was terrible and my tip reflected it. I was suspicious though, so watched my credit card bill closely and low and behold he altered the tip. I immediately called the manager who looked at the receipt and acknowledged that the guy did alter it and he refunded my full meal, but then went on to say the guy has been reprimanded, but not fired because it's hard to get "good help". Have never been back, nor will I ever go back as there's too many good places to choose from around here.

I think customers and service is like HF posters. For the most part, it is pretty decent, but every now and then, you get a bad one that can skew ones perception.

By the way, if you ever go to Kabuki Japanese Steak house in Cary, keep a close eye on their billing practice. They first give you an itemized bill which always has an 18% tip included in the total. If you give them your credit card, they come back ONLY with the credit card slip, which includes a line for a tip to be included and even has text that shows how much a 15%, 18% and 20% tip amounts to. If you don't pay attention to the first itemized bill, you end up double tipping. A couple years ago, I was there and I noticed it and avoided double tipping, but some guy was irate when he realized it too late and a heated argument with the manager. Got very uncomfortable.

 

[DaveG]

Hell there are places I've noticed in the past that have the tip line amounts but that have those numbers exaggerated. On say the 20% line on a bill of 15.75 it will show instead of 3.15 something like 4.27 for example which is a hair over 27%. I still tip usually around 20%-25% but I also have no qualms about noting on a check something like "you may want to check your calculations because this is way off"

 

[TheBigKahuna]

I hope you are feeling better soon. Long periods of stress suck.

Thanks. Depression can be a real pain in the @$$. Seems ridiculous until you've been there.

 

[SaskCanesFan]

- I took my son to dinner as a celebration a couple years ago. The waiter comes over with the drinks and dumps the tray sending a full 16 ounce drink onto my son's lap. He apologized profusely and we said no problem, accidents happen and he moved us to another table, although my son was a bit perturbed at being soaked. You would think that after this blunder, the guy would go out of his way to give us excellent service, but it was the exact opposite. The restaurant wasn't very full and he sat there chatting with other staff and we had to flag him down multiple times for the simplest of things. He was terrible and my tip reflected it. I was suspicious though, so watched my credit card bill closely and low and behold he altered the tip. I immediately called the manager who looked at the receipt and acknowledged that the guy did alter it and he refunded my full meal, but then went on to say the guy has been reprimanded, but not fired because it's hard to get "good help". Have never been back, nor will I ever go back as there's too many good places to choose from around here.

I'm shocked how many places in the States still have you write out a tip manually and sign a receipt. Noticed that when i ordered pizza on a trip to Florida a couple years ago, couldn't believe the delivery guy had me fill that out for how easy it would be to alter.

Pretty much everything here is done instantly. Waiter brings you the machine, enter you card, select how much of a tip to add, enter your pin and done. No chance of altering.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I'm shocked how many places in the States still have you write out a tip manually and sign a receipt. Noticed that when i ordered pizza on a trip to Florida a couple years ago, couldn't believe the delivery guy had me fill that out for how easy it would be to alter.

Pretty much everything here is done instantly. Waiter brings you the machine, enter you card, select how much of a tip to add, enter your pin and done. No chance of altering.

Some places are like that, but most aren't. Because I've been burned twice before, I always take a picture of my receipt with my phone until I see the charge officially on my credit card.

 

[NotOpie]

Some places are like that, but most aren't. Because I've been burned twice before, I always take a picture of my receipt with my phone until I see the charge officially on my credit card.

You clearly have an engineering background, amirite?

 

[SaskCanesFan]

Some places are like that, but most aren't. Because I've been burned twice before, I always take a picture of my receipt with my phone until I see the charge officially on my credit card.

Yeah I'm just surprised how slow the adoption is, considering how far ahead the US usually is with tech. I still can't get 5% of the internet speed of some of you guys but chip cards have been standard for years

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

You clearly have an engineering background, amirite?

Given that I've stated it multiple times on this board, you might be right.

 

[Roboturner913]

Let's not act like establishments are always right though.

Well of course not.

We make mistakes all the time at my work. When we do we'll admit it and do whatever we can within reason to fix it, but that's not good enough for some people.

These are the people who seem to think because they spent x amount on your product, that entitles them to treat people like shit. And often the person they're talking to didn't have anything to do with the issue.

I'll go above and beyond to fix something. Hell I drove 15 miles each way a couple weeks ago to bring this old lady a magazine that didn't get delivered to her. I'm not in circulation or delivery, that's not even close to my job description. But she was nice about it, and I had the time and wanted to help. Somebody wants to yell and scream at me, they get the gas face. f*** them. I don't get paid to sit here and have some asshole berate me.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Well of course not.

We make mistakes all the time at my work. When we do we'll admit it and do whatever we can within reason to fix it, but that's not good enough for some people.

These are the people who seem to think because they spent x amount on your product, that entitles them to treat people like ****. And often the person they're talking to didn't have anything to do with the issue.

I'll go above and beyond to fix something. Hell I drove 15 miles each way a couple weeks ago to bring this old lady a magazine that didn't get delivered to her. I'm not in circulation or delivery, that's not even close to my job description. But she was nice about it, and I had the time and wanted to help. Somebody wants to yell and scream at me, they get the gas face. **** them. I don't get paid to sit here and have some ******* berate me.

I wasn't commenting on your situation specifically, just the notion that all customers suck. No doubt, there are bad customers. Equally, there are bad suppliers/customer service people.

 

[raynman]

Let's not act like establishments are always right though. Some examples:

- Recently, my wife ordered a Bruschetta Pizza from a Pizza joint while we were up north. The guy on the line didn't seem to be the brightest and she had to repeat it 3 different times. I clearly heard her say "A large Bruschetta Pizza" and she even asked how big the large was (no need for jokes here). She goes to pick it up, and they had an order of "Bruschetta appetizer" waiting for her. When she said that's not what she ordered, the guy was insistent that it was what she ordered, but I heard her say it 3 times and even ask the size of the Pizza. Needless to say, having to wait another 20 min. for them to make the right thing, she wasn't very happy and I'm sure the guy behind the desk was thinking what a bad customer she was, when in reality, he ****ed up.

- I took my son to dinner as a celebration a couple years ago. The waiter comes over with the drinks and dumps the tray sending a full 16 ounce drink onto my son's lap. He apologized profusely and we said no problem, accidents happen and he moved us to another table, although my son was a bit perturbed at being soaked. You would think that after this blunder, the guy would go out of his way to give us excellent service, but it was the exact opposite. The restaurant wasn't very full and he sat there chatting with other staff and we had to flag him down multiple times for the simplest of things. He was terrible and my tip reflected it. I was suspicious though, so watched my credit card bill closely and low and behold he altered the tip. I immediately called the manager who looked at the receipt and acknowledged that the guy did alter it and he refunded my full meal, but then went on to say the guy has been reprimanded, but not fired because it's hard to get "good help". Have never been back, nor will I ever go back as there's too many good places to choose from around here.

I think customers and service is like HF posters. For the most part, it is pretty decent, but every now and then, you get a bad one that can skew ones perception.

By the way, if you ever go to Kabuki Japanese Steak house in Cary, keep a close eye on their billing practice. They first give you an itemized bill which always has an 18% tip included in the total. If you give them your credit card, they come back ONLY with the credit card slip, which includes a line for a tip to be included and even has text that shows how much a 15%, 18% and 20% tip amounts to. If you don't pay attention to the first itemized bill, you end up double tipping. A couple years ago, I was there and I noticed it and avoided double tipping, but some guy was irate when he realized it too late and a heated argument with the manager. Got very uncomfortable.

It definitely goes both ways. I worked with my fair share of people in the service industry who weren’t able to admit a mistake or just didn’t give a damn about providing a decent experience for the customer. I think my attitude towards customers is mostly shaped by all the bad experiences. There’s definitely a difference in the way people treat you as a service worker and at times it down right sucked. There were more good experiences but a few bad apples is all it takes.

 

[member 157595]

f*** you guys I'm always right.

until i get home, then I realize I'm married.

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

**** you guys I'm always right.

until i get home, then I realize I'm married.

You can be right or you can be happy.

 

[MinJaBen]

You can be right or you can be happy.

*SPOILER ALERT*

It is possible to be both.

 

[NotOpie]

Given that I've stated it multiple times on this board, you might be right.

As long as you keep the trains running on time, that's all I care about....

 

[vorbis]

my friend in Minnesota finally succumbed to MS this week after living with it for over 20 years, and I'm really bummed out about it. it's been a rough few months for people I know dying.

 

[MinJaBen]

my friend in Minnesota finally succumbed to MS this week after living with it for over 20 years, and I'm really bummed out about it. it's been a rough few months for people I know dying.

Sorry for your loss Vorbis.

 

[Roboturner913]

Two very attractive young women in my office are having a conversation and one of them just said to the other "I'd be happy to show you what mine looks like" and I spewed my Sierra Mist out my mouth like we're inside a bad TV sitcom.

 

[Roboturner913]

until i get home, then I realize I'm married.

obvious solution is obvious: Simply don't go home

 

[Lempo]

Two very attractive young women in my office are having a conversation and one of them just said to the other "I'd be happy to show you what mine looks like" and I spewed my Sierra Mist out my mouth like we're inside a bad TV sitcom.

 

[raynman]

Two very attractive young women in my office are having a conversation and one of them just said to the other "I'd be happy to show you what mine looks like" and I spewed my Sierra Mist out my mouth like we're inside a bad TV sitcom.

This isn’t very family friendly but I once overheard two women talking about squirting while in the grocery store. I dropped my basket when I realized what I was hearing.

 

[Roboturner913]

I'm not sure what isn't family friendly about forceful expulsion of a liquid from its container, see Bernoulli's Equations of Fluid Dynamics, which incidentally are directly derived from Newton's Laws of Motion.

 

[3CanesInTheBox]

Hi. I'm one of those abominable front-running bandwagon fans that quasi-spammed this board during the playoffs? lol. Hey guys, Miss you all and I haven't really used the non-game threads that often, but i figured this might be the place to awkwardly say hello???? i dunno

I'm not hardcore enough to really be active during the off season, but I'm incredibly jazzed for the season to start.

Hope you are all well!

my friend in Minnesota finally succumbed to MS this week after living with it for over 20 years, and I'm really bummed out about it. it's been a rough few months for people I know dying.

So sorry to hear this! My prayers go out to you during this hard, dark season. Hope you find some bits of light and joy through our team this year. Be well.